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.
Reading, Pennsylvania, in Berks County, has about 96,000 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 Berks 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: Reading public records, Berks County arrest records, Pennsylvania arrest records and Pennsylvania inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Reading
The FBI lists Reading with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Reading Police Department. It reported 2,337 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 Berks County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 149 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Berks County: County Detective in Berks County and Reading Northern Railroad in Berks County (other); Kutztown University and Pennsylvania State University at Berks (campus police); the State Park Rangers at French Creek, the Bureau of Forestry in Berks County and the Office of Attorney General Region 1 in Berks County (state agency); the Berks County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Reading 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.
- Reading: 2,337 for 2025, 2,231 for 2024, 2,484 for 2023 and 3,504 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
Reading's 2,337 arrests in 2025 were up 4.8 percent from 2,231 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Reading reported 1,406 arrests, against 1,380 in the same months of 2025.
Across Berks County, the 24 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,758 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Reading Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Reading 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 2024 the jail held about 720 people, down from about 1,040 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,396 beds, and it ran at 54 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 Berks County Sheriff's Office at berkspa.gov/departments/jail-system/inmate-services (page title: Berks County | Inmate Services), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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 Reading
Whether someone was arrested in Reading, 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 berkspa.gov/departments/da, phone 610-478-6000).
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 Reading
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 Reading police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at readingpa.gov/contact-city-hall/30-councilfaq/65-what-records-are-c... (page title: What records are considered “public” by Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Act?), phone 877-727-3234, 815 Washington St Reading PA 19601, Mon-Fri 8:00am to 4:00pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Berks County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 610-478-6000, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at berkspa.gov (page title: Berks County | County Open Records Office Information).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Berks County guide covers every agency in the county: Berks County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Reading each year?
Reading reported 2,337 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Reading?
Ask the Berks County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at berkspa.gov.
Where are people arrested in Reading booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Berks County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Reading?
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 Reading?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Reading police for its own arrests, the Berks 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 berkspa.gov.
Is this the official Reading 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.