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 30, 2026.
Hawthorne, New Jersey, in Passaic County, has about 20,000 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, Passaic 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: Hawthorne public records, Passaic County arrest records, New Jersey arrest records and New Jersey inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Hawthorne
The FBI lists Hawthorne with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Hawthorne Police Department. It reported 176 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 Passaic County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,005 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Passaic County: William Paterson University (campus police); Prosecutor in Passaic County (other); the Passaic County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Hawthorne 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.
- Hawthorne: 176 for 2025, 120 for 2024, 139 for 2023, 141 for 2022, 161 for 2021 and 279 for 2020.
Hawthorne's 176 arrests in 2025 were up 47 percent from 120 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Hawthorne reported 173 arrests, against 126 in the same months of 2025.
Across Passaic County, the 17 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 7,540 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hawthorne Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Hawthorne 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 2020 the jail held about 560 people, down from about 620 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 940 beds, and it ran at 65 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 Passaic County Sheriff's Office at pcsheriff.org/corrections/inmate_search/index.php (page title: Passaic County Sheriff), phone 973-881-4200, 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 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 Hawthorne
Whether someone was arrested in Hawthorne, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Passaic County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Passaic County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at records.passaiccountynj.org/press/Clerk/ClerkHome.aspx?op=basic); the County Prosecutor, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at njoag.gov/passaic-county-prosecutor-assumes-oversight-of-paterson-p..., phone 609-292-4791).
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 Hawthorne
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 Hawthorne police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at hawthornenj.org/399/Police-Report-Request (page title: Police Report Request | Hawthorne, NJ), phone 973-427-1800, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Passaic County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 973-881-4200.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Prosecutor, 609-292-4791, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Superior Court of New Jersey, Passaic County, through the court records page at records.passaiccountynj.org.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the State Police.
The Passaic County guide covers every agency in the county: Passaic County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hawthorne each year?
Hawthorne reported 176 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Hawthorne?
Look on the custody page of the Passaic County Sheriff's Office at pcsheriff.org, or call 973-881-4200. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Hawthorne booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Passaic County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hawthorne?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Passaic 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 Hawthorne?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hawthorne police for its own arrests, the Passaic County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Open Public Records Act the answer is due within 7 business days.
Is this the official Hawthorne 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.