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 2025. 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 2, 2026.
Boston, Massachusetts, in Suffolk County, has about 673,000 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 county jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the Suffolk County Superior Court. 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: Boston public records, Suffolk County arrest records, Massachusetts arrest records and Massachusetts inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Boston
The FBI lists Boston with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Boston Police Department. It reported 7,705 arrests for 2025. 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.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Suffolk County: Fisher College, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Roxbury Community College, Berklee College of Music and nine more (campus police); Boston University Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (other); the Suffolk County State Police (state police); the Suffolk County Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Division of Law Enforcement Environmental Police and the Capitol Police (state agency).
How Many Arrests Boston Reports
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.
- Boston: 7,705 for 2025, 5,445 for 2024, 5,338 for 2023, 4,782 for 2022, 4,338 for 2021 and 4,341 for 2020.
Boston's 7,705 arrests in 2025 were up 42 percent from 5,445 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Boston reported 5,076 arrests, against 4,279 in the same months of 2025.
Across Suffolk County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 9,323 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Boston Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Boston 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 2025 the jail held about 1,210 people, down from about 1,410 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 2,745 beds, and it ran at 42 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Sheriff’s Office, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department at scsdma.org/sheriffs-office (page title: Sheriff’s Office, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department), phone (617) 635-1000, 20 Bradston Street Boston, MA 02118, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Massachusetts Department of Correction lists its inmates at mass.gov/how-to/find-someone-housed-in-a-massachusetts-prison.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Boston
Whether someone was arrested in Boston, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Suffolk County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at mass.gov/locations/suffolk-county-superior-court, phone (617) 788-7794); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at suffolkcountyda.org).
Statewide, masscourts.org is the Massachusetts Trial Court's free online case search.
Massachusetts is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: open access iCORI lets anyone request limited conviction information by name, for $25 a search, through the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services. 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 Boston
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 Massachusetts Public Records Law the agency must answer within 10 business days, and it may charge staff time after the first four hours for towns and two for the state, plus copying.
- An arrest by the Boston police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at boston.gov/departments/public-records (page title: Public Records), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Sheriff’s Office, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (617) 635-1000.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Suffolk County Superior Court, through the court records page at mass.gov, phone (617) 788-7794.
- Your own statewide record: a personal CORI request, free once a year online.
The Suffolk County guide covers every agency in the county: Suffolk County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Boston each year?
Boston reported 7,705 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Boston?
Ask the Sheriff’s Office, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department at (617) 635-1000; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at scsdma.org/sheriffs-office.
Where are people arrested in Boston booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Sheriff’s Office, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Boston?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services: open access iCORI lets anyone request limited conviction information by name, for $25. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Massachusetts Public Records Law.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Boston?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Boston police for its own arrests, the Sheriff’s Office, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department for the sheriff's. Under the Massachusetts Public Records Law the answer is due within 10 business days.
Is this the official Boston website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.