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

Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, has about 331,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by 41 city agencies and 15 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 Luzerne 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: Luzerne County public records, Pennsylvania arrest records, Pennsylvania inmate search and Pennsylvania criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Luzerne County

The Sheriff's Department | Luzerne County, PA is the county law enforcement agency of Luzerne County.

The FBI lists 28 cities in Luzerne 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:

  • Wilkes-Barre, 44,661 residents: 2,801 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Wilkes-Barre (township), 44,661 residents: 540 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Hazleton, 30,354 residents: 352 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Kingston, 13,476 residents: 443 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Kingston (township), 13,476 residents: 222 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Nanticoke, 10,730 residents: 170 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Pittston, 7,743 residents: 96 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Pittston (township), 7,743 residents: 111 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Plymouth, 5,810 residents: 462 arrests reported for 2024.
  • West Hazleton, 5,231 residents: 142 arrests reported for 2023.
  • Duryea, 5,142 residents: 64 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Swoyersville, 5,092 residents: 18 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 Luzerne County: Luzerne County Community College, Pennsylvania State University at Hazleton, Pennsylvania State University at Wilkes-Barre and Wilkes University (campus police); Reading Northern Railroad in Luzerne County, County Detective in Luzerne County, the Hazleton Area School District, the Crestwood School District and two more (other); the State Park Rangers at Ricketts Glen, the State Park Rangers at Frances Slocum, the Bureau of Forestry in Luzerne County and the Office of Attorney General Region 1 in Luzerne County (state agency); the Luzerne County State Police (state police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Luzerne 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.

  • Wilkes-Barre: 2,801 for 2025, 2,940 for 2024, 3,308 for 2023, 3,048 for 2022 and 4,397 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
  • Wilkes-Barre (township): 540 for 2025, 435 for 2024 and 315 for 2023.
  • Kingston: 443 for 2025, 534 for 2024, 336 for 2023, 452 for 2022 and 530 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
  • Hazleton: 352 for 2025, 515 for 2024, 578 for 2022, 1,544 for 2020 and 1,430 for 2019; 2021 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Hanover Township: 253 for 2025.
  • Butler Township: 230 for 2025, 320 for 2023, 447 for 2022 and 79 for 2020; 2021 and 2024 are missing months.
  • Newport Township: 201 for 2025, 122 for 2024, 153 for 2023 and 58 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Nanticoke: 170 for 2025, 192 for 2024, 294 for 2023 and 448 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Luzerne: 122 for 2025, 30 for 2024, 37 for 2023 and 48 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Plains Township: 94 for 2025, 67 for 2023 and 132 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2024 are missing months.
  • Salem Township: 94 for 2025, 95 for 2024 and 144 for 2020; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Dallas (township): 87 for 2025, 85 for 2024, 108 for 2023, 161 for 2020 and 127 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.

Together, the 28 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,627 arrests that year. The 24 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 5,048 in 2025 against 5,282 in 2024, down 4.4 percent.

Dupont, Duryea, Plymouth, West Hazleton and seven more reported only part of 2025 (9 months, 9 months, 9 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Luzerne County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Luzerne 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 410 people, down from about 490 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 537 beds, and it ran at 77 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 Department | Luzerne County, PA at luzernecounty.org/529/Sheriff (page title: Sheriff's Department | Luzerne County, PA), phone 570-825-1651, 200 N River Street Courthouse, Basement Level Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711, Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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 Luzerne County

Whether someone was arrested in Luzerne County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at luzernecounty.org/172/Clerk-of-Courts, phone 570.825.1585); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at luzernecounty.org/206/District-Attorney, phone 570-825-1674).

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 Luzerne 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 Sheriff's Department | Luzerne County, PA: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 570-825-1651.
  • An arrest in Wilkes-Barre, Wilkes-Barre (township), Hazleton, Kingston, Kingston (township), Nanticoke 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 Luzerne County Community College, Reading Northern Railroad in Luzerne County or the State Park Rangers at Ricketts Glen: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 570-825-1674, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • The court file of a case that was filed: the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at luzernecounty.org/172/Clerk-of-Courts, phone 570.825.1585.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at luzernecounty.org (page title: Right-to-Know Law & Requests | Luzerne County, PA).
  • Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.

Cities in Luzerne County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 28 of the 40 cities in Luzerne County: the twelve named above and Forty Fort, Freeland, Wyoming, Harveys Lake, Luzerne, Dallas, Dallas (township), Ashley, Dupont, Avoca, Conyngham, Nescopeck, Hughestown, White Haven, Sugar Notch and Courtdale. Exeter, Edwardsville, West Pittston, Larksville, West Wyoming, Laflin, Pringle, Nuangola, Yatesville, Shickshinny, Laurel Run, Warrior Run and four more have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Rice Township Police Department, Hanover Township Police Department, Luzerne County, the Newport Township Police Department and ten more as city agencies in Luzerne County; Rice Township, Hanover Township, Newport Township and ten 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 Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas.

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

Wilkes-Barre reported 2,801 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 28 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 5,627 between them.

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

Ask the Sheriff's Department | Luzerne County, PA at 570-825-1651; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at luzernecounty.org/529/Sheriff.

Where are people arrested in Luzerne County booked?

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

Are arrest records public in Luzerne 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 Luzerne County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Sheriff's Department | Luzerne County, PA 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 luzernecounty.org.

Is this the official Luzerne 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.