Reviewed and updated October 11, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest and crime counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and October 11, 2026.
Chester County, Pennsylvania, has about 561,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Pennsylvania the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Prothonotary for civil cases and divorces and the Clerk of Courts for criminal cases; the statewide criminal history kept by the Pennsylvania State Police is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Chester County is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, the crimes behind the records, the prosecutor, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: Chester County public records, Chester County arrest records, Chester County warrants, Chester County inmate search, Chester County court records, Pennsylvania arrest records and Pennsylvania inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas
In Pennsylvania the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Chester County are heard by the Chester County Court of Common Pleas, which hears felonies, civil cases, divorces, estates and juvenile matters; the Magisterial District Courts take traffic tickets, summary offenses, small claims and preliminary hearings; Philadelphia has the Municipal Court instead, and the file of each case is kept by the Prothonotary for civil cases and divorces and the Clerk of Courts for criminal cases.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at chesco.org/202/Clerk-of-Courts (page title: Clerk of Courts | Chester County, PA), phone 610-344-6135, 201 W. Market St, Suite 1400 West Chester, PA 19380, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 11, 2026.
Statewide, UJS Web Portal is the Pennsylvania courts' free statewide docket search.
The Pennsylvania Criminal History and Your Own Copy
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. The result is the repository record, what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it. The search is on the Pennsylvania State Police site.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Chester County
The Chester County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for West Chester, Phoenixville, Coatesville, Downingtown, Kennett Square, Oxford and four more cities keep the arrest records in Chester County: the report and the booking record of each arrest stay with the agency that made it, separate from the court file and from the state repository.
The FBI's agency list also places five state agencies, three campus police departments, one state police unit and one other agency in Chester County (the arrest records guide names each one); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the 34 agencies in Chester County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,241 arrests to the FBI that year; how each case ended is in the court file, not in the arresting agency's.
The agencies and their counts, year by year, are in Chester County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Chester County in 2025
The 39 agencies in Chester County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 372 violent and 2,601 property crimes to the FBI that year; the 38 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,824 crimes in 2025 against 2,960 in 2024. Each reported crime is a report on file with the agency that took it, and each arrest that follows is the start of a criminal record.
The full crime section, agency by agency, is on the Chester County public records guide.
The District Attorney for Chester County
Charges in Chester County are filed by the District Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas or the Magisterial District Courts.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at chesco.org/5480/District-Attorney-Chris-de-Barrena-Sarob (page title: District Attorney Chris de Barrena-Sarobe | Chester County, PA), phone 610-344-6866, 201 West Market Street West Chester, PA 19380, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Chester County
Registered sex offenders living in Chester County are listed on the Pennsylvania Megan's Law website, run by the Pennsylvania State Police at meganslaw.psp.pa.gov/Home/TermsAndConditions. The registry is public and can be searched online.
Registration itself is done in person with the local agency where the registrant lives: the sheriff's office, or the city police in a city with its own department.
Asking an Agency in Chester County for a Record
An arrest report, a booking record or a local criminal history letter comes from the agency that holds it, not from the court.
Under the Right-to-Know Law a county office must answer a request within 5 business days, with a 30-day extension, and it may charge copying at 25 cents a page. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at chesco.justfoia.com/publicportal (page title: Chester County, PA Public Portal | JustFOIA).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Chester 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.
Can I search Chester County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at chesco.org/202/Clerk-of-Courts (page title: Clerk of Courts | Chester County, PA). Statewide, UJS Web Portal is the Pennsylvania courts' free statewide docket search.
How do I get my own Pennsylvania criminal history?
Through the same PATCH request, run on yourself.
Who prosecutes crimes in Chester County?
The District Attorney, reached at 610-344-6866, which files its cases in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas or the Magisterial District Courts.
Is this the official Chester 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.