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 4, 2026.
Wayne County, Pennsylvania, has about 51,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and four 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 Wayne 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: Wayne County public records, Pennsylvania arrest records, Pennsylvania inmate search and Pennsylvania criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Wayne County
The Wayne County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Wayne County. It reported 0 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside three 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:
- Honesdale, 4,441 residents: 38 arrests reported for 2025.
- Waymart, 1,286 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hawley, 1,218 residents: 4 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 Wayne County: County Detective in Wayne County (other); the Bureau of Forestry in Wayne County and the Office of Attorney General Region 1 in Wayne County (state agency); the Wayne County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Wayne 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.
- Honesdale: 38 for 2025, 61 for 2024, 40 for 2023 and 104 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Hawley: 4 for 2025, 1 for 2024, 8 for 2023, 1 for 2022 and 6 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
- Wayne County Sheriff's Office: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023 and 0 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Waymart: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023 and 0 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Lehigh Township: 0 for 2025, 8 for 2024, 6 for 2023 and 0 for 2022.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 42 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 42 in 2025 against 70 in 2024, down 40 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Wayne County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Wayne 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 64 people, down from about 80 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 201 beds, and it ran at 32 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 Wayne County Sheriff's Office at waynecountypa.gov/211/Corrections (page title: Corrections | Wayne County, PA), phone 570-253-5970, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 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 Wayne County
Whether someone was arrested in Wayne County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Wayne County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at waynecountypa.gov/828/Court-Case-Information); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at waynecountypa.gov/441/District-Attorney, phone 570-253-4912).
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 Wayne 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 Wayne County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 570-253-5970.
- An arrest in Honesdale, Waymart or Hawley: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by County Detective in Wayne County, the Bureau of Forestry in Wayne County or the Office of Attorney General Region 1 in Wayne County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 570-253-4912, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Wayne County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at waynecountypa.gov/828/Court-Case-Information.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at waynecountypa.gov/196/Open-Records (page title: Open Records | Wayne County, PA).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Wayne County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the six cities in Wayne County: Honesdale, Waymart and Hawley. Bethany, Prompton and Starrucca have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Lehigh Township Police Department as a city agency in Wayne County; Lehigh 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 Wayne County Court of Common Pleas.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Wayne County each year?
Honesdale reported 38 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 42 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Wayne County?
Ask the Wayne County Sheriff's Office at 570-253-5970; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at waynecountypa.gov/211/Corrections.
Where are people arrested in Wayne County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Wayne County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Wayne 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 Wayne County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Wayne 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 waynecountypa.gov/196/Open-Records.
Is this the official Wayne 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.