Essex County Arrest Records: Who Makes Arrests, Where People Are Booked and How to Get the Report

Who Makes Arrests in Essex County

The Essex County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Essex County. It reported 2,847 arrests for 2020, its latest complete year.

The FBI lists seven cities in Essex County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:

• Newark, 317,303 residents: 6,842 arrests reported for 2025.
• East Orange, 71,850 residents: 867 arrests reported for 2025.
• Caldwell, 9,326 residents: 22 arrests reported for 2025.
• Glen Ridge, 8,204 residents: 65 arrests reported for 2025.
• North Caldwell, 6,769 residents: 8 arrests reported for 2025.
• Roseland, 6,370 residents: 19 arrests reported for 2024.
• Essex Fells, 2,220 residents: 33 arrests reported for 2025.

A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.

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 Each Agency Reports in Essex County

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.

• Newark: 6,842 for 2025, 6,758 for 2024, 6,051 for 2023, 5,683 for 2022, 9,285 for 2020 and 11,846 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
• 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.
• Bloomfield: 642 for 2025, 659 for 2024, 617 for 2023, 408 for 2022, 696 for 2020 and 1,238 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
• Orange: 477 for 2025, 470 for 2024, 445 for 2023, 341 for 2022, 260 for 2021 and 613 for 2020.
• Irvington: 415 for 2025, 319 for 2024 and 1,532 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
• Belleville: 385 for 2025, 365 for 2024, 340 for 2023, 305 for 2022, 436 for 2020 and 725 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
• Millburn Township: 268 for 2025, 318 for 2024, 240 for 2022 and 595 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2023 are missing months.
• West Orange: 257 for 2025, 236 for 2024, 203 for 2023, 126 for 2022, 283 for 2020 and 579 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
• Livingston Township: 237 for 2025, 257 for 2024, 242 for 2023, 298 for 2022, 175 for 2021 and 549 for 2020.
• Nutley Township: 187 for 2025, 188 for 2024, 237 for 2023, 177 for 2022, 236 for 2020 and 518 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
• Montclair: 185 for 2025, 162 for 2024, 108 for 2023, 138 for 2022, 127 for 2021 and 479 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
• South Orange: 127 for 2025, 143 for 2024, 113 for 2023, 80 for 2022, 95 for 2021 and 170 for 2020.

Together, the 21 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 11,312 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 11,312 in 2025 against 11,289 in 2024, up 0.2 percent.

Through August 2026, the 16 agencies with every month so far on file reported 6,124 arrests, against 6,861 in the same months of 2025.

Essex County Sheriff's Office and Roseland reported only part of 2025 (11 months and 3 months) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Essex County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in Essex County 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 Essex County

Whether someone was arrested in Essex County, 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 Essex County

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 Essex County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
• An arrest in Newark, East Orange, Caldwell, Glen Ridge, North Caldwell, Roseland or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
• An arrest by New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rutgers University at Newark or Essex County College: the records office of the agency involved.
• 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.

Cities in Essex County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the seven cities in Essex County: Newark, East Orange, Caldwell, Glen Ridge, North Caldwell, Roseland and Essex Fells. The FBI's list also carries the West Caldwell Township Police Department, the West Orange Police Department, the Belleville Police Department and 12 more as city agencies in Essex County; West Caldwell Township, West Orange, Belleville and 12 more are not among the cities above.

Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Superior Court of New Jersey, Essex County.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Essex County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

• East Orange (71,850)
• Caldwell (9,326)
• North Caldwell (6,769)
• Roseland (6,370)

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Essex County each year?

Newark reported 6,842 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 21 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 11,312 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Essex County?

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 Essex County 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 Essex County?

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 Essex County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Essex County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. 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 Essex County website?

No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.