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.
Garfield, New Jersey, in Bergen County, has about 34,000 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: Garfield public records, Bergen County arrest records, New Jersey arrest records and New Jersey inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Garfield
The FBI lists Garfield with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Garfield Police Department. It reported 316 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 Garfield 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.
- Garfield: 316 for 2025, 272 for 2024, 280 for 2023, 162 for 2022, 605 for 2020 and 947 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Garfield's 316 arrests in 2025 were up 16 percent from 272 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Garfield reported 163 arrests, against 205 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 Garfield Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Garfield 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 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 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 Garfield
Whether someone was arrested in Garfield, 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 Garfield
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 Garfield police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at garfieldnj.org/Departments/police-department (page title: The Official Website of The City of Garfield, NJ | Police Department), phone 973-478-8500, 411 Midland Ave., Garfield, NJ 07026, Monday 8:30AM - 5:00PM, 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 Garfield each year?
Garfield reported 316 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Garfield 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 Garfield?
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 Garfield?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Garfield 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 Garfield 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.