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 2024. 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.
Pottsville, Pennsylvania, in Schuylkill County, has about 13,000 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 Schuylkill 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: Pottsville public records, Schuylkill County arrest records, Pennsylvania arrest records and Pennsylvania inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Pottsville
The FBI lists Pottsville with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Pottsville Police Department. It reported 435 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year. 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 Schuylkill County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 4 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Schuylkill County: County Detective in Schuylkill County, the Shenandoah Valley School District and Reading Northern Railroad in Schuylkill County (other); Pennsylvania State University at Schuylkill (campus police); the State Park Rangers at Tuscarora, the Bureau of Forestry in Schuylkill County and the Office of Attorney General Region 1 in Schuylkill County (state agency); the Schuylkill County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Pottsville 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.
- Pottsville: 435 for 2024, 581 for 2023 and 1,050 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
Pottsville's 435 arrests in 2024 were down 25 percent from 581 in 2023.
Across Schuylkill County, the 21 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 631 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Pottsville Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Pottsville 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 220 people, down from about 240 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 277 beds, and it ran at 78 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Schuylkill County Sheriff's Office at schuylkillcountypa.gov/government/sheriff/central_booking.php (page title: Welcome to Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Pottsville
Whether someone was arrested in Pottsville, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Schuylkill County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; UJS Web Portal, the Pennsylvania courts' free statewide docket search, which shows whether charges were filed.
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 Pottsville
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 Pottsville police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at pottsvillepa.gov/html/forms/RequestForRecords.pdf (page title: Request for Records), phone (570) 622-1234, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Schuylkill County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Schuylkill County guide covers every agency in the county: Schuylkill County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Pottsville each year?
Pottsville reported 435 arrests to the FBI for 2024, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Pottsville?
Look on the custody page of the Schuylkill County Sheriff's Office at schuylkillcountypa.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Pottsville booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Schuylkill County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Pottsville?
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 Pottsville?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Pottsville police for its own arrests, the Schuylkill 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.
Is this the official Pottsville 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.