Paterson Arrest and Booking Reports
Paterson booking reports document arrests made in New Jersey's third largest city. Located in Passaic County, Paterson has about 145,000 residents and a police force that handles a high number of calls each year. Booking reports from Paterson list the charges, the date of arrest, and the name of the person taken into custody. You can search for these records through the Paterson Police Department or the Passaic County jail. This page explains how to request and find Paterson booking reports from the sources that hold them.
Paterson Quick Facts
Paterson Police Booking Reports
The Paterson Police Department is based at City Hall, 111 Broadway, Paterson, NJ 07505. The main line at (973) 321-1111 is staffed around the clock. For records, you call the Records Division at (973) 321-1160. This is the office that handles requests for booking reports, incident reports, and other police files in Paterson.
The Records Division has limited hours. It is open Monday from 8 AM to 1 PM, Tuesday from 11 AM to 3:45 PM, closed Wednesday, Thursday from 11 AM to 3:45 PM, and Friday from 8 AM to 1 PM. Plan your visit or call within these hours. If you show up outside these times, no one will be there to help with your booking report request. The division handles a large volume of requests, so bring all the details you have to speed things up.
Paterson booking reports contain the standard set of facts. Each one lists the name of the arrested person, the date, the time, the location of arrest, and the charges. The arresting officer is named as well. These records stay on file with the police department and can be retrieved through a records request. Some details may be redacted before release, as the law requires in certain cases.
Note: The Paterson Police Records Division is closed every Wednesday.
Filing OPRA Requests in Paterson
You can request Paterson booking reports through the Open Public Records Act. The city's OPRA custodian is the City Clerk, Sonia L. Gordon. The clerk's office is at 155 Market Street, 3rd Floor, Paterson, NJ 07505. You can reach them at (973) 321-1310. All OPRA requests for city records go through this office, though the police records division handles the actual retrieval of booking reports.
Under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1, the public has a right to access government records in New Jersey. Booking reports from Paterson fall under this right. The agency must respond within seven business days. They can grant the request, deny it with a reason, or ask for more time if the request is large or complex.
Paterson charges standard OPRA fees for copies. Letter-size pages cost five cents each. Legal-size pages cost seven cents. CDs are charged at actual cost. These fees are set by N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5 and apply to all records requests in the city. If you believe your request was wrongly denied, you can file a complaint with the Government Records Council.
Passaic County Jail Booking Records
People arrested in Paterson who are held at the county level go to the Passaic County Jail. The jail is at 11 Sheriff's Plaza in Paterson, close to the city center. You can reach the jail at (973) 881-4620. The facility has a capacity of 1,242 inmates and serves all of Passaic County.
The Passaic County Sheriff runs an online inmate search tool. You can look up current inmates at the Passaic County inmate lookup page. This tool lets you search by name and view booking data for people in custody. The results show the charges, the booking date, and the status of the inmate. This is one of the quickest ways to check if someone arrested in Paterson is still held at the county jail.
The Paterson city website at patersonnj.gov also provides links to police services and records information. While the site does not host booking reports directly, it has contact details and forms that can help you start a records request for Paterson arrest data.
Paterson Booking Reports and State Records
The New Jersey Department of Corrections and statewide court system both hold records that connect to Paterson booking reports.
After a conviction in Paterson, someone sentenced to state prison moves into the NJ DOC system. You can search for state inmates using the NJ DOC inmate finder. This tool covers all state prisons and lets you find people by name or SBI number. Court records from Paterson cases are also available through the NJ eCourts portal, which provides free access to case data from courts across the state.
Booking Reports and Expungement
Not every booking report from Paterson will remain in the public record for good. New Jersey law allows people to petition for expungement of their criminal records under N.J.S.A. 2C:52-1. If a court grants an expungement, the booking report, arrest record, and court file are all sealed. They no longer show up in public searches.
This matters when you search for Paterson booking reports. A name that once appeared in the system may no longer be there. The record still exists in a sealed state, but agencies are not allowed to share it. If you are looking for a Paterson booking report and cannot find it, this could be the reason. Expungement is a legal process, and it removes the record from all public access points.
For those who want to track the status of an inmate booked in Paterson, the VINE system is available at vinelink.com. VINE sends free alerts when an inmate is released or transferred. It covers the Passaic County Jail and is a useful tool for staying informed about a case that started with a booking in Paterson.
Note: Expunged records from Paterson are sealed by court order and cannot be accessed through any public search tool.
How Paterson Booking Reports Are Created
Each booking report in Paterson starts with an arrest. When an officer makes an arrest, the person is taken to the police station for processing. During this step, the officer records the basic facts of the case. The name, date of birth, address, and charges are all logged into the system. This is the booking report.
The person may then be held at the police station for a short time or transferred to the Passaic County Jail if the charges are serious or bail is set high. In either case, the booking report stays with the Paterson Police Department as part of its records. The county jail creates its own intake record, which is a separate document but contains much of the same data as the Paterson booking report. Both records are subject to public access rules under OPRA.
Passaic County Booking Reports
Paterson is in Passaic County, and all county-level booking records are managed by the Passaic County Sheriff's Office. The county jail serves all municipalities in Passaic County. For more details on county records, the jail system, and how to search booking reports across all of Passaic County, visit the county page.