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 30, 2026.
Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, has about 38,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by 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 Susquehanna 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: Susquehanna County public records, Pennsylvania arrest records, Pennsylvania inmate search and Pennsylvania criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Susquehanna County
Arrests inside four 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:
- Forest City, 1,748 residents: 134 arrests reported for 2020.
- Montrose, 1,271 residents: 3 arrests reported for 2025.
- Great Bend, 618 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lanesboro, 494 residents: 12 arrests reported for 2024.
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 Susquehanna County: the Mountain View School District and the Blue Ridge School District (other); the Bureau of Forestry in Susquehanna County and the Office of Attorney General Region 1 in Susquehanna County (state agency); the Susquehanna County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Susquehanna 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.
- Montrose: 3 for 2025, 2 for 2024, 4 for 2023, 4 for 2022, 30 for 2020 and 41 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Great Bend: 0 for 2025, 5 for 2024 and 13 for 2023.
- Silver Lake Township: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024 and 0 for 2023.
- Forest City: 134 for 2020 and 99 for 2019.
- Lanesboro: 12 for 2024, 8 for 2023 and 1 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 3 in 2025 against 7 in 2024.
Lanesboro and Forest City reported only part of 2025 (11 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Susquehanna County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Susquehanna 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 58 people, down from about 61 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 111 beds, and it ran at 52 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Susquehanna County
Whether someone was arrested in Susquehanna County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at ujsportal.pacourts.us/casesearch); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at susqco.com/departments/district-attorney-s-office, phone (570) 278-6655).
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 Susquehanna 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 in Forest City, Montrose, Great Bend or Lanesboro: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Mountain View School District, the Blue Ridge School District or the Bureau of Forestry in Susquehanna County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (570) 278-6655, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at ujsportal.pacourts.us/casesearch.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Susquehanna County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the 13 cities in Susquehanna County: Forest City, Montrose, Great Bend and Lanesboro. Susquehanna Depot, Hallstead, New Milford, Oakland, Hop Bottom, Thompson, Little Meadows, Union Dale and Friendsville have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Silver Lake Township Police Department as a city agency in Susquehanna County; Silver Lake Township is 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 Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Susquehanna County each year?
Montrose reported 3 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 3 between them.
Where are people arrested in Susquehanna 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 Susquehanna 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 Susquehanna 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 Susquehanna 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.