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.
Fort Lee, New Jersey, in Bergen County, has about 41,000 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, Bergen 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: Fort Lee public records, Bergen County arrest records, New Jersey arrest records and New Jersey inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Fort Lee
The FBI lists Fort Lee with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Fort Lee Police Department. It reported 231 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 Bergen County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 795 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Bergen County: Palisades Interstate Parkway (state agency); Prosecutor in Bergen County (other); the Bergen County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Fort Lee 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.
- Fort Lee: 231 for 2025, 230 for 2024, 334 for 2023, 338 for 2022, 212 for 2021 and 635 for 2020.
Fort Lee's 231 arrests in 2025 were up 0.4 percent from 230 in 2024.
Through May 2026, Fort Lee reported 67 arrests, against 84 in the same months of 2025.
Across Bergen County, the 59 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 6,999 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Fort Lee Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Fort Lee 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 2021 the jail held about 400 people, down from about 860 in 2018. Its rated capacity in 2018, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,297 beds, and it ran at 67 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the New Jersey Department of Corrections lists its inmates at www20.state.nj.us/DOC_Inmate/inmatefinder?i=I.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Fort Lee
Whether someone was arrested in Fort Lee, and what came of it, shows up in two places: 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 bergencountynj.gov/prosecutor, phone 201-336-6000).
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 Fort Lee
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 Fort Lee police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at fortleenj.org/m/faq?cat=17#question-85 (page title: FAQs | CivicPlus.CMS.FAQ), phone 201-592-3515, Monday-Friday from 9am to 3:45pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Bergen County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Prosecutor, 201-336-6000, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at bergencountynj.gov (page title: Submit An OPRA Request | Bergen County, NJ).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the State Police.
The Bergen County guide covers every agency in the county: Bergen County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Fort Lee each year?
Fort Lee reported 231 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Fort Lee booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Bergen County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Fort Lee?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Bergen 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 Fort Lee?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Fort Lee police for its own arrests, the Bergen 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 bergencountynj.gov.
Is this the official Fort Lee 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.