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 between September 23, 2026 and October 1, 2026.
Columbia County, New York, has about 60,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Columbia County Sheriff's Office and five city agencies. 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 Columbia 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: Columbia County public records, New York arrest records, New York inmate search and New York criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Columbia County
The Columbia County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Columbia County. It reported 346 arrests for 2023, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists three cities in Columbia County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Hudson, 5,735 residents: 119 arrests reported for 2025.
- Chatham, 1,547 residents: 2 arrests reported for 2025.
- Philmont, 1,483 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2024.
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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Columbia 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.
- Columbia County Sheriff's Office: 346 for 2023, 215 for 2022 and 727 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
- Hudson: 119 for 2025, 191 for 2024, 195 for 2023, 217 for 2022, 160 for 2021 and 171 for 2020.
- Greenport Town: 17 for 2023 and 101 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Chatham: 2 for 2025, 28 for 2020 and 36 for 2019; 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Philmont: 0 for 2024, 8 for 2022 and 15 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2023 on file reported 558 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2023 and 2022 complete reported 541 in 2023 against 432 in 2022, up 25 percent.
Philmont and Chatham reported only part of 2023 (10 months and 10 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Columbia County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Columbia County 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 29 people on an average day, down from about 72 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 135 beds, and it ran at 54 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 Columbia County Sheriff's Office at columbiacountyso.policetocitizen.com/Inmates/Catalog (page title: Police To Citizen), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 1, 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 Columbia County
For Columbia County the place to look is the case index of the Columbia County Supreme and County Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at clerkofcourtcolumbia.com/court-case-info).
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 Columbia 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 Columbia County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Hudson, Chatham or Philmont: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Columbia County Supreme and County Courts, through the court records page at clerkofcourtcolumbia.com/court-case-info.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based Record Review through the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
Cities in Columbia County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the five cities in Columbia County: Hudson, Chatham and Philmont. Valatie and Kinderhook have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Greenport Town Police Department and the Stockport Town Police Department as city agencies in Columbia County; Greenport Town and Stockport Town are not among the cities above.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Columbia County Supreme and County Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Columbia County each year?
The Columbia County Sheriff's Office reported 346 arrests to the FBI for 2023, and the three agencies with every month of 2023 on file reported 558 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Columbia County?
Ask the Columbia County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at columbiacountyso.policetocitizen.com.
Where are people arrested in Columbia County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Columbia County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Columbia 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 Columbia County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Columbia 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 Columbia 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.