San Bernardino Booking Records

Booking records in San Bernardino are available through two main sources. The San Bernardino Police Department publishes its own arrest logs online, while San Bernardino County runs a jail booking search that covers all arrests processed through the county system. San Bernardino sits in the western part of San Bernardino County and is the county seat. That means the main county jail and courthouse are right in the city. Anyone arrested in San Bernardino gets booked at the county jail, and that booking data becomes public under California law. You can search both the city arrest logs and the county booking tool at no cost.

San Bernardino County Booking Search

San Bernardino is in San Bernardino County, the largest county by area in the entire United States. The county sheriff runs the jail system. All bookings go through the sheriff, no matter which local police department made the arrest. San Bernardino PD brings its arrestees to the county jail for processing. Once there, the booking creates a public record.

The county operates the JIMS booking search tool. JIMS stands for Jail Information Management System. This is the main database for finding who has been booked at any San Bernardino County jail facility. You can search by name. The results show booking date, charges, bail amount, and custody status. The tool covers all facilities in the county system, including the West Valley Detention Center, the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center, and the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino itself.

The search is free. You do not need an account. Just go to the site and type a name. If the person is in custody or was recently booked, the record will come up. This tool is especially useful for San Bernardino residents because the Central Detention Center handles a large portion of the county's bookings.

San Bernardino PD Arrest Logs

The San Bernardino Police Department publishes arrest logs on its website. This is separate from the county jail search. The SBPD logs show arrests made by San Bernardino officers specifically. These logs list the date, approximate time, location of arrest, and the charges. They update regularly and give a snapshot of recent police activity in the city.

The arrest logs are useful for a different reason than the county search. The county search tells you if someone is in jail right now. The SBPD logs tell you what arrests happened in San Bernardino recently, even if the person has already been released. Someone booked and bailed out within hours might not show up in the county inmate search anymore, but the arrest log would still have the entry. Use both tools together for the fullest picture of San Bernardino booking activity.

Note: The SBPD arrest logs cover only arrests made by San Bernardino city police, not by the county sheriff or other agencies operating in the area.

San Bernardino Booking Screenshot

Below is the San Bernardino Police Department's arrest log page. This is the city's own booking disclosure tool, separate from the county system.

The page shows recent arrests by SBPD officers. San Bernardino processes a high volume of arrests given its size and role as the county seat. The arrest log data falls under California's public records mandate for booking information.

San Bernardino Booking Laws

California Government Code 7923.610 makes booking records public. The law lists exactly what must be released: full name, date of birth, physical description, arrest time and date, booking time and date, arrest location, bail, charges, and where the person is being held. San Bernardino follows this law through both the SBPD arrest logs and the county JIMS search tool.

The law does not leave room for discretion. Agencies must release this data. It is not optional. While police can withhold their investigative files, the booking data itself is always public. This is why you can search San Bernardino bookings without filing a formal request. The information is already supposed to be out there.

Penal Code 851.5 protects people who get arrested in San Bernardino too. Within three hours of booking, the person gets at least three free phone calls. These can go to a lawyer, bail bond agent, or family member. The San Bernardino County jail must follow this rule for every single booking.

San Bernardino Jail Contact

The Central Detention Center is located at 630 East Rialto Avenue, San Bernardino, CA 92415. This is the main county facility in the city. For general jail information, call the San Bernardino County Sheriff at (909) 387-3545. The San Bernardino Police Department can be reached at (909) 384-5742 for questions about city arrests and logs.

If you need a copy of a booking record and cannot find it online, you can submit a written request to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Records Unit. The county charges a small fee for copies. Most people find what they need through the online JIMS search, but older records or records from before the system went digital may require a written request.

San Bernardino also has legal aid resources for people who need help with arrest records. The Inland Counties Legal Services office serves San Bernardino County and can assist with record clearance, expungement questions, and understanding booking data. Their main office is in the city of San Bernardino.

San Bernardino Booking Data

Each San Bernardino booking record contains standard fields. You get the person's name, date of birth, and a physical description including height, weight, hair color, and eye color. The arrest details show where and when it happened. Charges list the specific California code sections. Bail shows the amount set, or it says "no bail" when the charge does not allow it. The holding location tells you which county facility the person is at.

San Bernardino sees a lot of booking activity. The city has a population over 220,000 and is one of the larger cities in the Inland Empire. The police department handles thousands of arrests per year. All of these go through the county system. The JIMS database holds all of them. Between the SBPD logs and the county search, San Bernardino has solid public access to booking data compared to many California cities.

Note: Booking photos may not always appear in the online search results, but they are part of the official record and can be requested separately.

Nearby City Booking Records

Several other cities near San Bernardino have their own booking information pages. Some share the same county jail system, while others fall under Riverside County. Check the links below for booking records in nearby cities.