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 9, 2026.
Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, has about 43,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, five city agencies and five 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 Jefferson 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: Jefferson County public records, Pennsylvania arrest records, Pennsylvania inmate search and Pennsylvania criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Jefferson County
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Jefferson County. It reported 5 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists five cities in Jefferson County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Punxsutawney, 5,587 residents: 171 arrests reported for 2025.
- Brookville, 3,899 residents: 147 arrests reported for 2024.
- Reynoldsville, 2,482 residents: 39 arrests reported for 2024.
- Brockway, 2,226 residents: 10 arrests reported for 2025.
- Sykesville, 1,082 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 Jefferson County: the State Park Rangers at Clear Creek, the Bureau of Forestry in Jefferson County and the Office of Attorney General Region 3 in Jefferson County (state agency); Indiana University at Punxsutawney (campus police); the Jefferson County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Jefferson 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.
- Punxsutawney: 171 for 2025, 183 for 2024 and 162 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Brookville: 147 for 2024 and 201 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Reynoldsville: 39 for 2024 and 30 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Brockway: 10 for 2025, 18 for 2024, 13 for 2023 and 1 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Jefferson County Sheriff's Office: 5 for 2024.
- Sykesville: 1 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 2 for 2023, 5 for 2020 and 7 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
Together, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 392 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 18 in 2024 against 15 in 2023.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Jefferson County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Jefferson County 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 2023 the jail held about 98 people, down from about 160 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 211 beds, and it ran at 46 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 Jefferson County Sheriff's Office at jeffersoncountypa.gov/departments/sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Jefferson County, Pennsylvania), phone (814) 849-1616, 200 Main Street Brookville, PA 15825, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 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 Jefferson County
Whether someone was arrested in Jefferson County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Jefferson County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at jeffersoncountypa.gov/departments/courts); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at jeffersoncountypa.gov/departments/district-attorney, phone (814) 265-2055).
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 Jefferson County
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 Jefferson County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (814) 849-1616.
- An arrest in Punxsutawney, Brookville, Reynoldsville, Brockway or Sykesville: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Park Rangers at Clear Creek, Indiana University at Punxsutawney or the Bureau of Forestry in Jefferson County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (814) 265-2055, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Jefferson County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at jeffersoncountypa.gov/departments/courts.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at jeffersoncountypa.gov/departments/rtk (page title: Right to Know | Jefferson County, Pennsylvania).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Jefferson County guides go further: warrants, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Jefferson County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for five of the 11 cities in Jefferson County: Punxsutawney, Brookville, Reynoldsville, Brockway and Sykesville. Falls Creek, Big Run, Summerville, Corsica, Timblin and Worthville 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 Jefferson County Court of Common Pleas.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Jefferson County each year?
Punxsutawney reported 171 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Jefferson County sent in full, the six with every month on file reported 392 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Jefferson County?
Ask the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office at (814) 849-1616; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at jeffersoncountypa.gov/departments/sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Jefferson County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Jefferson 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 Jefferson County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Jefferson 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 jeffersoncountypa.gov/departments/rtk.
Is this the official Jefferson 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.