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.
East Orange, New Jersey, in Essex County, has about 72,000 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, Essex 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: East Orange public records, Essex County arrest records, New Jersey arrest records and New Jersey inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in East Orange
The FBI lists East Orange with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as East Orange Police Department. It reported 867 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 Essex County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 2,847 arrests for 2020.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Essex County: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rutgers University at Newark, Essex County College and Montclair State University (campus police); Prosecutor in Essex County (other); the Essex County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests East Orange 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.
- East Orange: 867 for 2025, 1,104 for 2024, 1,362 for 2023, 2,940 for 2020 and 3,600 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
East Orange's 867 arrests in 2025 were down 21 percent from 1,104 in 2024.
Through August 2026, East Orange reported 586 arrests, against 650 in the same months of 2025.
Across Essex County, the 21 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 11,312 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in East Orange Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in East Orange 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 2,190 people, up from about 2,020 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 2,434 beds, and it ran at 90 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 Essex County Sheriff's Office at essexdoc.com/inmate-info (page title: Inmate Info | Department of Correction), 354 Doremus Avenue Newark, NJ 07105, Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 3:00 pm., 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 East Orange
Whether someone was arrested in East Orange, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Essex County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Essex County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at njcourts.gov/public/find-a-case); the County Prosecutor, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at njecpo.org).
Statewide, New Jersey Courts Public Access is the Judiciary's free online case search for civil and criminal cases.
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 East Orange
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. 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 East Orange police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at eastorange-nj.gov/162/Police-Department (page title: Police Department | East Orange, NJ), phone 973-266-5041, 15 S Munn Avenue East Orange, NJ 07018, Monday - Friday, from 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Essex 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.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Superior Court of New Jersey, Essex County, through the court records page at njcourts.gov/public/find-a-case.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at njecpo.org (page title: Open Public Records Act | Essex County Prosecutor's Office).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the State Police.
The Essex County guide covers every agency in the county: Essex County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in East Orange each year?
East Orange reported 867 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in East Orange?
Look on the custody page of the Essex County Sheriff's Office at essexdoc.com/inmate-info. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in East Orange booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Essex County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in East Orange?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Essex 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 East Orange?
From the agency that made the arrest: the East Orange police for its own arrests, the Essex 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 njecpo.org.
Is this the official East Orange 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.