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 on September 23, 2026.

About this guide

Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, has about 217,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by 25 city agencies and 13 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 Lackawanna 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: Lackawanna County public records, Pennsylvania arrest records, Pennsylvania inmate search and Pennsylvania criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Lackawanna County

The Lackawanna County Sheriff's Office is the county law enforcement agency of Lackawanna County.

The FBI lists 18 cities in Lackawanna County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported, the largest twelve first; the rest are named in the cities section below:

  • Scranton, 75,905 residents: 2,119 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Dunmore, 14,249 residents: 137 arrests reported for 2023.
  • Carbondale (township), 8,805 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Carbondale, 8,805 residents: 386 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Old Forge, 8,654 residents: 60 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Archbald, 7,508 residents: 97 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Blakely, 6,659 residents: 102 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Taylor, 6,252 residents: 405 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Moosic, 6,018 residents: 27 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Dickson City, 6,010 residents: 66 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Olyphant, 5,397 residents: 67 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Clarks Summit, 5,089 residents: 3 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 Forest City Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Lackawanna County, so its arrests are not broken out for Lackawanna County here.

The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Lackawanna County: the State Park Rangers at Lackawanna, Forest Rangers's Pinchot State Forest District 11, the Bureau of Forestry in Lackawanna County and the Office of Attorney General Region 1 in Lackawanna County (state agency); County Detective in Lackawanna County, Canadian Pacific Railway, the Mid Valley School District, the Dunmore School District and one more (other); Pennsylvania State University at Worthington Scranton, the University of Scranton and Lackawanna College at Scranton (campus police); the Lackawanna County State Police (state police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lackawanna 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.

  • Scranton: 2,119 for 2025, 2,178 for 2024, 1,933 for 2023, 1,699 for 2022, 1,407 for 2021 and 1,749 for 2020.
  • Carbondale: 386 for 2025.
  • Blakely: 102 for 2025, 150 for 2024, 217 for 2023 and 236 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Olyphant: 67 for 2025, 51 for 2024 and 112 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Dickson City: 66 for 2025, 141 for 2024, 125 for 2023, 89 for 2022 and 99 for 2021.
  • Old Forge: 60 for 2025, 32 for 2024, 135 for 2020 and 30 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Moosic: 27 for 2025, 123 for 2024, 44 for 2020 and 32 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Greenfield Township: 27 for 2025, 17 for 2024, 46 for 2020 and 5 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Jessup: 22 for 2025, 26 for 2024, 117 for 2020 and 108 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Moscow: 17 for 2025, 16 for 2024 and 14 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Scott Township: 7 for 2025, 36 for 2024, 28 for 2023 and 35 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Clarks Summit: 3 for 2025 and 27 for 2024.

Together, the 16 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,905 arrests that year. The 15 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,519 in 2025 against 2,802 in 2024, down 10 percent.

South Abington Township, Jermyn, Carbondale (township), Archbald and four more reported only part of 2025 (11 months, 8 months, 9 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Lackawanna County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lackawanna 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 2024 the jail held about 810 people, up from about 620 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,183 beds, and it ran at 61 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 Lackawanna County Sheriff's Office at lackawannacounty.org/government/elected_officials/sheriff/index.php (page title: Welcome to Lackawanna County, PA), phone 570-963-6719, 200 N. Washington Avenue 1st floor Scranton, PA 18503, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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 Lackawanna County

An arrest in Lackawanna County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at lackawannacounty.org/government/elected_officials/clerk_of_judicial..., phone 814-472-6146); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at lackawannacounty.org/government/elected_officials/district_attorney..., phone 570-963-6717).

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 Lackawanna 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 Lackawanna County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 570-963-6719.
  • An arrest in Scranton, Dunmore, Carbondale (township), Carbondale, Old Forge, Archbald 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 State Park Rangers at Lackawanna, County Detective in Lackawanna County or Pennsylvania State University at Worthington Scranton: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 570-963-6717, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • The court file of a case that was filed: the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at lackawannacounty.org, phone 814-472-6146.
  • Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.

Cities in Lackawanna County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 18 of the 19 cities in Lackawanna County: the twelve named above and Jessup, Throop, Jermyn, Moscow, Mayfield and Dalton. Clarks Green and Vandling have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the South Abington Township Police Department, the Waverly Township Police Department, Scott Township Police Department, Lackawanna County and four more as city agencies in Lackawanna County; South Abington Township, Waverly Township, Scott 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 Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Lackawanna 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 Lackawanna County each year?

Scranton reported 2,119 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 16 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,905 between them.

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

Ask the Lackawanna County Sheriff's Office at 570-963-6719; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at lackawannacounty.org.

Where are people arrested in Lackawanna County booked?

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

Are arrest records public in Lackawanna 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 Lackawanna County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Lackawanna 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 Lackawanna 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.