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 25, 2026.
Meadville, Pennsylvania, in Crawford County, has about 12,000 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 Crawford 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: Meadville public records, Crawford County arrest records, Pennsylvania arrest records and Pennsylvania inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Meadville
The FBI lists Meadville with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Meadville Police Department. It reported 1,010 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 Crawford County: the Crawford County State Police (state police); the Bureau of Forestry in Crawford County, the State Park Rangers at Pymatuning and the Office of Attorney General Region 3 in Crawford County (state agency); the Penncrest School District (other); Allegheny College and the University of Pittsburgh at Titusville (campus police).
How Many Arrests Meadville 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.
- Meadville: 1,010 for 2025, 971 for 2024 and 520 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Meadville's 1,010 arrests in 2025 were up 4 percent from 971 in 2024.
Across Crawford County, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,354 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Meadville Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Meadville is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2023 the jail held about 200 people, down from about 250 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 282 beds, and it ran at 72 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Meadville
For Meadville the place to look is the case index of the Crawford County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at www2.crawfordcountypa.net/CivilCourt.Portal/CaseSearch).
Statewide, UJS Web Portal is the Pennsylvania courts' free statewide docket search.
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 Meadville
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 Meadville police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at courtrecord.net/meadville-pa-police-departments (page title: Meadville Police Records for Free (Meadville, PA)), phone 814-336-1005, 1150 Morgan Village Road Meadville, PA 16335, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Crawford County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at www2.crawfordcountypa.net.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at crawfordcountypa.net (page title: County Open Records Forms | Crawford County Pennsylvania).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Crawford County guide covers every agency in the county: Crawford County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Meadville each year?
Meadville reported 1,010 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Meadville booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Meadville?
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 Meadville?
From the agency that made the arrest: the sheriff's office or the city's police. 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 crawfordcountypa.net.
Is this the official Meadville 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.