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.
Malheur County, Oregon, has about 32,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Malheur County Sheriff's Office, two 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 Malheur 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: Malheur County public records, Oregon arrest records, Oregon inmate search and Oregon criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Malheur County
The Malheur County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Malheur County. It reported 497 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
Arrests inside two 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:
- Ontario, 11,957 residents: 658 arrests reported for 2025.
- Nyssa, 3,269 residents: 47 arrests reported for 2023.
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 Malheur County: the Malheur County Liquor Commission (state agency); the Malheur County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Malheur 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.
- Ontario: 658 for 2025, 635 for 2024, 539 for 2023, 622 for 2022, 678 for 2021 and 816 for 2020.
- Malheur County Sheriff's Office: 497 for 2024, 242 for 2023, 151 for 2022, 196 for 2021, 177 for 2020 and 196 for 2019.
- Nyssa: 47 for 2023, 39 for 2022 and 60 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 1,132 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 1,132 in 2024 against 781 in 2023, up 45 percent.
Nyssa reported only part of 2024 (2 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Malheur County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Malheur 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 72 people, up from about 72 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 91 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 jail page of the Malheur County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.malheurco.org (page title: MALHEUR COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE | Our Mission: Provide public safety services to our community with a professi), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Oregon Department of Corrections lists its inmates at oregon.gov/doc/victim-services/pages/offender-search.aspx.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Malheur County
Whether someone was arrested in Malheur County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Malheur 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/malheur/records/pages/default.aspx, phone 541-473-5171); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at malheurco.org/district-attorney/district-attorney-information, phone (541) 473-5127).
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 Malheur 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 Malheur County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Ontario or Nyssa: 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 Malheur County Liquor Commission or the Malheur County State Police: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (541) 473-5127, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Malheur County Circuit Court, through the court records page at courts.oregon.gov, phone 541-473-5171.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at malheurco.org/public-records-request-policy (page title: Public Records Request | Policy | Malheur County Oregon).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Malheur County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the five cities in Malheur County: Ontario and Nyssa. Vale, Adrian and Jordan Valley 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 Malheur County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Malheur County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Ontario (11,957)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Malheur County each year?
Ontario reported 658 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Malheur County sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 1,132 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Malheur County?
Ask the Malheur County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sheriff.malheurco.org.
Where are people arrested in Malheur County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Malheur County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Malheur 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 Malheur County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Malheur 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 malheurco.org/public-records-request-policy.
Is this the official Malheur 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.