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 2, 2026.
Elmira, New York, in Chemung County, has about 26,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In New York the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the County Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the New York State Office of Court Administration is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Elmira 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: Elmira public records, Chemung County criminal records, Elmira arrest records, Elmira warrants, Elmira court records, Elmira DUI, New York arrest records and New York inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Chemung County Supreme and County Courts
In New York the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Elmira are heard by the Chemung County Supreme and County Courts, which hear divorces and major civil cases in the Supreme Court, felonies in the County Court; the city, town and village courts take misdemeanors, traffic cases and small claims, and the file of each case is kept by the County Clerk.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at ww2.nycourts.gov/courts/6jd/chemung/elmira/criminal_searches.shtml (page title: Record Searches | Elmira City Court | Chemung | 6th JD | NYCOURTS.GOV), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
Statewide, eCourts is the Unified Court System's free online case search (WebCivil, WebCrims and WebFamily).
The New York Criminal History and Your Own Copy
In New York the public route to a statewide criminal record is the court system's own search: the Office of Court Administration sells a statewide search of criminal court records by name and date of birth, at $95 a search. It covers cases that reached a court, not arrests that never did. The search is on the New York State Office of Court Administration site.
To see your own record, the route is a fingerprint-based Record Review through the Division of Criminal Justice Services. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at criminaljustice.ny.gov/ojis/recordreview.htm.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Elmira
The Chemung County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Elmira (filed by the FBI as Elmira Town Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Elmira: 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.
Together, the four agencies in Chemung County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,419 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 Elmira arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Elmira in 2025
The agency that reports for Elmira had 1 violent and 1 property crimes reported for 2025; each one is a report on file with it, and each arrest that follows is the start of a criminal record.
The District Attorney for Chemung County
Charges in Chemung County are filed by the District Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Chemung County Supreme and County Courts or the city, town and village courts.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at chemungcountyny.gov/391/District-Attorney (page title: District Attorney | Chemung County, NY), phone (607) 873-9430, 224 Lake Street Elmira, NY 14901, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Elmira
Registered sex offenders living in Elmira are listed on the New York Sex Offender Registry, run by the Division of Criminal Justice Services at criminaljustice.ny.gov/nsor. Level 2 and Level 3 offenders are listed online; Level 1 offenders are not.
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 Chemung 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 Freedom of Information Law a county office must answer a request within 5 business days, at least with an acknowledgment and a date for the full answer, and it may charge copying at 25 cents a page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Elmira?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the New York State Office of Court Administration: the Office of Court Administration sells a statewide search of criminal court records by name and date of birth, for $95. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Freedom of Information Law.
Can I search Elmira criminal cases online?
eCourts is the Unified Court System's free online case search (WebCivil, WebCrims and WebFamily).
How do I get my own New York criminal history?
A fingerprint-based Record Review through the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
Who prosecutes crimes in Elmira?
The District Attorney, reached at (607) 873-9430, which files its cases in the Chemung County Supreme and County Courts or the city, town and village courts.
Is this the official Elmira website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.