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 October 4, 2026.
Westfield, New Jersey, in Union County, has about 32,000 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, Union 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: Westfield public records, Union County arrest records, New Jersey arrest records and New Jersey inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Westfield
The FBI lists Westfield with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Westfield Police Department. It reported 111 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 Union County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 122 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Union County: Kean University (campus police); Prosecutor in Union County and the Union County Park Police (other); the Union County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Westfield 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.
- Westfield: 111 for 2025, 110 for 2024, 83 for 2023, 90 for 2022, 87 for 2021 and 206 for 2020.
Westfield's 111 arrests in 2025 were up 0.9 percent from 110 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Westfield reported 78 arrests, against 70 in the same months of 2025.
Across Union County, the 20 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,391 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Westfield Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Westfield 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 330 people, down from about 420 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 995 beds, and it ran at 42 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 Union County Sheriff's Office at unioncountynj.org (page title: Union County, NJ, Sheriff & Jail Info, Inmate Search), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 Westfield
Whether someone was arrested in Westfield, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Union County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Union 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).
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 Westfield
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 Westfield police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at westfieldnj.gov/248/Request-a-Copy-of-a-Police-Report (page title: Request a Copy of a Police Report | Westfield, NJ), phone 908-789-6065, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Union County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Superior Court of New Jersey, Union County, through the court records page at njcourts.gov/public/find-a-case.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the State Police.
The Union County guide covers every agency in the county: Union County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Westfield each year?
Westfield reported 111 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Westfield booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Union County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Westfield?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Union 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 Westfield?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Westfield police for its own arrests, the Union 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 Westfield 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.