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 October 9, 2026.
Lancaster County, Virginia, has about 11,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies 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 Lancaster 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: Lancaster County public records, Virginia arrest records, Virginia inmate search and Virginia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lancaster County
The Lancaster County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lancaster County. It reported 220 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two 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:
- Kilmarnock, 1,464 residents: 23 arrests reported for 2025.
- White Stone, 389 residents: 0 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 one more agency in Lancaster County: the Lancaster County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lancaster County
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.
- Lancaster County Sheriff's Office: 220 for 2025, 224 for 2024, 222 for 2023, 163 for 2022, 216 for 2021 and 207 for 2020.
- Kilmarnock: 23 for 2025, 36 for 2024, 0 for 2022, 1 for 2021 and 0 for 2019; 2020 and 2023 are missing months.
- White Stone: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2022, 0 for 2021 and 3 for 2019; 2020, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 243 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 243 in 2025 against 260 in 2024, down 6.5 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lancaster County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lancaster 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 25 people, up from about 20 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 21 beds, and it ran at 95 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 Lancaster County Sheriff's Office at lancastersheriff.com (page title: Lancaster County Sheriff's Office | Virginia), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 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 Lancaster County
For Lancaster 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 Lancaster 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 Lancaster County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Kilmarnock or White Stone: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Lancaster 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.
The other Lancaster County guides go further: police reports and property records.
Cities in Lancaster County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the three cities in Lancaster County: Kilmarnock and White Stone. Irvington has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Lancaster Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lancaster County each year?
The Lancaster County Sheriff's Office reported 220 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 243 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lancaster County?
Ask the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at lancastersheriff.com.
Where are people arrested in Lancaster County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lancaster County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Lancaster 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 Lancaster County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lancaster 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 Lancaster 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.