Santa Barbara County Arrest Records

Santa Barbara County recent arrests can be checked through the sheriff's online custody tool. The system shows who is currently held in county jail. You search by name and get back charges, bail, and booking dates. Santa Barbara County sits along the central California coast and has a population of about 450,000. The sheriff handles all jail bookings for the county, including arrests made by local police in cities like Santa Maria, Lompoc, and Goleta. Records are updated as new people are booked in and others are released. The search tool runs at no cost and is open to anyone with an internet connection.

Santa Barbara County Booking Records

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office maintains a Who Is In Custody page on its website. This is the main way to find recent arrest data for the county. You type in a name and the system checks the current jail roster. Results include the full name of the person, booking date, charges, and bail amount. The tool pulls live data from the jail management system, so it reflects what is happening right now at the county's detention facilities. New bookings show up within hours. When someone posts bail or gets released, that record drops off the active list.

Santa Barbara County operates two main jail facilities. The Main Jail sits in downtown Santa Barbara at 4436 Calle Real. The Northern Branch Jail is located in Santa Maria. Arrests made anywhere in the county, from Carpinteria to Guadalupe, feed into these two jails. Both facilities process bookings around the clock. The online custody tool covers both locations.

Note: The custody search only shows people currently in jail, not past bookings that have already been resolved.

How to Search Santa Barbara Arrests

Start at the sheriff's custody page. Enter the last name of the person you want to find. A first name helps narrow the results. Hit search. The page returns a list of matching inmates. Click on a name to see the full booking record. You get the charges, bail, arrest date, and housing location within the jail. There is no login or account needed. The search is free.

If the person you are looking for does not show up, it could mean a few things. They may have been released already. They might be held at a city jail instead of the county facility. Or the name could be spelled differently than what you typed. Try different name variations. If you still can't find the record, call the Santa Barbara County Jail information line for help. Staff can check the system and tell you if someone was booked.

Santa Barbara Arrest Record Laws

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office posts custody data under the same California law that applies to every county in the state. Government Code 7923.610 requires law enforcement agencies to make public the full name, physical description, time and date of arrest, booking time, arrest location, charges, and bail amount for every person they arrest. The only exception is when releasing the information would endanger someone or harm an active investigation. This is why the sheriff's custody tool shows so much information for each booking in Santa Barbara County.

You also have the right to request a copy of an arrest report. The California Public Records Act lets anyone ask for records held by a government agency. Santa Barbara County must respond within 10 days. There may be a small copying fee. Some parts of an arrest report can be redacted if they involve ongoing investigations, but the basic booking data is almost always available. People looking for their own criminal history can also go through the California DOJ record review process. That costs $25 and requires fingerprints.

Santa Barbara County Custody Portal

The sheriff's Who Is In Custody portal is one of the main resources for checking recent arrests in Santa Barbara County.

The portal displays real-time booking data from both the Main Jail and Northern Branch Jail. This tool gets updated as new bookings and releases are processed throughout the day.

Each record on the site shows standard fields. You see the person's name, booking number, date of birth, charges, and bail. If multiple charges apply, all of them are listed. The bail figure reflects the total for all charges combined, based on the Santa Barbara County bail schedule. Some people are booked and released within hours on citation or bail. Others remain in custody until a court hearing. The record stays on the site as long as the person is held in a Santa Barbara County jail.

Sealing Records in Santa Barbara County

People arrested in Santa Barbara County who were never convicted can ask to seal their arrest record. Penal Code 851.87 allows this through a court petition. You file it with the Santa Barbara County Superior Court. If the court grants the petition, the arrest record is sealed. You can then legally say you were not arrested for that charge. Sealed records do not show up on most background checks.

California also provides automatic arrest record relief under Penal Code 851.93, created by AB 1076. The state Department of Justice reviews records each month. If an arrest happened on or after January 1, 2021, and the charges were dismissed or no case was filed within a year, the DOJ grants relief without any petition. This applies to misdemeanor arrests in Santa Barbara County the same as in any other part of California. No filing fee and no court hearing needed.

Note: Sealed records may still be visible to law enforcement and certain licensing agencies even after the court grants the petition.

Santa Barbara County Arrest Data Access

Beyond the online custody search, there are other ways to get arrest information in Santa Barbara County. You can call the jail directly. The Main Jail phone line handles questions about who is in custody and can confirm booking details. For formal records requests, you go through the sheriff's public records process. The California Public Records Act gives you the right to ask for copies of reports, booking logs, and other documents. Response time is 10 business days.

The statewide CDCR inmate locator (CIRIS) is another option, but it only covers people in state prison, not county jail. If someone was arrested in Santa Barbara County and later sentenced to state prison, they would show up in CIRIS. For recent arrests and current county jail bookings, the sheriff's custody tool is the right place to look. People who want to track an inmate's status can also use the VINE notification system. Call 877-411-5588 to register for alerts when someone is released or transferred from Santa Barbara County custody.

Santa Barbara County Arrests by City

Arrests made by city police departments throughout Santa Barbara County get processed at the county's jail facilities. Here is the major city with its own arrest records page.

Nearby Counties

These counties share a border with Santa Barbara County. Each one runs its own jail and arrest record system.