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 2, 2026.
Botetourt County, Virginia, has about 34,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Botetourt County Sheriff's Office and one state agency. 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 Botetourt 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, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Botetourt County public records, Virginia arrest records, Virginia inmate search and Virginia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Botetourt County
The Botetourt County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Botetourt County. It reported 745 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Botetourt County: the Botetourt County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests The Botetourt County Sheriff's Office Reports
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Botetourt County Sheriff's Office: 745 for 2025, 621 for 2024, 649 for 2023, 596 for 2022, 572 for 2021 and 626 for 2020.
The Botetourt County Sheriff's Office's 745 arrests in 2025 were up 20 percent from 621 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Botetourt County Sheriff's Office reported 343 arrests, against 447 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Botetourt County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Botetourt 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 110 people, down from about 120 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 108 beds, and it ran at 109 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 Botetourt County Sheriff's Office at botetourtsheriff.com (page title: Botetourt County, VA: Inmate Search, Arrests, Records), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 Botetourt County
An arrest in Botetourt County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Botetourt County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Botetourt Circuit Court, kept by the Circuit Court Clerk, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the Commonwealth's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at botetourtva.gov/518/Commonwealths-Attorney, phone 540-928-2150).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at virginiastatecourts.us/botetourt (page title: Botetourt County Court Records Search), phone (540) 473-8274, belongs to a lower court, not to the Botetourt Circuit Court.
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 Botetourt 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 Botetourt County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest by the Botetourt 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, 540-928-2150, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Botetourt Circuit Court it is kept by the Circuit Court Clerk. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at virginiastatecourts.us/botetourt, phone (540) 473-8274, is a lower court's.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at botetourtva.gov (page title: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) | Botetourt 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.
Cities in Botetourt County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists no city in Botetourt County with an arrest reporting agency of its own; the counts above are the county agencies'.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Botetourt Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Botetourt County each year?
The Botetourt County Sheriff's Office reported 745 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Botetourt County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Botetourt County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Botetourt County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Botetourt 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 Botetourt County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Botetourt County Sheriff's Office 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 botetourtva.gov.
Is this the official Botetourt 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.