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.
Union County, Oregon, has about 26,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Union County Sheriff's Office, one city agency 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 Union 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: Union County public records, Oregon arrest records, Oregon inmate search and Oregon criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Union County
The Union County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Union County. It reported 177 arrests for 2025.
One city in Union County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- La Grande, 13,058 residents: 399 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 Union County: the Union County Liquor Commission (state agency); the Union County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Union 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.
- La Grande: 399 for 2025, 418 for 2024, 304 for 2023, 357 for 2022, 323 for 2021 and 269 for 2020.
- Union County Sheriff's Office: 177 for 2025, 206 for 2024, 206 for 2023, 225 for 2022, 226 for 2021 and 218 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 576 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 576 in 2025 against 624 in 2024, down 7.7 percent.
Through May 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 224 arrests, against 229 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Union County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Union 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 34 people, down from about 37 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 37 beds, and it ran at 100 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 Union County Sheriff's Office at ucsooregon.gov/jail-roster (page title: Jail roster | Union County Sheriff's Office), phone (541) 963-1020, 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 Union County
An arrest in Union County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Union County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Union 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/union/records/pages/default.aspx); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at unioncountyor.gov/district-attorney/victim-assistance, phone 541-963-1007).
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 Union 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 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 Union County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (541) 963-1020.
- An arrest in La Grande: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Union County Liquor Commission or the Union 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, 541-963-1007, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Union County Circuit Court, through the court records page at courts.oregon.gov.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Union County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the eight cities in Union County: La Grande. Union, Elgin, Island City, Cove, North Powder, Imbler and Summerville 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 Union County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Union County each year?
La Grande reported 399 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 576 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Union County?
Look on the custody page of the Union County Sheriff's Office at ucsooregon.gov/jail-roster, or call (541) 963-1020. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Union County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Union County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Union 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 Union County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Union 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.
Is this the official Union 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.