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.
Oswego County, New York, has about 118,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Oswego County Sheriff's Office, five city agencies 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 Oswego 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: Oswego County public records, New York arrest records, New York inmate search and New York criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Oswego County
The Oswego County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Oswego County. It reported 944 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists five cities in Oswego County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Oswego, 17,047 residents: 1,129 arrests reported for 2025.
- Fulton, 11,234 residents: 636 arrests reported for 2025.
- Pulaski, 2,270 residents: 31 arrests reported for 2025.
- Phoenix, 2,198 residents: 6 arrests reported for 2025.
- Central Square, 1,848 residents: 184 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.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Oswego County: the Oswego State University of New York Police (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Oswego County
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.
- Oswego: 1,129 for 2025, 1,495 for 2024, 1,477 for 2023, 1,438 for 2022, 1,303 for 2021 and 1,037 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Oswego County Sheriff's Office: 944 for 2025, 1,047 for 2024, 1,137 for 2023, 905 for 2022 and 549 for 2021.
- Fulton: 636 for 2025, 869 for 2024, 998 for 2023 and 966 for 2022.
- Pulaski: 31 for 2025, 42 for 2024, 32 for 2023, 29 for 2022, 27 for 2020 and 58 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Phoenix: 6 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 3 for 2023, 3 for 2022, 11 for 2020 and 10 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Central Square: 184 for 2024, 111 for 2020 and 145 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,746 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,746 in 2025 against 3,453 in 2024, down 20 percent.
Central Square reported only part of 2025 (10 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Oswego County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Oswego 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 120 people on an average day, down from about 120 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 159 beds, and it ran at 78 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 Oswego County Sheriff's Office at oswegocountyny.gov/departments/public_safety/sheriff/corrections_di... (page title: Oswego County, NY), phone 800-596-3200, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
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 Oswego County
Whether someone was arrested in Oswego County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Oswego County Supreme and County Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at oswegocountyny.gov/government/county_clerk/court_records.php, phone 800-596-3200); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at oswegocountyny.gov/departments/public_safety/district_attorney/inde..., phone 800-596-3200).
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 Oswego 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 Oswego County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 800-596-3200.
- An arrest in Oswego, Fulton, Pulaski, Phoenix or Central Square: 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 Oswego 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, 800-596-3200, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Oswego County Supreme and County Courts, through the court records page at oswegocountyny.gov, phone 800-596-3200.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based Record Review through the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
Cities in Oswego County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for five of the 11 cities in Oswego County: Oswego, Fulton, Pulaski, Phoenix and Central Square. Mexico, Cleveland, Lacona, Sandy Creek, Hannibal and Parish 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 Oswego County Supreme and County Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Oswego County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Fulton (11,234)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Oswego County each year?
Oswego reported 1,129 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,746 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Oswego County?
Ask the Oswego County Sheriff's Office at 800-596-3200; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at oswegocountyny.gov.
Where are people arrested in Oswego County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Oswego County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Oswego 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 Oswego County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Oswego 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 Oswego 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.