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 2, 2026.
San Juan County, Washington, has about 19,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the San Juan County Sheriff's Office. 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 Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the San Juan County Superior 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: San Juan County public records, Washington arrest records, Washington inmate search and Washington criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in San Juan County
The San Juan County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for San Juan County. It reported 212 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests The San Juan County Sheriff's Office Reports
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.
- San Juan County Sheriff's Office: 212 for 2025, 179 for 2024, 279 for 2023, 214 for 2022, 179 for 2021 and 211 for 2020.
The San Juan County Sheriff's Office's 212 arrests in 2025 were up 18 percent from 179 in 2024.
Through August 2026, San Juan County Sheriff's Office reported 128 arrests, against 146 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in San Juan County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in San Juan 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 2021 the jail held about 8 people, down from about 12 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 12 beds, and it ran at 99 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 San Juan County Sheriff's Office at sanjuansheriff.org (page title: About San Juan County Sheriff and Jail Inmate Locator), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Washington State Department of Corrections lists its inmates at doc.wa.gov/records/incarcerated-data-search/incarcerated-search.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in San Juan County
Whether someone was arrested in San Juan County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the San Juan County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the San Juan County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at courts.wa.gov/court_dir/orgs/287.html, phone 360-378-2399); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at sanjuancountywa.gov/254/Prosecuting-Attorney, phone 360-378-4101).
Statewide, Washington Courts Search Case Records is the Administrative Office of the Courts' free statewide case search.
Washington is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: WATCH lets anyone search conviction records by name online, for $12 a search, through the Washington State Patrol. 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 San Juan 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 Public Records Act (RCW 42.56) the agency must answer within 5 business days, and it may charge for copies at 15 cents a page, and set fees for electronic records.
- An arrest by the San Juan County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 360-378-4101, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the San Juan County Superior Court, through the court records page at courts.wa.gov/court_dir/orgs/287.html, phone 360-378-2399.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in San Juan County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists no city in San Juan County with an arrest reporting agency of its own; the counts above are the county agencies'.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the San Juan County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in San Juan County each year?
The San Juan County Sheriff's Office reported 212 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in San Juan County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the San Juan County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in San Juan County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Washington State Patrol: WATCH lets anyone search conviction records by name online, for $12. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Public Records Act (RCW 42.56).
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in San Juan County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the San Juan County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Public Records Act (RCW 42.56) the answer is due within 5 business days.
Is this the official San Juan 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.