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 on September 24, 2026.
Washoe County, Nevada, has about 507,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Nevada the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the County Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the Nevada Department of Public Safety Records, Communications and Compliance Division is released only to its subject and to the employers and agencies the law allows. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Washoe 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, directory links and common questions.
Related guides: Washoe County public records, Washoe County arrest records, Washoe County warrants, Washoe County inmate search, Washoe County court records, Nevada arrest records and Nevada inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the District Court for Washoe County
In Nevada the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Washoe County are heard by the District Court for Washoe County, which hears felonies, civil cases over $15,000, divorces, probate and juvenile matters; the Justice Court takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, evictions and civil cases up to $15,000, and the file of each case is kept by the County Clerk.
For Washoe County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at washoecounty.gov/sjc/CaseSearch.php (page title: Case Search | Washoe County), 1001 E 9th St, Reno, NV 89512, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
Nevada has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The Nevada Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Nevada does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Nevada Department of Public Safety Records, Communications and Compliance Division goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court file in the District Court for Washoe County is the public record.
To see your own record, the route is a fingerprint-based request to the Records Bureau. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at rccd.nv.gov/fees-forms/fees-information-fingerprints/frequently-ask....
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Washoe County
The Washoe County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Reno and Sparks keep the arrest records in Washoe 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 FBI's agency list also places four other agencies, two state agencies and one campus police department in Washoe County (the arrest records guide names each one); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the two agencies in Washoe County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 15,846 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 Washoe County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Washoe County in 2025
The two agencies in Washoe County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,984 violent and 9,254 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 11,238 crimes in 2025 against 11,716 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 Washoe County public records guide.
The District Attorney for Washoe County
The District Attorney decides which arrests in Washoe County become charges and files them in the District Court for Washoe County or the Justice Court; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at washoecounty.gov/da (page title: District Attorney's Office | Washoe County), phone 775.789.7100, 1001 E 9th St, Reno, NV 89512, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Washoe County
Registered sex offenders living in Washoe County are listed on the Nevada Sex Offender Registry, run by the Nevada Department of Public Safety at sexoffenders.nv.gov/ConditionsOfUse.Aspx. Tier 2 and Tier 3 offenders are listed 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 Washoe 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 Nevada Public Records Act a county office must answer a request within 5 business days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying; staff time only for extraordinary requests. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at washoecounty.gov/311/public-records-request.php (page title: Public Records Request | Washoe County).
More Official Criminal Records Pages for Washoe County
The SearchSystems directory, online since 1997, lists the official pages for Washoe County and Nevada. These criminal records pages from its Washoe County listing were opened again on October 2, 2026 and each one still answers:
- Arrest/Court/Criminal Records (washoecountynv.qscend.com)
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Washoe County?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for Washoe County are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Nevada Department of Public Safety Records, Communications and Compliance Division is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Nevada Public Records Act.
Can I search Washoe County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at washoecounty.gov/sjc/CaseSearch.php (page title: Case Search | Washoe County).
How do I get my own Nevada criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based request to the Records Bureau.
Who prosecutes crimes in Washoe County?
The District Attorney, reached at 775.789.7100, which files its cases in the District Court for Washoe County or the Justice Court.
Is this the official Washoe 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.