Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest and crime counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and October 4, 2026.
Washington County, Illinois, has about 14,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Illinois the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Circuit Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the Illinois State Police is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Washington County is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, the crimes behind the records, the prosecutor, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: Washington County public records, Washington County arrest records, Washington County warrants, Washington County inmate search, Washington County court records, Illinois arrest records and Illinois inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Circuit Court of Washington County
A criminal case from Washington County is filed in the Circuit Court of Washington County, and the court file, kept by the Circuit Clerk, is the record of it that the public may see.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at washingtonco.illinois.gov/circuit-clerk (page title: Circuit Clerk | Washington County, Illinois), phone (618) 327-4800, Mon-Fri 8:00am - 4:00pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Illinois has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The Illinois Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Illinois is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act, through the Illinois State Police. The result is the repository record, what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
To see your own record, the route is a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at isp.illinois.gov/BureauOfIdentification/MyRecord.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Washington County
The Washington County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Nashville, Okawville and Irvington keep the arrest records in Washington County: the report and the booking record of each arrest stay with the agency that made it, separate from the court file and from the state repository.
The Wamac Police Department and the Centralia Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Washington County, so their arrests are not broken out for Washington County here.
Together, the four agencies in Washington County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,420 arrests to the FBI that year; how each case ended is in the court file, not in the arresting agency's.
The agencies and their counts, year by year, are in Washington County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Washington County in 2025
The two agencies in Washington County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 18 violent and 52 property crimes to the FBI that year; the one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 10 crimes in 2025 against 8 in 2024. Each reported crime is a report on file with the agency that took it, and each arrest that follows is the start of a criminal record.
The full crime section, agency by agency, is on the Washington County public records guide.
The State's Attorney for Washington County
The State's Attorney decides which arrests in Washington County become charges and files them in the Circuit Court of Washington County; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at washingtonco.illinois.gov/states-attorney (page title: State’s Attorney | Washington County, Illinois), phone (618) 327-4800, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Washington County
Registered sex offenders living in Washington County are listed on the Illinois Sex Offender Registry, run by the Illinois State Police at illinois.gov. The registry is public and can be searched online.
Registration itself is done in person with the local agency where the registrant lives: the sheriff's office, or the city police in a city with its own department.
Asking an Agency in Washington County for a Record
An arrest report, a booking record or a local criminal history letter comes from the agency that holds it, not from the court.
Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act a county office must answer a request within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension, and it may charge copying only after the first 50 pages.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Washington County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Illinois State Police: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
Can I search Washington County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at washingtonco.illinois.gov/circuit-clerk (page title: Circuit Clerk | Washington County, Illinois).
How do I get my own Illinois criminal history?
Through a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Who prosecutes crimes in Washington County?
The State's Attorney, reached at (618) 327-4800, which files its cases in the Circuit Court of Washington County.
Is this the official Washington 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.