SearchSystems Editorial

Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site on September 23, 2026.

About this guide

Ventura County, California, has about 835,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, ten city agencies and ten campus, state or other agencies. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the Superior Court of California, County of Ventura. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.

This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.

Related guides: Ventura County public records, California arrest records, California inmate search and California criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Ventura County

The Ventura County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Ventura County. It reported 4,780 arrests for 2025.

The FBI lists nine cities in Ventura County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:

  • Oxnard, 200,616 residents: 4,835 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Simi Valley, 125,778 residents: 1,569 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Thousand Oaks, 124,229 residents: 2,740 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Camarillo, 69,881 residents: 2,013 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Moorpark, 35,621 residents: 729 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Santa Paula, 31,786 residents: 818 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Port Hueneme, 21,325 residents: 506 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Fillmore, 17,216 residents: 1,027 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Ojai, 7,563 residents: 306 arrests reported for 2025.

A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.

The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Ventura County: California State Parks at Channel Coast, California State Parks at Great Basin and California State Parks at Angeles (state agency); Union Pacific Railroad in Ventura County (other); California State University at Channel Islands and the Ventura County Community College District (campus police); the Highway Patrol at Coastal Investigative Services Unit, Ventura, the Highway Patrol's Ventura and Moorpark Area Offices and the Highway Patrol at Conejo Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facility (state police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Ventura County

The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.

  • Oxnard: 4,835 for 2025, 4,314 for 2024, 4,417 for 2023, 5,840 for 2022, 9,789 for 2020 and 13,712 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Ventura County Sheriff's Office: 4,780 for 2025, 2,893 for 2024, 3,966 for 2023, 8,855 for 2022, 11,421 for 2020 and 11,405 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Ventura: 3,958 for 2025, 4,303 for 2024, 3,674 for 2023, 4,829 for 2022, 6,863 for 2020 and 8,955 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Thousand Oaks: 2,740 for 2025, 2,815 for 2024, 2,620 for 2023, 4,498 for 2022, 4,639 for 2020 and 4,652 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Camarillo: 2,013 for 2025, 2,212 for 2024, 2,154 for 2023, 4,082 for 2022, 5,988 for 2020 and 5,543 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Simi Valley: 1,569 for 2025, 1,649 for 2024, 1,604 for 2023, 1,555 for 2022, 2,643 for 2020 and 3,438 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Fillmore: 1,027 for 2025, 1,053 for 2024, 758 for 2023, 1,747 for 2022, 1,517 for 2020 and 1,509 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Santa Paula: 818 for 2025, 874 for 2024, 622 for 2023, 510 for 2022, 1,788 for 2020 and 1,836 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Moorpark: 729 for 2025, 902 for 2024, 682 for 2023, 1,430 for 2022, 2,346 for 2020 and 2,539 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Port Hueneme: 506 for 2025, 610 for 2024, 647 for 2023, 1,034 for 2022, 1,221 for 2020 and 1,076 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Ojai: 306 for 2025, 210 for 2024, 205 for 2023, 411 for 2022, 499 for 2020 and 460 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.

Together, the 11 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 23,281 arrests that year. The ten of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 18,501 in 2025 against 18,942 in 2024, down 2.3 percent.

Through July 2026, the 11 agencies with every month so far on file reported 14,369 arrests, against 13,257 in the same months of 2025.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Ventura County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Ventura County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.

On an average day in 2025 the jail held about 1,200 people, down from about 1,620 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,650 beds, and it ran at 77 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.

SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.venturacounty.gov/inmate-information/inmate-search (page title: Inmate Search | Ventura Sheriff Official Website), phone (805) 654-3335, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.

That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.

A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, whose inmate locator is at cdcr.ca.gov/search.

How to Find Out About an Arrest in Ventura County

An arrest in Ventura County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of Ventura, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at ventura.courts.ca.gov/online-services/case-inquiry); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at da.venturacounty.gov/contact-us, phone (805) 662-1750).

California does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the California Department of Justice goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.

Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Ventura County

The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the California Public Records Act the agency must answer within 10 days, with up to 14 more days in unusual circumstances, and it may charge the direct cost of copying only, not staff time.

  • An arrest by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (805) 654-3335.
  • An arrest in Oxnard, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Moorpark, Santa Paula or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
  • An arrest by California State Parks at Channel Coast, California State Parks at Great Basin or Union Pacific Railroad in Ventura County: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (805) 662-1750, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • The court file of a case that was filed: the Superior Court of California, County of Ventura, through the court records page at ventura.courts.ca.gov.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at venturacounty.gov (page title: PRR | County Executive Office).
  • Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.

Cities in Ventura County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for nine of the ten cities in Ventura County: Oxnard, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Moorpark, Santa Paula, Port Hueneme, Fillmore and Ojai. San Buenaventura (Ventura) has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Ventura Police Department as a city agency in Ventura County; Ventura is not among the cities above.

Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Superior Court of California, County of Ventura.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Ventura County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Ventura County each year?

Oxnard reported 4,835 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 11 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 23,281 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Ventura County?

Look on the custody page of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.venturacounty.gov, or call (805) 654-3335. It covers people booked into the county jail.

Where are people arrested in Ventura County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Ventura County?

The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Ventura are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the California Department of Justice is not public; you can get your own for $25. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the California Public Records Act.

How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Ventura County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Ventura County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the California Public Records Act the answer is due within 10 days, with up to 14 more days in unusual circumstances; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at venturacounty.gov.

Is this the official Ventura County website?

No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.