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 October 2, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Mecklenburg County, Virginia, has about 31,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office, four 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 Mecklenburg 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: Mecklenburg County public records, Virginia arrest records, Virginia inmate search and Virginia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Mecklenburg County
The Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Mecklenburg County. It reported 301 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists four cities in Mecklenburg County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- South Hill, 4,920 residents: 240 arrests reported for 2025.
- Chase City, 2,057 residents: 29 arrests reported for 2025.
- Clarksville, 1,309 residents: 23 arrests reported for 2025.
- La Crosse, 613 residents: 1 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 Mecklenburg County: the Mecklenburg County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Mecklenburg County
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.
- South Hill: 240 for 2025, 249 for 2024, 214 for 2023, 174 for 2022, 135 for 2021 and 134 for 2020.
- Chase City: 29 for 2025, 22 for 2024, 38 for 2023, 25 for 2022, 25 for 2021 and 58 for 2020.
- Clarksville: 23 for 2025, 28 for 2024, 16 for 2023 and 27 for 2021; 2022 is missing months.
- La Crosse: 1 for 2025, 0 for 2024 and 2 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office: 301 for 2024, 272 for 2020 and 788 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 293 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 293 in 2025 against 299 in 2024, down 2 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 174 arrests, against 159 in the same months of 2025.
Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Mecklenburg County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Mecklenburg 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 93 people, down from about 140 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 153 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 Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office at mecksheriff.com/index.php/resident-inquiry (page title: Resident Inquiry | Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 Mecklenburg County
For Mecklenburg County the place to look is the case index of the Mecklenburg Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at mecklenburgva.com/173/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 Mecklenburg 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 Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in South Hill, Chase City, Clarksville or La Crosse: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Mecklenburg County State Police: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Mecklenburg Circuit Court, through the court records page at mecklenburgva.com/173/Courts.
- 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 Mecklenburg County guides go further: warrants, inmate search, police reports and property records.
Cities in Mecklenburg County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the five cities in Mecklenburg County: South Hill, Chase City, Clarksville and La Crosse. Boydton 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 Mecklenburg Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Mecklenburg County each year?
South Hill reported 240 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 293 between them.
Where are people arrested in Mecklenburg County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Mecklenburg County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Mecklenburg 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 Mecklenburg County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Mecklenburg 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 Mecklenburg 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.