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 24, 2026 and September 28, 2026.
Sanford, Maine, in York County, has about 22,000 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 York 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: Sanford public records, York County arrest records, Maine arrest records and Maine inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Sanford
The FBI lists Sanford with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Sanford Police Department. It reported 678 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.
Outside the city, the York County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 438 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Sanford 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.
- Sanford: 678 for 2025, 799 for 2024, 715 for 2023, 635 for 2022, 590 for 2021 and 526 for 2020.
Sanford's 678 arrests in 2025 were down 15 percent from 799 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Sanford reported 357 arrests, against 419 in the same months of 2025.
Across York County, the 16 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,061 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Sanford Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Sanford 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 2019 the jail held about 180 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 298 beds, and it ran at 59 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 York County Sheriff's Office at inmatesinjail.yorkcountygov.com/detentioncenter/inmatesinjail.aspx (page title: York County Detention Center Inmates), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Maine Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at apps1.web.maine.gov/online/correctionssearch.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Sanford
Whether someone was arrested in Sanford, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the York County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at courts.maine.gov/ecourts/access.html); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at yorkcountymaine.gov/district-attorney, phone 207-324-8001).
Maine is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: conviction records are public and can be requested on anyone by name, through the Maine State Police State Bureau of Identification. 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 Sanford
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 Maine Freedom of Access Act the agency must answer within a reasonable time, after acknowledging the request within 5 working days, and it may charge staff time after the first two hours, plus copying.
- An arrest by the Sanford police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at sanfordmaine.org/departments/police/index.php (page title: City Of Sanford, Maine), phone 207-324-9170, 935 Main Street Sanford, ME 04073, Mon-Fri, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the York County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 207-324-8001, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the York County Superior Court, through the court records page at courts.maine.gov/ecourts/access.html.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The York County guide covers every agency in the county: York County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Sanford each year?
Sanford reported 678 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Sanford?
Ask the York County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at inmatesinjail.yorkcountygov.com.
Where are people arrested in Sanford booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the York County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Sanford?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Maine State Police State Bureau of Identification: conviction records are public and can be requested on anyone by name. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Maine Freedom of Access Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Sanford?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Sanford police for its own arrests, the York County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Maine Freedom of Access Act the answer is due within a reasonable time, after acknowledging the request within 5 working days.
Is this the official Sanford 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.