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 2, 2026.
Elmira, New York, in Chemung County, has about 26,000 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 District Attorney files charges, a case in the Chemung County Supreme and County Courts. 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: Elmira public records, Chemung County arrest records, New York arrest records and New York inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Elmira
The FBI lists Elmira with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Elmira Town Police Department. It reported 19 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 Chemung County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 750 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Elmira (town) 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.
- Elmira (town): 19 for 2025, 9 for 2024, 19 for 2023, 7 for 2022, 13 for 2020 and 75 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Through July 2026, Elmira (town) reported 14 arrests, against 11 in the same months of 2025.
Across Chemung County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,419 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Elmira Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Elmira 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 120 people on an average day, down from about 140 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 264 beds, and it ran at 51 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 York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, whose inmate locator is at nysdoccslookup.doccs.ny.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Elmira
An arrest in Elmira can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: eCourts, the Unified Court System's free online case search (WebCivil, WebCrims and WebFamily), which shows whether charges were filed; the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at chemungcountyny.gov/391/District-Attorney, phone (607) 873-9430).
New York is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Office of Court Administration sells a statewide search of criminal court records by name and date of birth, for $95 a search, through the New York State Office of Court Administration. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Elmira
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Freedom of Information Law the agency must answer within 5 business days, at least with an acknowledgment and a date for the full answer, and it may charge copying at 25 cents a page.
- An arrest by the Elmira police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at cityofelmirany.gov/278/Records-Bureau (page title: Records Bureau | Elmira, NY), phone 877-472-6915, 317 E Church Street Elmira, NY 14901, Monday through Friday 7:30 am to 3 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Chemung County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (607) 873-9430, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based Record Review through the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
The Chemung County guide covers every agency in the county: Chemung County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Elmira each year?
Elmira (town) reported 19 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Elmira booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Chemung County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Elmira?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the New York State Office of Court Administration: the Office of Court Administration sells a statewide search of criminal court records by name and date of birth, for $95. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Freedom of Information Law.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Elmira?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Elmira police for its own arrests, the Chemung County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Freedom of Information Law the answer is due within 5 business days, at least with an acknowledgment and a date for the full answer.
Is this the official Elmira 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.