Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 October 1, 2026.
Washington Court House, Ohio, in Fayette County, has about 14,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Washington Court House public records, Fayette County arrest records, Ohio arrest records and Ohio inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Washington Court House
The FBI lists Washington Court House with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Washington Court House Police Department. It reported 417 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Fayette County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 265 arrests for 2024.
How Many Arrests Washington Court House 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.
- Washington Court House: 417 for 2025, 423 for 2024, 404 for 2023, 471 for 2022, 475 for 2021 and 449 for 2020.
Washington Court House's 417 arrests in 2025 were down 1.4 percent from 423 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Washington Court House reported 271 arrests, against 226 in the same months of 2025.
Across Fayette County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 688 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Washington Court House Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Washington Court House 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 2023 the jail held about 110 people, up from about 68 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 24 beds, and it ran at 283 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 Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, whose inmate locator is at appgateway.drc.ohio.gov/OffenderSearch.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Washington Court House
Whether someone was arrested in Washington Court House, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at fayette-co-oh.com/264/Clerk-of-Courts, phone 888-404-4674); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at fayette-co-oh.com/260/Prosecutor, phone 740-335-0888).
Ohio does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation 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 Washington Court House
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Ohio Public Records Act the agency must answer promptly, within a reasonable period of time, and it may charge the actual cost of copying.
- An arrest by the Washington Court House police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at faycoso.com (page title: Fayette Sheriff's Office, OH), phone 740-335-6170, 1500 Robinson Road SE Washington Court House, OH 43160, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 1, 2026.
- An arrest by the Fayette County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 740-335-0888, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at fayette-co-oh.com/264/Clerk-of-Courts, phone 888-404-4674.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at faycoso.com (page title: Public Records | Request a Report | Fayette Sheriff's Office, OH).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based WebCheck at any WebCheck location.
The Fayette County guide covers every agency in the county: Fayette County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Washington Court House each year?
Washington Court House reported 417 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Washington Court House booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Fayette County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Washington Court House?
The court files of criminal cases in the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Ohio Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Washington Court House?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Washington Court House police for its own arrests, the Fayette County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Ohio Public Records Act the answer is due promptly, within a reasonable period of time; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at faycoso.com.
Is this the official Washington Court House 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.