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.
Clinton County, New York, has about 78,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Clinton County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and one campus agency. 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 District Attorney files charges, a case in the Clinton County Supreme and County Courts. 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: Clinton County public records, New York arrest records, New York inmate search and New York criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Clinton County
The Clinton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Clinton County. It reported 318 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Clinton County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Plattsburgh, 19,758 residents: 647 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 one more agency in Clinton County: the Plattsburgh State University of New York Police (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Clinton 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.
- Plattsburgh: 647 for 2025, 493 for 2024, 485 for 2023, 428 for 2022 and 439 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
- Clinton County Sheriff's Office: 318 for 2025 and 324 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 965 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 647 in 2025 against 493 in 2024, up 31 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Clinton County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Clinton 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 130 people on an average day, down from about 170 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 271 beds, and it ran at 64 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 Clinton County
An arrest in Clinton County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Clinton County Supreme and County Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at clintoncountyny.gov/countyclerk, phone 518-565-4700); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at clintoncountyny.gov/da, phone (518) 565-4770).
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 Clinton County
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 Clinton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Plattsburgh: 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 the Plattsburgh State University of New York Police: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (518) 565-4770, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Clinton County Supreme and County Courts, through the court records page at clintoncountyny.gov/countyclerk, phone 518-565-4700.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based Record Review through the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
Cities in Clinton County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the four cities in Clinton County: Plattsburgh. Dannemora, Rouses Point and Champlain have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Clinton County Supreme and County Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Clinton County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Plattsburgh (19,758)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Clinton County each year?
Plattsburgh reported 647 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 965 between them.
Where are people arrested in Clinton County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Clinton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Clinton County?
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 Clinton County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Clinton County Sheriff's Office 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.
Is this the official Clinton 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.