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 between September 23, 2026 and October 4, 2026.
Bradford County, Pennsylvania, has about 60,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Bradford County Sheriff's Office, six city agencies and seven 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 Bradford 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: Bradford County public records, Pennsylvania arrest records, Pennsylvania inmate search and Pennsylvania criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Bradford County
The Bradford County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Bradford County. It reported 7 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside six 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:
- Sayre, 5,394 residents: 93 arrests reported for 2024.
- Athens, 3,227 residents: 70 arrests reported for 2025.
- Athens (township), 3,227 residents: 202 arrests reported for 2025.
- Towanda, 2,774 residents: 37 arrests reported for 2025.
- Canton, 1,711 residents: 13 arrests reported for 2024.
- Troy, 1,245 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2024.
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 Bradford County: the Bureau of Forestry in Bradford County, the Office of Attorney General Region 1 in Bradford County and the State Park Rangers at Mount Pisgah (state agency); the Bradford County State Police (state police); Reading Northern Railroad in Bradford County, the Troy Area School District and the Wyalusing Area School District (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Bradford 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.
- Sayre: 93 for 2024 and 224 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Athens: 70 for 2025, 60 for 2024, 41 for 2020 and 64 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Towanda: 37 for 2025, 40 for 2024 and 11 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Bradford County Sheriff's Office: 7 for 2025, 15 for 2024, 8 for 2023, 13 for 2022, 23 for 2020 and 18 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Canton: 13 for 2024 and 27 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Troy: 1 for 2024 and 7 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Athens (township): 202 for 2025, 162 for 2022, 217 for 2020 and 230 for 2019; 2021, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 222 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 15 in 2024 against 8 in 2023.
Athens (township) reported only part of 2024 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Bradford County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Bradford 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 150 people, down from about 180 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 207 beds, and it ran at 71 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 Bradford County Sheriff's Office at bradfordcountypa.gov/325/Sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Bradford County, PA), phone 570-265-1701, 215 Main Street Towanda, PA 18848, Monday Through Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.
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 Bradford County
Whether someone was arrested in Bradford County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Bradford County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at bradfordcountypa.gov/323/Prothonotary, phone 570-265-1705); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at bradfordcountypa.gov/322/District-Attorney, phone 570-265-1712).
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 Bradford 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 Bradford County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 570-265-1701.
- An arrest in Sayre, Athens, Athens (township), Towanda, Canton or Troy: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Bureau of Forestry in Bradford County, the Office of Attorney General Region 1 in Bradford County or the Bradford County State Police: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 570-265-1712, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Bradford County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at bradfordcountypa.gov/323/Prothonotary, phone 570-265-1705.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at bradfordcountypa.gov (page title: Open Records Officer).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Bradford County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for six of the 14 cities in Bradford County: Sayre, Athens, Athens (township), Towanda, Canton and Troy. South Waverly, Wyalusing, Monroe, Rome, LeRaysville, New Albany, Sylvania, Burlington and Alba have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Bradford County Court of Common Pleas.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Bradford County each year?
Sayre reported 93 arrests to the FBI for 2024, and the six agencies with every month of 2024 on file reported 222 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Bradford County?
Ask the Bradford County Sheriff's Office at 570-265-1701; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at bradfordcountypa.gov/325/Sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Bradford County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Bradford County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Bradford 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 Bradford County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Bradford 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at bradfordcountypa.gov.
Is this the official Bradford 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.