Find Berkeley Booking Records
Booking records from Berkeley are public under California state law. The Berkeley Police Department handles arrests in the city and operates its own jail. The Berkeley City Jail books people after arrest, and those records become part of the public record. Under Government Code 7923.610, names, charges, bail amounts, and booking details must be shared with anyone who requests them. Berkeley is in Alameda County, and inmates held beyond short-term stays are transferred to the county jail system run by the Alameda County Sheriff.
Berkeley Booking Quick Facts
Berkeley Booking in Alameda County
Berkeley sits in Alameda County on the east side of the San Francisco Bay. The city has its own police department and a city jail at the police headquarters. When Berkeley PD makes an arrest, the person is brought to the Berkeley City Jail for initial booking. Staff collect fingerprints, take a photo, and log all charges into the system. Bail is set based on the Alameda County bail schedule.
The Berkeley jail is a Type I facility. That means it holds people for short stays, typically a few days at most. For longer holds, inmates transfer to the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, which is the main Alameda County detention center. The sheriff's office runs Santa Rita and handles all county-level inmate operations. Once someone moves to county custody, their booking record shows up in the Alameda County Sheriff's inmate database.
Berkeley is one of only a handful of cities in Alameda County that still runs its own jail. Most smaller cities in the county rely entirely on the sheriff for booking and custody.
Search Berkeley Booking Online
The Alameda County Sheriff provides an online inmate search that covers all county facilities, including inmates transferred from the Berkeley jail. You can search by name and see booking details, charges, bail, and custody status. The tool is free and does not require any kind of account or registration.
The California CDCR Inmate Locator is a statewide tool that tracks inmates in the prison system, which can be useful if someone booked in Berkeley is later sentenced to state prison.
People still at the Berkeley City Jail may not appear in the county system yet. The transfer process takes time. If you are looking for someone very recently arrested by Berkeley PD, try calling the Berkeley jail directly before checking the county search. Once the person moves to Santa Rita, the county system will show them.
The Berkeley Police Department also publishes arrest data through its public transparency page. That can give you a broader picture of recent arrest activity in the city, though it does not replace the formal booking search for individual records.
Berkeley Booking Law
Government Code 7923.610 requires every law enforcement agency in California to release booking data to the public. This includes the Berkeley Police Department and the Alameda County Sheriff. The law lists the exact information that must be shared. Full name. Date of birth. Charges. Bail. Booking date and time. Facility. None of this can be withheld from a public request.
Penal Code 851.5 protects people during the booking process. Within three hours of being booked at the Berkeley jail, each person gets at least three free calls. The calls can go to a lawyer, a bail bond agent, or someone they know. The jail is not allowed to block the calls or charge for them. This applies everywhere in California.
The California Public Records Act provides the legal framework for all public records requests. If Berkeley PD or the sheriff's office denies a booking records request, you have the right to appeal. Most booking data is straightforward public information and is rarely denied.
Berkeley City Jail
The Berkeley City Jail is at the Berkeley Police Department, 2100 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley, CA 94704. The jail handles initial bookings for all arrests made by Berkeley PD within city limits. It is a smaller facility compared to the county jail and does not hold inmates long-term.
Booking at the Berkeley jail works like any other facility in California. The process includes identification, fingerprinting, photographing, and charge entry. For minor offenses, people may be cited and released the same day. For more serious charges, the person is held until they can post bail or see a judge. If the hold extends beyond a few days, the inmate moves to Santa Rita Jail.
You can contact the Berkeley Police Department at (510) 981-5900 for questions about someone in custody at the city jail. Staff can tell you if a person is there and provide basic booking information. For formal record copies, you file a written request through the department's records unit.
Request Berkeley Booking Data
For current inmates, the Alameda County Sheriff's online search is the fastest route. For someone still at the Berkeley jail, call the police department directly. For older records, submit a public records request in writing to the Berkeley PD records division. Include the person's name, arrest date, and what records you need. The agency has 10 days to respond.
- Alameda County Sheriff inmate search for county custody
- Berkeley PD at (510) 981-5900 for city jail status
- Written records request for past bookings
- California DOJ for statewide criminal history
Fees may apply for copies. Certified copies cost more. The DOJ process for statewide history is separate and may require fingerprints.
Nearby City Booking Records
Several cities near Berkeley have their own booking pages on this site. Some share the Alameda County jail system, while others are in neighboring counties.
Oakland is right next to Berkeley and is the largest city in Alameda County. Richmond is across the county line in Contra Costa County. Hayward and Fremont are also in Alameda County and use the same county jail system. Each city has its own police department and booking process, but state law applies the same way everywhere.