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 September 30, 2026.
Taunton, Massachusetts, in Bristol County, has about 62,000 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 Bristol 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: Taunton public records, Bristol County arrest records, Massachusetts arrest records and Massachusetts inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Taunton
The FBI lists Taunton with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Taunton Police Department. It reported 972 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 Bristol County: the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, Stonehill College, Bristol Community College and Wheaton College (campus police); the Bristol County Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (state agency); the Bristol County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Taunton 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.
- Taunton: 972 for 2025, 1,003 for 2024, 846 for 2023, 833 for 2022, 1,094 for 2021 and 1,082 for 2020.
Taunton's 972 arrests in 2025 were down 3.1 percent from 1,003 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Taunton reported 466 arrests, against 581 in the same months of 2025.
Across Bristol County, the 19 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 10,586 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Taunton Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Taunton 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 650 people, down from about 1,070 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,613 beds, and it ran at 40 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 Bristol County Sheriff's Office at masssheriffs.org/bristol-county-sheriffs-office (page title: Bristol County Sheriff's Office), phone (508) 995-6400, 400 Faunce Corner Road North Dartmouth, MA 02747, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Massachusetts Department of Correction, whose inmate locator is at mass.gov/how-to/find-someone-housed-in-a-massachusetts-prison.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Taunton
An arrest in Taunton can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Bristol 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/bristol-county-superior-court, phone (508) 823-6588); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at bristolda.com/contact/district-attorney-offices, phone 508-997-0711).
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 Taunton
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 Taunton police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at tauntonpd.com/public-records (page title: Public Records), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
- An arrest by the Bristol County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (508) 995-6400.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 508-997-0711, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Bristol County Superior Court, through the court records page at mass.gov, phone (508) 823-6588.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at countyofbristol.net (page title: Welcome to Bristol County, MA).
- Your own statewide record: a personal CORI request, free once a year online.
The Bristol County guide covers every agency in the county: Bristol County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Taunton each year?
Taunton reported 972 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Taunton?
Ask the Bristol County Sheriff's Office at (508) 995-6400; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at masssheriffs.org.
Where are people arrested in Taunton booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Bristol County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Taunton?
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 Taunton?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Taunton police for its own arrests, the Bristol County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Massachusetts Public Records Law the answer is due within 10 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at countyofbristol.net.
Is this the official Taunton 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.