Suffolk County Arrest Records: Who Makes Arrests, Where People Are Booked and How to Get the Report

Who Makes Arrests in Suffolk County

The Sheriff’s Office, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department is the county law enforcement agency of Suffolk County.

The FBI lists four cities in Suffolk County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:

• Boston, 673,458 residents: 7,705 arrests reported for 2025.
• Revere, 60,702 residents: 811 arrests reported for 2025.
• Chelsea, 40,245 residents: 714 arrests reported for 2025.
• Winthrop Town, 18,739 residents: 93 arrests reported for 2025.

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 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 Each Agency Reports in Suffolk 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.

• 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.
• Revere: 811 for 2025, 1,017 for 2024, 901 for 2023, 702 for 2022, 637 for 2021 and 578 for 2020.
• Chelsea: 714 for 2025, 799 for 2024, 673 for 2023, 563 for 2022, 505 for 2021 and 567 for 2020.
• Winthrop Town: 93 for 2025, 88 for 2023, 94 for 2022, 111 for 2021, 93 for 2020 and 85 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.

Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 9,323 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,525 in 2025 against 1,816 in 2024, down 16 percent.

Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 5,584 arrests, against 4,831 in the same months of 2025.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Suffolk County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Suffolk County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.

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 Suffolk County

An arrest in Suffolk County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: 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 Suffolk 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 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 Sheriff’s Office, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (617) 635-1000.
• An arrest in Boston, Revere, Chelsea or Winthrop Town: 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 Fisher College, Wentworth Institute of Technology or Roxbury Community College: the records office of the agency involved.
• 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.

Cities in Suffolk County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the four cities in Suffolk County: Boston, Revere, Chelsea and Winthrop Town.

Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Suffolk County Superior Court.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Suffolk County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

• Boston (673,458)
• Revere (60,702)
• Chelsea (40,245)
• Winthrop Town (18,739)

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Suffolk County each year?

Boston reported 7,705 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 9,323 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Suffolk County?

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 Suffolk County 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 Suffolk County?

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 Suffolk County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Sheriff’s Office, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Massachusetts Public Records Law the answer is due within 10 business days.

Is this the official Suffolk 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.