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 9, 2026.
Schenectady County, New York, has about 162,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Schenectady 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 Schenectady 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: Schenectady County public records, New York arrest records, New York inmate search and New York criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Schenectady County
The Schenectady County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Schenectady County.
The FBI lists two cities in Schenectady County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Schenectady, 69,495 residents: 888 arrests reported for 2025.
- Scotia, 7,321 residents: 124 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 Schenectady 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.
- Schenectady: 888 for 2025, 785 for 2024, 642 for 2023, 684 for 2022, 694 for 2021 and 1,930 for 2020.
- Rotterdam Town: 599 for 2025, 503 for 2024, 363 for 2023, 326 for 2022 and 362 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
- Niskayuna Town: 343 for 2025, 363 for 2024, 281 for 2023, 160 for 2022 and 210 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
- Glenville Town: 284 for 2025, 334 for 2024, 357 for 2023, 408 for 2022, 433 for 2020 and 467 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Scotia: 124 for 2025, 111 for 2023, 108 for 2022, 125 for 2020 and 153 for 2019; 2021 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,238 arrests that year. The four of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,114 in 2025 against 1,985 in 2024, up 6.5 percent.
Schenectady County Sheriff's Office reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Schenectady County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Schenectady 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 200 people on an average day, down from about 230 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 368 beds, and it ran at 51 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 Schenectady County Sheriff's Office at schenectadycountyny.gov/sheriff (page title: Schenectady County Sheriff's Office | Schenectady County), phone (518) 388-4300, 320 Veeder Ave. Schenectady, NY 12307, 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 Schenectady County
Whether someone was arrested in Schenectady County, 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 schenectadycountyny.gov/districtattorney).
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 Schenectady 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 Schenectady County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (518) 388-4300.
- An arrest in Schenectady or Scotia: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based Record Review through the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
The other Schenectady County guides go further: warrants, inmate search, police reports and property records.
Cities in Schenectady County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the three cities in Schenectady County: Schenectady and Scotia. Delanson has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Rotterdam Town Police Department, the Glenville Town Police Department and the Niskayuna Town Police Department as city agencies in Schenectady County; Rotterdam Town, Glenville Town and Niskayuna 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 Schenectady County Supreme and County Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Schenectady County each year?
Schenectady reported 888 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,238 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Schenectady County?
Ask the Schenectady County Sheriff's Office at (518) 388-4300; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at schenectadycountyny.gov/sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Schenectady County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Schenectady County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Schenectady 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 Schenectady County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Schenectady 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 Schenectady 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.