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.
Jefferson County, New York, has about 113,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and 13 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 Jefferson 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: Jefferson County public records, New York arrest records, New York inmate search and New York criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Jefferson County
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Jefferson County. It reported 665 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
Arrests inside 12 of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Watertown, 24,038 residents: 964 arrests reported for 2025.
- Carthage, 3,257 residents: 38 arrests reported for 2025.
- West Carthage, 1,749 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Clayton, 1,689 residents: 2 arrests reported for 2025.
- Sackets Harbor, 1,364 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Black River, 1,236 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Dexter, 1,011 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Alexandria Bay, 942 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Brownville, 928 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Theresa, 742 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Cape Vincent, 727 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Glen Park, 445 residents: 0 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Jefferson 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.
- Watertown: 964 for 2025, 1,200 for 2024, 1,033 for 2023, 1,035 for 2022, 920 for 2021 and 882 for 2020.
- Carthage: 38 for 2025, 36 for 2024, 46 for 2023, 57 for 2022, 71 for 2020 and 80 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Clayton: 2 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 1 for 2020 and 14 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Sackets Harbor: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2022 and 0 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2023 are missing months.
- Black River: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 1 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 8 for 2020 and 4 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Theresa: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Alexandria Bay: 0 for 2025, 2 for 2024, 2 for 2022 and 1 for 2020; 2021 and 2023 are missing months.
- Brownville: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Dexter: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 1 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 and 2024 are missing months.
- Glen Park: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 0 for 2020 and 7 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Cape Vincent: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 4 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- West Carthage: 0 for 2025, 5 for 2024, 15 for 2023, 6 for 2022, 17 for 2020 and 16 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Together, the 12 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,004 arrests that year. The 11 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,004 in 2025 against 1,243 in 2024, down 19 percent.
Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and Adams Village reported only part of 2025 (11 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Jefferson County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Jefferson 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 160 people on an average day, up from about 130 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 124 beds, and it ran at 106 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 Jefferson County
Whether someone was arrested in Jefferson County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Jefferson County Supreme and County Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at jeffersoncountyny.gov/departments/CountyClerk/Court/LandRecords, phone 315-785-3312); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at jeffersoncountyny.gov/departments/DistrictAttorney, phone (315)785-3053).
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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Watertown, Carthage, West Carthage, Clayton, Sackets Harbor, Black River or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (315)785-3053, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Jefferson County Supreme and County Courts, through the court records page at jeffersoncountyny.gov, phone 315-785-3312.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at jeffersoncountyny.gov/searchcopyrequests (page title: Welcome to Jefferson County, New York | Search & Copy Requests).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based Record Review through the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
Cities in Jefferson County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 12 of the 20 cities in Jefferson County: Watertown, Carthage, West Carthage, Clayton, Sackets Harbor, Black River, Dexter, Alexandria Bay, Brownville, Theresa, Cape Vincent and Glen Park. Adams, Philadelphia, Evans Mills, Chaumont, Antwerp, Mannsville, Deferiet and Ellisburg have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Adams Village Police Department as a city agency in Jefferson County; Adams Village is 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 Jefferson County Supreme and County Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Jefferson County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Watertown (24,038)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Jefferson County each year?
Watertown reported 964 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 12 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,004 between them.
Where are people arrested in Jefferson County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Jefferson 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 Jefferson County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Jefferson 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at jeffersoncountyny.gov/searchcopyrequests.
Is this the official Jefferson 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.