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 24, 2026.
Columbia County, Oregon, has about 54,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, five city agencies and two campus, state or other 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 Circuit Court. 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, Oregon arrest records, Oregon inmate search and Oregon 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 310 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists five cities in Columbia County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- St. Helens, 14,460 residents: 562 arrests reported for 2025.
- Scappoose, 8,282 residents: 80 arrests reported for 2023.
- Vernonia, 2,428 residents: 20 arrests reported for 2021.
- Columbia City, 1,949 residents: 7 arrests reported for 2024.
- Rainier, 1,932 residents: 44 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 these agencies in Columbia County: the Columbia County State Police (state police); the Columbia County Liquor Commission (state agency).
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.
- St. Helens: 562 for 2025, 489 for 2023, 433 for 2022, 520 for 2021, 484 for 2020 and 560 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Columbia County Sheriff's Office: 310 for 2025, 363 for 2024, 302 for 2023, 235 for 2022 and 240 for 2021.
- Scappoose: 80 for 2023, 107 for 2022, 152 for 2021, 169 for 2020 and 219 for 2019.
- Rainier: 44 for 2025, 26 for 2024, 36 for 2023, 50 for 2022, 24 for 2021 and 31 for 2020.
- Columbia City: 7 for 2024, 5 for 2023, 8 for 2022, 5 for 2021, 11 for 2020 and 15 for 2019.
- Vernonia: 20 for 2021, 21 for 2020 and 20 for 2019.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2023 on file reported 912 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2023 and 2022 complete reported 912 in 2023 against 833 in 2022, up 9.5 percent.
Vernonia reported only part of 2023 (11 months) and is 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.
On an average day in 2023 the jail held about 140 people, down from about 170 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 180 beds, and it ran at 79 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Columbia County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.columbiacountyor.gov/CurrentInmateListing (page title: Columbia County Oregon Sheriff | Current Inmate Listing), 901 Port Ave., St. Helens, OR 97051, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Oregon Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at oregon.gov/doc/victim-services/pages/offender-search.aspx.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Columbia County
Whether someone was arrested in Columbia County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Columbia County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Columbia County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at courts.oregon.gov/courts/columbia/records/pages/default.aspx, phone 503-397-2327); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at columbiacountyor.gov/departments/DistrictAttorney, phone 503-397-2760).
Statewide, Oregon eCourt Case Information is the Oregon Judicial Department's online case search, free for basic case information.
Oregon is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: an Open Record Request returns anyone's Oregon conviction record by name, and the subject is told who asked, for $10 a search, through the Oregon State Police. 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
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the Oregon Public Records Law the agency must answer within 15 business days where practicable, after acknowledging the request within 5, and it may charge the actual cost of making the record available.
- An arrest by the Columbia County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in St. Helens, Scappoose, Vernonia, Columbia City or Rainier: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Columbia County State Police or the Columbia County Liquor Commission: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 503-397-2760, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Columbia County Circuit Court, through the court records page at courts.oregon.gov, phone 503-397-2327.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at sheriff.columbiacountyor.gov (page title: Columbia County Oregon Sheriff | Public Records Requests).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Columbia County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for five of the seven cities in Columbia County: St. Helens, Scappoose, Vernonia, Columbia City and Rainier. Clatskanie and Prescott 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 Columbia County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Columbia County each year?
St. Helens reported 562 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2023, the latest year most of the agencies in Columbia County sent in full, the five with every month on file reported 912 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Columbia County?
Look on the custody page of the Columbia County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.columbiacountyor.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.
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 Oregon State Police: an Open Record Request returns anyone's Oregon conviction record by name, and the subject is told who asked, for $10. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Oregon Public Records 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 Oregon Public Records Law the answer is due within 15 business days where practicable, after acknowledging the request within 5; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at sheriff.columbiacountyor.gov.
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.