Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. 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.
Valley Stream, New York, in Nassau County, has about 40,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). 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 Nassau County Supreme and County Courts. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it.
This guide covers who makes arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Valley Stream public records, Nassau County arrest records, New York arrest records and New York inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Valley Stream
The FBI lists no arrest reporting agency under the name of Valley Stream. In Nassau County the county agency that reports arrests is the Nassau County Police Department.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Nassau County: United States Merchant Marine Academy and the Old Westbury State University of New York Police (campus police).
Booking: Where People Arrested in Valley Stream Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Valley Stream 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 690 people on an average day, down from about 1,030 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,540 beds, and it ran at 47 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 Valley Stream
Whether someone was arrested in Valley Stream, and what came of it, shows up in two places: 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 nassaucountyny.gov/3427/Prosecution).
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 Valley Stream
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 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 Valley Stream police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at troopers.ny.gov/request-records (page title: Request Records | New York State Police), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
- An arrest by the Nassau County Police Department: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at nassaucountyny.gov (page title: COUNTY OF NASSAU STATE OF NEW YORK APPLICATION FOR PUBLIC ACCESS TO RECORDS).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based Record Review through the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
The Nassau County guide covers every agency in the county: Nassau County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where are people arrested in Valley Stream booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Nassau County Police Department; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Valley Stream?
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 Valley Stream?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Nassau County Police Department for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. 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 nassaucountyny.gov.
Is this the official Valley Stream 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.