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 25, 2026.
Carteret, New Jersey, in Middlesex County, has about 26,000 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 County Prosecutor files charges, a case in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County. 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: Carteret public records, Middlesex County arrest records, New Jersey arrest records and New Jersey inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Carteret
The FBI lists Carteret with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Carteret Police Department. It reported 540 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 Middlesex County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 706 arrests for 2023.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Middlesex County: Middlesex County College and Rutgers University at New Brunswick (campus police); Prosecutor in Middlesex County (other); the Middlesex County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Carteret 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.
- Carteret: 540 for 2025, 466 for 2024, 356 for 2023, 607 for 2020 and 619 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
Carteret's 540 arrests in 2025 were up 16 percent from 466 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Carteret reported 350 arrests, against 354 in the same months of 2025.
Across Middlesex County, the 21 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 7,840 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Carteret Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Carteret 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 2023 the jail held about 560 people, up from about 530 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 1,436 beds, and it ran at 39 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office at middlesexcountynj.gov/government/departments/department-of-public-s... (page title: Inmate Lookup | Middlesex County NJ), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the New Jersey Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at www20.state.nj.us/DOC_Inmate/inmatefinder?i=I.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Carteret
An arrest in Carteret can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; New Jersey Courts Public Access, the Judiciary's free online case search for civil and criminal cases, which shows whether charges were filed; the County Prosecutor, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at middlesexcountynj.gov/government/departments/department-of-public-s...).
New Jersey does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the New Jersey State Police goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Carteret
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 Open Public Records Act the agency must answer within 7 business days, and it may charge copying at 5 cents a page for letter size.
- An arrest by the Carteret police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at carteret.net/police-department (page title: Carteret Police Department News and Alerts | Borough of Carteret), phone (732) 541-4181, 230 Roosevelt Avenue Carteret, NJ 07008, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Prosecutor handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at middlesexcountynj.gov (page title: Request for Open Public Records Act (OPRA) Documents | Middlesex County NJ).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the State Police.
The Middlesex County guide covers every agency in the county: Middlesex County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Carteret each year?
Carteret reported 540 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Carteret?
Look on the custody page of the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office at middlesexcountynj.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Carteret booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Carteret?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the New Jersey State Police is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Open Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Carteret?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Carteret police for its own arrests, the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Open Public Records Act the answer is due within 7 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at middlesexcountynj.gov.
Is this the official Carteret 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.