Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. 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 on September 23, 2026.
Sussex County, New Jersey, has about 147,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Sussex County Sheriff's Office, 11 city agencies and two campus, state or other agencies. An arrest 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, Sussex County. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Sussex County public records, New Jersey arrest records, New Jersey inmate search and New Jersey criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Sussex County
The Sussex County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Sussex County. It reported 246 arrests for 2020, its latest complete year.
Arrests inside seven of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Hopatcong, 14,750 residents: 140 arrests reported for 2025.
- Newton, 8,435 residents: 301 arrests reported for 2025.
- Franklin, 5,059 residents: 68 arrests reported for 2025.
- Stanhope, 3,599 residents: 23 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hamburg, 3,351 residents: 40 arrests reported for 2025.
- Ogdensburg, 2,310 residents: 3 arrests reported for 2024.
- Andover, 610 residents: 40 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 Sussex County: Prosecutor in Sussex County (other); the Sussex County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Sussex County
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.
- Newton: 301 for 2025, 162 for 2024, 188 for 2023, 151 for 2021, 225 for 2020 and 237 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Sparta Township: 159 for 2025, 220 for 2024, 170 for 2023, 166 for 2022, 140 for 2021 and 356 for 2020.
- Hopatcong: 140 for 2025, 112 for 2024, 62 for 2023, 242 for 2020 and 272 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Franklin: 68 for 2025, 95 for 2024, 103 for 2023, 78 for 2022, 101 for 2021 and 122 for 2020.
- Vernon Township: 63 for 2025, 77 for 2024, 69 for 2023, 67 for 2022, 198 for 2020 and 273 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Andover: 40 for 2025, 39 for 2024, 47 for 2023, 18 for 2022, 37 for 2020 and 93 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Hamburg: 40 for 2025, 59 for 2024, 54 for 2023, 37 for 2022, 63 for 2020 and 53 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Hardyston Township: 36 for 2025, 41 for 2024, 57 for 2023, 61 for 2022, 48 for 2021 and 41 for 2020.
- Stanhope: 23 for 2025, 24 for 2024, 51 for 2023, 24 for 2022, 27 for 2021 and 100 for 2020.
- Sussex County Sheriff's Office: 246 for 2020 and 571 for 2019.
- Byram Township: 85 for 2024, 98 for 2020 and 170 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Ogdensburg: 3 for 2024, 7 for 2020 and 14 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the nine agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 870 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 870 in 2025 against 829 in 2024, up 4.9 percent.
Through August 2026, the nine agencies with every month so far on file reported 537 arrests, against 583 in the same months of 2025.
Ogdensburg and Byram Township reported only part of 2025 (8 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Sussex County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Sussex County 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 52 people, down from about 110 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 170 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 jail page of the Sussex County Sheriff's Office at sussex.nj.us/161/Sussex-County-Sheriffs-Office (page title: Sussex County Sheriff's Office | Sussex County, NJ), phone 973-579-0850, 39 High Street Newton, NJ 07860, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
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 Sussex County
Whether someone was arrested in Sussex County, 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 sussexprosecutornj.org).
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 Sussex 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 Sussex County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 973-579-0850.
- An arrest in Hopatcong, Newton, Franklin, Stanhope, Hamburg, Ogdensburg 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 Prosecutor in Sussex County or the Sussex County State Police: 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.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the State Police.
Cities in Sussex County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for seven of the nine cities in Sussex County: Hopatcong, Newton, Franklin, Stanhope, Hamburg, Ogdensburg and Andover. Sussex and Branchville have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Byram Township Police Department, the Hardyston Township Police Department, the Sparta Township Police Department and one more as city agencies in Sussex County; Byram Township, Hardyston Township, Sparta Township and one 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, Sussex County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Sussex County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Sussex County each year?
Newton reported 301 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the nine agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 870 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Sussex County?
Ask the Sussex County Sheriff's Office at 973-579-0850; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sussex.nj.us.
Where are people arrested in Sussex County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Sussex County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Sussex County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Sussex 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 Sussex County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Sussex 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.
Is this the official Sussex 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.