Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 1, 2026.
Ashland, Virginia, in Hanover County, has about 7,900 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the Commonwealth's Attorney files charges, a case in the Hanover Circuit Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Ashland public records, Hanover County arrest records, Virginia arrest records and Virginia inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Ashland
The FBI lists Ashland with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Ashland Police Department. It reported 215 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Hanover County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 2,805 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Hanover County: the Hanover County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Ashland 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.
- Ashland: 215 for 2025, 234 for 2024, 315 for 2023, 228 for 2022, 176 for 2021 and 156 for 2020.
Ashland's 215 arrests in 2025 were down 8.1 percent from 234 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Ashland reported 121 arrests, against 110 in the same months of 2025.
Across Hanover County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,020 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Ashland Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Ashland 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 2025 the jail held about 400 people, up from about 380 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 519 beds, and it ran at 66 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 Hanover County Sheriff's Office at hanoversheriff.com/306/Find (page title: Find | Hanover County Sheriff, VA), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 1, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Virginia Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at vadoc.virginia.gov/family-and-friends.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Ashland
For Ashland the place to look is the case index of the Hanover Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at hanovercounty.gov/622/Courts).
Statewide, Online Case Information System is the Virginia courts' free statewide case search.
Virginia does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Virginia State Police goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Ashland
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act the agency must answer within 5 working days, and it may charge the actual cost of searching and copying.
- An arrest by the Ashland police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at town.ashland.va.us/DocumentCenter/View/262/FOIA-Form?bidId= (page title: ASHLAND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION RECORDS REQUEST FORM), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Hanover County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Hanover Circuit Court, through the court records page at hanovercounty.gov/622/Courts.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hanovercounty.gov (page title: FOIA Rights and Responsibilities | Hanover County, VA).
- Your own statewide record: a request to the State Police Central Criminal Records Exchange; a check on someone else needs their signed consent.
The Hanover County guide covers every agency in the county: Hanover County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Ashland each year?
Ashland reported 215 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Ashland?
Ask the Hanover County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at hanoversheriff.com/306/Find.
Where are people arrested in Ashland booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hanover County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Ashland?
The court files of criminal cases in the Hanover Circuit Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Virginia State Police is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Ashland?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Ashland police for its own arrests, the Hanover County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 5 working days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hanovercounty.gov.
Is this the official Ashland website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.