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 24, 2026.
Southampton County, Virginia, has about 18,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Southampton 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 Southampton 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: Southampton County public records, Virginia arrest records, Virginia inmate search and Virginia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Southampton County
The Southampton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Southampton County. It reported 213 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Southampton County: the Southampton County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests The Southampton 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.
- Southampton County Sheriff's Office: 213 for 2025, 256 for 2024, 185 for 2023, 231 for 2022, 219 for 2021 and 183 for 2020.
The Southampton County Sheriff's Office's 213 arrests in 2025 were down 17 percent from 256 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Southampton County Sheriff's Office reported 115 arrests, against 132 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Southampton County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Southampton 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 52 people, down from about 73 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 122 beds, and it ran at 60 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Southampton County
Whether someone was arrested in Southampton County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: 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 southamptoncounty.org/departments/commonwealth_attorney/index.php, phone (757) 653-2045).
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 Southampton 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 Southampton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest by the Southampton 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, (757) 653-2045, handles discovery for pending cases.
- 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 Southampton County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists no city in Southampton 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 Southampton Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Southampton County each year?
The Southampton County Sheriff's Office reported 213 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Southampton County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Southampton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Southampton County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Southampton 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 Southampton County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Southampton 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 Southampton 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.