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 2023. 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 25, 2026.
Jamestown, New York, in Chautauqua County, has about 28,000 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 Chautauqua 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: Jamestown public records, Chautauqua County arrest records, New York arrest records and New York inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Jamestown
The FBI lists Jamestown with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Jamestown Police Department. It reported 2,046 arrests for 2023, its latest complete year. 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 Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 516 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Chautauqua County: the Fredonia State University of New York Police (campus police).
How Many Arrests Jamestown 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.
- Jamestown: 2,046 for 2023, 2,068 for 2022, 1,953 for 2021 and 2,501 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Jamestown's 2,046 arrests in 2023 were down 1.1 percent from 2,068 in 2022.
Across Chautauqua County, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,397 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Jamestown Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Jamestown 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 180 people on an average day, down from about 240 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 303 beds, and it ran at 55 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 Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.us/corrections (page title: Corrections), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
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 Jamestown
Whether someone was arrested in Jamestown, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Chautauqua County Supreme and County Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at chautauquacountyny.gov/county-clerk/County-Clerk-1, phone (716) 753-4331); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at chautauquacountyny.gov/district-attorney/district-attorney, phone 716-753-4241).
Statewide, eCourts is the Unified Court System's free online case search (WebCivil, WebCrims and WebFamily).
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 Jamestown
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 Jamestown police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at jamestownny.gov/police-department/frequently-asked-questions-faqs (page title: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS) JPD | City of Jamestown, New York), phone (900) 288-3838, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 716-753-4241, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Chautauqua County Supreme and County Courts, through the court records page at chautauquacountyny.gov, phone (716) 753-4331.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based Record Review through the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
The Chautauqua County guide covers every agency in the county: Chautauqua County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Jamestown each year?
Jamestown reported 2,046 arrests to the FBI for 2023, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Jamestown?
Ask the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sheriff.us/corrections.
Where are people arrested in Jamestown booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Jamestown?
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 Jamestown?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Jamestown police for its own arrests, the Chautauqua 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 Jamestown 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.