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 September 24, 2026.
Wise County, Virginia, has about 35,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Wise County Sheriff's Office, five city agencies and two campus, state or other agencies. 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 Wise 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: Wise County public records, Virginia arrest records, Virginia inmate search and Virginia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Wise County
The Wise County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Wise County. It reported 927 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists five cities in Wise County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Big Stone Gap, 5,087 residents: 96 arrests reported for 2025.
- Wise, 2,869 residents: 53 arrests reported for 2025.
- Coeburn, 1,556 residents: 114 arrests reported for 2024.
- Pound, 840 residents: 25 arrests reported for 2025.
- St. Paul, 835 residents: 40 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 these agencies in Wise County: the Wise County State Police (state police); the University of Virginia's College at Wise (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Wise 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.
- Wise County Sheriff's Office: 927 for 2025, 1,334 for 2024, 1,607 for 2023, 1,603 for 2022, 1,333 for 2021 and 878 for 2020.
- Big Stone Gap: 96 for 2025, 123 for 2023, 73 for 2022, 110 for 2021, 94 for 2020 and 144 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Wise: 53 for 2025, 49 for 2024, 50 for 2023, 45 for 2022, 50 for 2021 and 45 for 2020.
- St. Paul: 40 for 2025, 35 for 2024, 35 for 2023, 21 for 2022, 28 for 2021 and 71 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Pound: 25 for 2025 and 1 for 2024.
- Coeburn: 114 for 2024, 109 for 2023, 94 for 2021, 140 for 2020 and 143 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,141 arrests that year. The four of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,045 in 2025 against 1,419 in 2024, down 26 percent.
Through June 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 521 arrests, against 556 in the same months of 2025.
Coeburn reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Wise County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Wise 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 240 people, down from about 310 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 275 beds, and it ran at 94 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 Wise County Sheriff's Office at wisecounty.org/211/Sheriff---WCSO (page title: Sheriff | WCSO | Wise County, VA), phone 276-328-3566, 5605 Patriot Drive Wise, VA 24293, Monday through Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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 Wise County
Whether someone was arrested in Wise County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Wise Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at vacourts.gov/courts/gd/Wise~Norton/home, phone (276) 328-3426); the Commonwealth's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at wisecounty.org/m/directory/department?did=23).
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 Wise 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 Wise County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 276-328-3566.
- An arrest in Big Stone Gap, Wise, Coeburn, Pound or St. Paul: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Wise County State Police or the University of Virginia's College at Wise: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Commonwealth's Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Wise Circuit Court, through the court records page at vacourts.gov/courts/gd/Wise~Norton/home, phone (276) 328-3426.
- 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 Wise County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for five of the six cities in Wise County: Big Stone Gap, Wise, Coeburn, Pound and St. Paul. Appalachia 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 Wise Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Wise County each year?
The Wise County Sheriff's Office reported 927 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,141 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Wise County?
Ask the Wise County Sheriff's Office at 276-328-3566; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at wisecounty.org/211/Sheriff---WCSO.
Where are people arrested in Wise County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Wise County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Wise County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Wise 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 Wise County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Wise 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 Wise 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.