Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2022. 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 26, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Patterson, Louisiana, in St. Mary Parish, has about 5,600 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the parish jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the District Court for St. Mary Parish. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Patterson public records, St. Mary Parish arrest records, Louisiana arrest records and Louisiana inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Patterson
The FBI lists Patterson with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Patterson Police Department. It reported 71 arrests for 2022, its latest complete year. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 611 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Patterson Reports
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.
- Patterson: 71 for 2022, 88 for 2021 and 341 for 2020.
Patterson's 71 arrests in 2022 were down 19 percent from 88 in 2021.
Across St. Mary Parish, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,513 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Patterson Are Held
The parish jail is where a person arrested in Patterson 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.
On an average day in 2023 the jail held about 18 people, down from about 410 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 100 beds, and it ran at 18 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 St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office at stmaryso.com/inmate-roster/filters/current/booking_time=desc/1 (page title: Inmate Roster | St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office, Louisiana | Sort Booking Time | Descending | Page 1), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 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 sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections lists its inmates at doc.la.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Patterson
For Patterson the place to look is the custody page of the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the parish jail.
Louisiana does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification 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 Patterson
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Louisiana Public Records Law the agency must answer within 3 business days when the record is not immediately available, and it may charge a reasonable fee for copies.
- An arrest by the Patterson police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at cityofpattersonla.gov/index.php/departments/police-department.html (page title: Police Dept), phone (985) 395-6161, 1314 Main St. P. O. Box 367 Patterson, LA 70392, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Bureau of Criminal Identification.
The St. Mary Parish guide covers every agency in the parish: St. Mary Parish arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Patterson each year?
Patterson reported 71 arrests to the FBI for 2022, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Patterson?
Look on the custody page of the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office at stmaryso.com. It covers people booked into the parish jail.
Where are people arrested in Patterson booked?
Those kept in custody go to the parish jail, run by the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Patterson?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for St. Mary Parish are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Louisiana Public Records Law.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Patterson?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Patterson police for its own arrests, the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Louisiana Public Records Law the answer is due within 3 business days when the record is not immediately available.
Is this the official Patterson website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, parish, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.