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.
Dinwiddie County, Virginia, has about 29,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Dinwiddie 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 Dinwiddie 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: Dinwiddie County public records, Virginia arrest records, Virginia inmate search and Virginia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Dinwiddie County
The Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Dinwiddie County. It reported 279 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Dinwiddie County: the Dinwiddie County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests The Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office 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.
- Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office: 279 for 2025, 274 for 2024, 320 for 2023, 60 for 2022, 37 for 2021 and 62 for 2020.
The Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office's 279 arrests in 2025 were up 1.8 percent from 274 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office reported 131 arrests, against 147 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Dinwiddie County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Dinwiddie 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 2024 the jail held about 96 people, down from about 150 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 159 beds, and it ran at 61 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 Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office at dinwiddieva.us/169/Sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Dinwiddie County, VA), phone (804) 469-4550, 13850 Courthouse Road Dinwiddie, VA 23841, Monday - Friday 8:30 am - 5:00 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Virginia Department of Corrections lists its inmates at vadoc.virginia.gov/family-and-friends.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Dinwiddie County
For Dinwiddie County the place to look is Online Case Information System, the Virginia courts' free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed.
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 Dinwiddie County
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. 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 Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (804) 469-4550.
- An arrest by the Dinwiddie County State Police: the records office of the agency involved.
- 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 Dinwiddie County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists no city in Dinwiddie 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 Dinwiddie Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Dinwiddie County each year?
The Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office reported 279 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Dinwiddie County?
Ask the Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office at (804) 469-4550; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at dinwiddieva.us/169/Sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Dinwiddie County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Dinwiddie County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Dinwiddie 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 Dinwiddie County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Dinwiddie 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.
Is this the official Dinwiddie 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.