SearchSystems Editorial

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.

About this guide

Delaware County, Pennsylvania, has about 585,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by 41 city agencies and ten 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 Delaware 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: Delaware County public records, Pennsylvania arrest records, Pennsylvania inmate search and Pennsylvania criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Delaware County

The Sheriff's Office | Delaware County, Pennsylvania is the county law enforcement agency of Delaware County.

Arrests inside 26 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, the largest twelve first; the rest are named in the cities section below:

  • Chester (township), 34,052 residents: 335 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Chester, 34,052 residents: 845 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Yeadon, 12,405 residents: 407 arrests reported for 2020.
  • Lansdowne, 11,225 residents: 232 arrests reported for 2020.
  • Darby, 10,749 residents.
  • Collingdale, 8,956 residents: 287 arrests reported for 2020.
  • Brookhaven, 8,407 residents: 215 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Ridley Park, 7,310 residents: 80 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Glenolden, 7,266 residents: 249 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Clifton Heights, 6,880 residents: 107 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Folcroft, 6,827 residents: 254 arrests reported for 2023.
  • Swarthmore, 6,596 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2025.

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 Delaware County: the Office of Attorney General Region 1 in Delaware County, the State Park Rangers at Ridley Creek and the Bureau of Forestry in Delaware County (state agency); Delaware County Park, Delaware County District Attorney Criminal Investigation Division and the Chester Housing Authority (other); Cheyney University, Pennsylvania State University at Brandywine and Villanova University (campus police); the Delaware County State Police (state police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Delaware 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.

  • Springfield Township: 479 for 2025, 623 for 2024 and 458 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Brookhaven: 215 for 2025 and 546 for 2024.
  • Ridley Township: 522 for 2025 and 437 for 2024.
  • Chester (township): 335 for 2024, 196 for 2023 and 220 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Tinicum Township: 296 for 2025, 330 for 2024 and 313 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Upper Chichester Township: 283 for 2025, 312 for 2024, 228 for 2020 and 482 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Glenolden: 249 for 2024 and 174 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Aston Township: 208 for 2024 and 219 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Media: 188 for 2024 and 190 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Marcus Hook: 184 for 2024 and 202 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Darby Township: 140 for 2025, 154 for 2024, 191 for 2023, 272 for 2020 and 337 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Lower Chichester Township: 149 for 2024, 87 for 2020 and 113 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.

Together, the 27 agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 4,475 arrests that year. The seven of them with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 583 in 2024 against 579 in 2023, up 0.7 percent.

Nether Providence Township, Radnor Township, Sharon Hill, Upland and ten more reported only part of 2024 (9 months, 11 months, 6 months and 7 months) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Delaware County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in Delaware 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 1,250 people, down from about 1,830 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 1,883 beds, and it ran at 66 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 Sheriff's Office | Delaware County, Pennsylvania at delcopa.gov/sheriff (page title: Sheriff's Office | Delaware County, Pennsylvania), phone 610-891-4296, 201 W. Front St. Media, PA 19063, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 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 Delaware County

An arrest in Delaware County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: 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 delcopa.gov/district-attorney).

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 Delaware 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 Sheriff's Office | Delaware County, Pennsylvania: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 610-891-4296.
  • An arrest in Chester (township), Chester, Yeadon, Lansdowne, Darby, Collingdale 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 Office of Attorney General Region 1 in Delaware County, Delaware County Park or Delaware County District Attorney Criminal Investigation Division: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at delcopa.gov/open-records (page title: Government Open Records | Delaware County, Pennsylvania).
  • Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.

Cities in Delaware County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 26 of the 28 cities in Delaware County: the twelve named above and Prospect Park, Sharon Hill, Norwood, Media, Aldan, Upland, Morton, East Lansdowne, Colwyn, Marcus Hook, Eddystone, Parkside, Trainer and Millbourne. Chester Heights, Rose Valley and Rutledge have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Nether Providence Township Police Department, Newtown Township Police Department, Delaware County, the Radnor Township Police Department and 12 more as city agencies in Delaware County; Nether Providence Township, Newtown Township, Radnor Township and 12 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 Delaware County Court of Common Pleas.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Delaware County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Delaware County each year?

Springfield Township reported 479 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Delaware County sent in full, the 27 with every month on file reported 4,475 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Delaware County?

Ask the Sheriff's Office | Delaware County, Pennsylvania at 610-891-4296; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at delcopa.gov/sheriff.

Where are people arrested in Delaware County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Sheriff's Office | Delaware County, Pennsylvania; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Delaware 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 Delaware County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Sheriff's Office | Delaware County, Pennsylvania 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 delcopa.gov/open-records.

Is this the official Delaware 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.