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 between September 23, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Sarasota County, Florida, has about 477,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and nine 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 State Attorney files charges, a case in the Sarasota County Circuit Court. 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: Sarasota County public records, Florida arrest records, Florida inmate search and Florida criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Sarasota County
The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Sarasota County. It reported 5,260 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists four cities in Sarasota County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- North Port, 92,875 residents.
- Sarasota, 57,764 residents: 2,653 arrests reported for 2025.
- Venice, 29,902 residents.
- Longboat Key, 7,463 residents: 299 arrests reported for 2024.
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 Sarasota County: the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco in Sarasota County, the Sarasota County Florida Game Commission, the Department of Environmental Protection, Law Enforcement in Sarasota County, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement at Sarasota and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Sarasota County (state police); the Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority and Sarasota County Schools (other); New College of Florida (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Sarasota County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Sarasota County Sheriff's Office: 5,260 for 2025, 5,824 for 2024, 6,002 for 2023, 5,688 for 2022 and 4,485 for 2021.
- Sarasota: 2,653 for 2025 and 2,972 for 2024.
- Longboat Key: 299 for 2024 and 263 for 2023.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 9,095 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 6,123 in 2024 against 6,265 in 2023, down 2.3 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Sarasota County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Sarasota County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 1,070 people on an average day, up from about 900 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,026 beds, and it ran at 101 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 Sarasota County Sheriff's Office at sarasotasheriff.org/corrections/jail_booking/index.php (page title: Welcome to Sarasota County Sheriff's, FL), phone 941.861.4601, 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 Florida Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at fdc.myflorida.com.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Sarasota County
An arrest in Sarasota County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Sarasota County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at sarasotaclerk.com/Records/Court-Records); the State Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at sao12.org, phone (941) 861-4400).
Florida is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: anyone can run a name-based criminal history search online for $24, for $24 a search, through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Sarasota County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Florida Public Records Act (Chapter 119) the agency must answer promptly and in good faith; the statute sets no number of days, and it may charge the copy fees set by statute, plus a special service charge for large requests.
- An arrest by the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 941.861.4601.
- An arrest in North Port, Sarasota, Venice or Longboat Key: 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 the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco in Sarasota County, the Sarasota County Florida Game Commission or the Department of Environmental Protection, Law Enforcement in Sarasota County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State Attorney, (941) 861-4400, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Sarasota County Circuit Court, through the court records page at sarasotaclerk.com/Records/Court-Records.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at sarasotataxcollector.gov/PublicRecordRequest (page title: Public Record Request | Sarasota Tax Collector).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Sarasota County guides go further: warrants, inmate search, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Sarasota County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the four cities in Sarasota County: North Port, Sarasota, Venice and Longboat Key.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Sarasota County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Sarasota County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- North Port (92,875)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Sarasota County each year?
The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office reported 5,260 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Sarasota County sent in full, the three with every month on file reported 9,095 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Sarasota County?
Look on the custody page of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office at sarasotasheriff.org, or call 941.861.4601. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Sarasota County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Sarasota County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement: anyone can run a name-based criminal history search online for $24, for $24. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Florida Public Records Act (Chapter 119).
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Sarasota County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Florida Public Records Act (Chapter 119) the answer is due promptly and in good faith; the statute sets no number of days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at sarasotataxcollector.gov/PublicRecordRequest.
Is this the official Sarasota 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.