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 September 28, 2026.
Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, has about 1.6 million residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by one city agency and seven 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 Philadelphia 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: Philadelphia County public records, Pennsylvania arrest records, Pennsylvania inmate search and Pennsylvania criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Philadelphia County
One city in Philadelphia County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Philadelphia, 1,573,916 residents: 35,097 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 Philadelphia County: Drexel University, Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania (campus police); the Philadelphia County State Police (state police); the Office of Attorney General Region 1 in Philadelphia County, the Bureau of Forestry in Philadelphia County and the State Park Rangers at Ben Rush (state agency).
How Many Arrests Philadelphia Reports
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.
- Philadelphia: 35,097 for 2025, 30,952 for 2024, 24,305 for 2023, 24,179 for 2022, 27,210 for 2021 and 41,031 for 2020.
Philadelphia's 35,097 arrests in 2025 were up 13 percent from 30,952 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Philadelphia reported 18,715 arrests, against 23,709 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Philadelphia County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Philadelphia 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 2024 the jail held about 4,650 people, down from about 4,670 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 5,613 beds, and it ran at 82 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the sheriff's office at incarceratedperson-locator.phila.gov (page title: Incarcerated-Person-Locator), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Philadelphia County
An arrest in Philadelphia County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the sheriff's office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at courts.phila.gov, phone 215 686-7000); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at phila.gov/departments/philadelphia-district-attorneys-office, phone (215) 686-8000).
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 Philadelphia 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 in Philadelphia: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Drexel University, the Philadelphia County State Police or the Office of Attorney General Region 1 in Philadelphia County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (215) 686-8000, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at courts.phila.gov, phone 215 686-7000.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Philadelphia County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Philadelphia, the one city in Philadelphia County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Philadelphia County each year?
Philadelphia reported 35,097 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Philadelphia County?
Look on the custody page of the sheriff's office at incarceratedperson-locator.phila.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Philadelphia County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the sheriff's office or the city's police. Under the Right-to-Know Law the answer is due within 5 business days, with a 30-day extension.
Is this the official Philadelphia 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.