Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and September 26, 2026.
Franklin, Pennsylvania, in Venango County, has about 5,900 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the Venango County Court of Common Pleas. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Franklin public records, Venango County arrest records, Pennsylvania arrest records and Pennsylvania inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Franklin
The FBI lists Franklin with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Franklin Police Department. It reported 319 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Venango County: the Venango County State Police (state police); the State Park Rangers at Oil Creek, the Office of Attorney General Region 3 in Venango County and the Bureau of Forestry in Venango County (state agency); the Oil City Area School District (other).
How Many Arrests Franklin Reports
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Franklin: 319 for 2025 and 227 for 2024.
Franklin's 319 arrests in 2025 were up 41 percent from 227 in 2024.
Across Venango County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 909 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Franklin Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Franklin and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2023 the jail held about 130 people, down from about 160 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 174 beds, and it ran at 73 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the County Sheriff | Venango County, PA at venangocountypa.gov/268/County-Sheriff (page title: County Sheriff | Venango County, PA), phone 814-432-9565, 1168 Liberty Street Courthouse, 1st Floor Franklin, PA 16323, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections lists its inmates at inmatelocator.cor.pa.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Franklin
Whether someone was arrested in Franklin, and what came of it, shows up in two places: UJS Web Portal, the Pennsylvania courts' free statewide docket search, which shows whether charges were filed; the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at venangocountypa.gov/275/District-Attorney, phone 814-432-9598).
Pennsylvania is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: PATCH lets anyone request a criminal record check by name online, for $22 a search, through the Pennsylvania State Police. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Franklin
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Right-to-Know Law the agency must answer within 5 business days, with a 30-day extension, and it may charge copying at 25 cents a page.
- An arrest by the Franklin police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at franklinpa.gov/index.asp (page title: Personnel | Police | Franklin, PA | Venango County), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the County Sheriff | Venango County, PA: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 814-432-9565.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 814-432-9598, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at venangocountypa.gov/578/Right-to-Know (page title: Right to Know | Venango County, PA).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Venango County guide covers every agency in the county: Venango County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Franklin each year?
Franklin reported 319 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Franklin?
Ask the County Sheriff | Venango County, PA at 814-432-9565; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at venangocountypa.gov/268/County-Sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Franklin booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the County Sheriff | Venango County, PA; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Franklin?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Pennsylvania State Police: PATCH lets anyone request a criminal record check by name online, for $22. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Right-to-Know Law.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Franklin?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Franklin police for its own arrests, the County Sheriff | Venango County, PA for the sheriff's. Under the Right-to-Know Law the answer is due within 5 business days, with a 30-day extension; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at venangocountypa.gov/578/Right-to-Know.
Is this the official Franklin website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.