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.
Lowell, Massachusetts, in Middlesex County, has about 120,000 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 Middlesex 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: Lowell public records, Middlesex County arrest records, Massachusetts arrest records and Massachusetts inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Lowell
The FBI lists Lowell with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Lowell Police Department. It reported 3,961 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 Middlesex County: Regis College, Brandeis University, Bentley University, Framingham State University and eight more (campus police); the Middlesex County Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (state agency); the Middlesex County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Lowell 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.
- Lowell: 3,961 for 2025, 2,944 for 2024, 2,871 for 2023, 2,734 for 2022, 2,416 for 2021 and 2,527 for 2020.
Lowell's 3,961 arrests in 2025 were up 35 percent from 2,944 in 2024.
Through May 2026, Lowell reported 1,553 arrests, against 1,486 in the same months of 2025.
Across Middlesex County, the 51 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 15,399 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lowell Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lowell 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 710 people, down from about 790 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,464 beds, and it ran at 44 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 Middlesex Sheriff's Office, MA | Official Website at middlesexsheriff.org (page title: Middlesex Sheriff's Office, MA), 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 Lowell
For Lowell the place to look is the case index of the Middlesex County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at mass.gov/search-court-dockets-calendars-and-case-information).
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 Lowell
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 Lowell police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at lowellma.gov/287/Request (page title: Request | Lowell, MA), phone 978-937-3200, 50 Arcand Drive Lowell, MA 01852, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Middlesex Sheriff's Office, MA | Official Website: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Middlesex County Superior Court, through the court records page at mass.gov.
- Your own statewide record: a personal CORI request, free once a year online.
The Middlesex County guide covers every agency in the county: Middlesex County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lowell each year?
Lowell reported 3,961 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lowell?
Ask the Middlesex Sheriff's Office, MA | Official Website; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at middlesexsheriff.org.
Where are people arrested in Lowell booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Middlesex Sheriff's Office, MA | Official Website; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lowell?
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 Lowell?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lowell police for its own arrests, the Middlesex Sheriff's Office, MA | Official Website for the sheriff's. Under the Massachusetts Public Records Law the answer is due within 10 business days.
Is this the official Lowell 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.