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 September 30, 2026.
Lancaster, New York, in Erie County, has about 10,000 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 Erie 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: Lancaster public records, Erie County arrest records, New York arrest records and New York inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Lancaster
The FBI lists Lancaster with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Lancaster Town Police Department. It reported 271 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 Erie County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 900 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Erie County: the Buffalo State College State University of New York Police and the Buffalo State University of New York Police (campus police); the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (other).
How Many Arrests Lancaster 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.
- Lancaster: 271 for 2025, 349 for 2024, 691 for 2023, 719 for 2022, 753 for 2020 and 1,002 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Lancaster's 271 arrests in 2025 were down 22 percent from 349 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Lancaster reported 207 arrests, against 161 in the same months of 2025.
Across Erie County, the 19 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 17,041 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lancaster Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lancaster 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 760 people on an average day, down from about 870 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,385 beds, and it ran at 56 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 Erie County Sheriff's Office at www4.erie.gov/sheriff (page title: Erie County Sheriff's Office), phone 716-858-7755, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision lists its inmates at nysdoccslookup.doccs.ny.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Lancaster
An arrest in Lancaster can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Erie County Supreme and County Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at www4.erie.gov/clerk/court-recordsfiling); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at www4.erie.gov/da).
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 Lancaster
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 Lancaster police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at lancasterny.gov/departments/police/65-accident-reports.html (page title: Records Office Services), phone 716-683-2800, 525 Pavement Road Lancaster, NY 14086, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Erie County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 716-858-7755.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Erie County Supreme and County Courts, through the court records page at www4.erie.gov/clerk/court-recordsfiling.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at www4.erie.gov (page title: General Rules for Requesting Information | Erie County Clerk Michael P. Kearns).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based Record Review through the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
The Erie County guide covers every agency in the county: Erie County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lancaster each year?
Lancaster reported 271 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lancaster?
Ask the Erie County Sheriff's Office at 716-858-7755; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at www4.erie.gov/sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Lancaster booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Erie County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lancaster?
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 Lancaster?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lancaster police for its own arrests, the Erie 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at www4.erie.gov.
Is this the official Lancaster 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.