San Francisco County Booking Records

San Francisco County 24 hour booking records cover all arrests and jail bookings in the city and county of San Francisco. Because San Francisco is both a city and a county, one sheriff's office handles all jail operations. The San Francisco Sheriff's Office runs the intake and release center where every person arrested in the city gets booked. You can search for recent booking data by calling the jail or using online records tools. San Francisco booking records include arrest details, charges, bail amounts, and custody status for people held at county jail facilities.

San Francisco County Jail Booking Search

The San Francisco Sheriff's Office operates the county jails and handles all bookings. The main website is at sfsheriff.com. Unlike some other California counties that have full inmate search tools online, San Francisco County currently relies on phone-based lookups for custody status checks. You can call the Intake and Release Center at (415) 553-1430 to ask about someone who has been booked recently. Staff at the jail can confirm whether a person is in custody and share basic booking details.

San Francisco County booking records include the name of the arrested person, the charges at time of booking, the date and time of the arrest, bail information, and the facility where they are held. The Sheriff's Office is required to share this data under California law. Every booking that goes through the San Francisco County jail system creates a public record that anyone can ask about. The Intake and Release Center runs around the clock, so you can call at any time to check on a recent booking in San Francisco County.

If you need more than a phone lookup, you can request records in writing through the Sheriff's Office. Written requests take longer but give you a paper trail.

San Francisco Booking Records Law

California law sets out what booking information must be shared with the public. The Government Code Section 7923.610 spells out the details that law enforcement agencies like the San Francisco Sheriff must release. The screenshot below shows the California DOJ page explaining public records rights that apply to San Francisco County and all other counties in the state.

This state-level resource from the California Department of Justice outlines how public records requests work. It applies directly to San Francisco County booking records.

San Francisco Police Arrest Records

The San Francisco Police Department handles most arrests in the city. SFPD officers make the arrest and then the person is transported to the county jail for booking by the Sheriff's Office. If you want the police report for an arrest rather than the jail booking record, you go through SFPD instead. The San Francisco Police Department has a public records request portal at sanfranciscopolice.org. You submit your request through their GovQA system. SFPD has its own process and timeline for releasing arrest reports.

The difference matters. The San Francisco County booking record comes from the Sheriff and covers what happens at the jail. The arrest report comes from SFPD and covers what happened on the street. Both are public records. Both can be requested. For 24 hour booking data specifically, the Sheriff's Office is your source because they handle the jail side of things. SFPD arrest reports add context about the incident itself, including the circumstances of the arrest, witness statements, and the officer's account. Using both sources gives you a more complete picture of any recent arrest in San Francisco County.

Public Records Access in San Francisco

San Francisco County follows the California Public Records Act for releasing booking data and other government records. The CPRA gives anyone the right to request public records from state and local agencies. This includes booking records from the San Francisco Sheriff's Office. Agencies have 10 days to decide whether to release the records. A 14-day extension may apply in some cases. The standard copy fee is 10 cents per page at the state level, though San Francisco County may have its own schedule.

Under Government Code Section 7923.610, San Francisco County must release specific booking details to the public. This includes the full name and occupation of the arrested person, their physical description, the time and date of the arrest and booking, where the arrest took place, the circumstances of the arrest, bail amount, and current custody status or release information. All charges must be disclosed too, including warrants from other places and any parole or probation holds. San Francisco County booking records cover all of these data points when someone gets processed at the county jail.

Note: If a booking record has been sealed by court order under Penal Code 851.91, it will not be available through any public records request in San Francisco County.

Booking Process in San Francisco County

San Francisco is unique because the city and county share the same borders. There is no separate county sheriff patrol. SFPD makes most arrests. Other agencies like BART Police, California Highway Patrol, or federal agents also arrest people in San Francisco from time to time. No matter who makes the arrest, the booking happens at the San Francisco County jail run by the Sheriff's Office.

During booking, jail staff take a photo, collect fingerprints, and record the person's name, date of birth, height, weight, and other identifying details. The charges are logged along with any bail schedule amounts. The booking creates a record that gets added to the 24 hour log. San Francisco County processes hundreds of bookings each week. The Intake and Release Center at 425 7th Street handles the bulk of new bookings. Once the process is done, the booking record becomes part of the public jail data that you can ask about by phone or through a records request.

Bail in San Francisco County depends on the charges. Serious felonies carry high bail. Some misdemeanor bookings result in release on the person's own recognizance, meaning they get out without paying bail. The booking record will show which path was taken.

Sealed Arrest Records in San Francisco

A person arrested in San Francisco County who does not get convicted can petition to have the arrest record sealed. Penal Code Section 851.91 allows this. The petition goes through the San Francisco County Superior Court. If the judge grants it, the booking record gets sealed and will not show up in any public search.

This matters for people checking 24 hour booking records in San Francisco County. A sealed record simply will not appear. You will not find it through the Sheriff or SFPD. The sealing process can take weeks or months after a case ends, so recent bookings for cases that are still pending will remain visible in the meantime.

City of San Francisco

San Francisco is both a city and a county. All arrests in San Francisco go through the same county booking system. For city-specific booking and arrest information, see the page below.

Nearby California Counties

These counties are near San Francisco County. Each one has its own jail booking search.