Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. 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 on September 23, 2026.
Adams County, Pennsylvania, has about 108,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Adams County Sheriff's Office, 15 city agencies and six campus, state or other agencies. An arrest 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 Adams County Court of Common Pleas. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Adams County public records, Pennsylvania arrest records, Pennsylvania inmate search and Pennsylvania criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Adams County
The Adams County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Adams County. It reported 0 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside eight of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Gettysburg, 8,647 residents: 347 arrests reported for 2025.
- Littlestown, 4,917 residents: 124 arrests reported for 2025.
- Carroll Valley, 4,050 residents: 18 arrests reported for 2025.
- McSherrystown, 3,161 residents: 48 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bonneauville, 1,806 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- East Berlin, 1,583 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Biglerville, 1,256 residents: 20 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bendersville, 760 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2020.
A city on that list is reported 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 Adams County: the Bureau of Forestry in Adams County and the Office of Attorney General Region 2 in Adams County (state agency); County Detective in Adams County, Adams County Drug Task Force and the Gettsyburg Area School District (other); the Adams County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Adams County
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.
- Gettysburg: 347 for 2025 and 357 for 2023; 2024 is missing months.
- Littlestown: 124 for 2025, 110 for 2024, 108 for 2023 and 123 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Cumberland Township: 64 for 2025, 63 for 2024, 54 for 2023 and 80 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- McSherrystown: 48 for 2025, 43 for 2024, 54 for 2023, 29 for 2020 and 39 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Conewago Township: 26 for 2025, 28 for 2024, 36 for 2023, 195 for 2020 and 173 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Biglerville: 20 for 2025, 41 for 2024, 40 for 2023, 27 for 2022, 17 for 2021 and 12 for 2020.
- Carroll Valley: 18 for 2025, 26 for 2024, 11 for 2023, 26 for 2022, 60 for 2021 and 32 for 2020.
- Liberty Township: 7 for 2025, 3 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2021 and 3 for 2020; 2022 is missing months.
- Reading Township: 2 for 2025, 5 for 2024, 5 for 2023 and 11 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Latimore Township: 0 for 2025, 3 for 2024, 2 for 2023, 19 for 2020 and 8 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- East Berlin: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2023 and 0 for 2022; 2024 is missing months.
- Adams County Sheriff's Office: 0 for 2025, 2 for 2023, 0 for 2022 and 35 for 2020; 2021 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the 13 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 656 arrests that year. The ten of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 309 in 2025 against 322 in 2024, down 4 percent.
Bendersville and Eastern Adams Regional reported only part of 2025 (10 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Adams County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Adams County 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 210 people, up from about 180 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 285 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 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 Adams County
Whether someone was arrested in Adams County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Adams County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at adamscountypa.gov/departments/clerkoforphanscourt/case-search, phone 724-656-3100); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at adamscountypa.gov/departments/districtattorney, phone 717-337-9840).
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 Adams County
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 Adams County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Gettysburg, Littlestown, Carroll Valley, McSherrystown, Bonneauville, East Berlin or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by the Bureau of Forestry in Adams County, County Detective in Adams County or Adams County Drug Task Force: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 717-337-9840, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Adams County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at adamscountypa.gov, phone 724-656-3100.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Adams County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for eight of the 13 cities in Adams County: Gettysburg, Littlestown, Carroll Valley, McSherrystown, Bonneauville, East Berlin, Biglerville and Bendersville. New Oxford, Abbottstown, Arendtsville, York Springs and Fairfield have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries Conewago Township Police Department, Adams County, the Latimore Township Police Department, Liberty Township Police Department, Adams County and four more as city agencies in Adams County; Conewago Township, Latimore Township, Liberty Township and four more are not among the cities above.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Adams County Court of Common Pleas.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Adams County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Gettysburg (8,647)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Adams County each year?
Gettysburg reported 347 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 13 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 656 between them.
Where are people arrested in Adams County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Adams County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Adams County?
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 Adams County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Adams County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Right-to-Know Law the answer is due within 5 business days, with a 30-day extension.
Is this the official Adams County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.