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 28, 2026.
Hanover, Pennsylvania, in York County, has about 17,000 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 York 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: Hanover public records, York County arrest records, Pennsylvania arrest records and Pennsylvania inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Hanover
The FBI lists Hanover with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Hanover Police Department. It reported 891 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.
Outside the city, the York County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 121 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in York County: the Office of Attorney General Region 2 in York County, the Bureau of Forestry in York County, the State Park Rangers at Samuel S. Lewis, the State Park Rangers at Gifford Pinchot and one more (state agency); Pennsylvania State University at York and York College of Pennsylvania (campus police); County Detective in York County (other); the York County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Hanover Reports
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Hanover: 891 for 2025, 937 for 2024, 884 for 2023, 1,001 for 2020 and 1,122 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
Hanover's 891 arrests in 2025 were down 4.9 percent from 937 in 2024.
Across York County, the 11 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 9,697 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hanover Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Hanover 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 1,050 people, down from about 2,010 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 2,304 beds, and it ran at 45 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 York County Sheriff's Office at inmatesinjail.yorkcountygov.com/detentioncenter/inmatesinjail.aspx (page title: York County Detention Center Inmates), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at inmatelocator.cor.pa.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Hanover
Whether someone was arrested in Hanover, 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 yorkcountypa.gov/m/directory/department?did=95, phone 717-771-9600).
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 Hanover
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. 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 Hanover police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at hanoverboroughpa.gov/194/Request-for-Open-Records (page title: Request for Open Records | Hanover Borough, PA), phone 717-346-9903, 555 Walnut Street, Suite 605 Harrisburg, PA 17101, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the York County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 717-771-9600, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at yorkcountypa.gov (page title: Right-to-Know Law Requests | York County, PA).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The York County guide covers every agency in the county: York County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hanover each year?
Hanover reported 891 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Hanover?
Ask the York County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at inmatesinjail.yorkcountygov.com.
Where are people arrested in Hanover booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the York County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hanover?
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 Hanover?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hanover police for its own arrests, the York County Sheriff's Office 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 yorkcountypa.gov.
Is this the official Hanover 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.