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.
Arlington County, Virginia, has about 240,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Arlington County Police Department and two 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 Commonwealth's Attorney files charges, a case in the Arlington Circuit Court. 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 and common questions.
Related guides: Arlington County public records, Virginia arrest records, Virginia inmate search and Virginia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Arlington County
The Arlington County Police Department is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Arlington County. It reported 3,611 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Arlington County: Reagan National Airport (other); the Arlington County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests The Arlington County Police Department 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.
- Arlington County Police Department: 3,611 for 2025, 3,485 for 2024, 3,221 for 2023, 2,862 for 2022, 2,420 for 2021 and 2,527 for 2020.
The Arlington County Police Department's 3,611 arrests in 2025 were up 3.6 percent from 3,485 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Arlington County Police Department reported 2,018 arrests, against 2,131 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Arlington County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Arlington 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 2025 the jail held about 330 people, down from about 350 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 482 beds, and it ran at 65 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 Arlington County Police Department at inmatewebquery.arlingtonva.us/NewWorld.InmateInquiry/VA0070000 (page title: Inmate In Custody Search), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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 Virginia Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at vadoc.virginia.gov/family-and-friends.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Arlington County
An arrest in Arlington County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Arlington County Police Department described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; Online Case Information System, the Virginia courts' free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed; the Commonwealth's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at arlingtonva.us/Government/Departments/Courts/Office-Commonwealths-A..., phone 703-228-4410).
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 Arlington 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 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 Arlington County Police Department: ask its records unit.
- An arrest by Reagan National Airport or the Arlington County State Police: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Commonwealth's Attorney, 703-228-4410, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at arlingtonva.us (page title: Copy/Document Requests | Official Website of Arlington County Virginia Government).
- Your own statewide record: a request to the State Police Central Criminal Records Exchange; a check on someone else needs their signed consent.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Arlington County each year?
The Arlington County Police Department reported 3,611 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Arlington County?
Look on the custody page of the Arlington County Police Department at inmatewebquery.arlingtonva.us. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Arlington County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Arlington County Police Department; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Arlington County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Arlington 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 Arlington County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Arlington County Police Department for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 5 working days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at arlingtonva.us.
Is this the official Arlington 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.