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 23, 2026.
Bedford County, Virginia, has about 82,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Virginia the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Circuit Court Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the Virginia State Police 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 Bedford 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: Bedford County public records, Bedford County arrest records, Bedford County warrants, Bedford County inmate search, Bedford County court records, Virginia arrest records and Virginia inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Bedford Circuit Court
A criminal case from Bedford County is filed in the Bedford Circuit Court or the General District Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and smaller civil cases; the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court takes family and juvenile cases, and the court file, kept by the Circuit Court Clerk, is the record of it that the public may see.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at vacourts.gov/courts/gd/bedford/home (page title: Bedford General District Court | Virginia Court System), phone (540) 586-7637, 7684 ADDRESS 123 East Main Street, Suite 202 Bedford, VA 24523-2034, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Statewide, Online Case Information System is the Virginia courts' free statewide case search.
The Virginia Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the Virginia State Police is closed to the public in Virginia: it is released to its subject and to authorized employers and licensing agencies, and a member of the public uses the court's own case index instead.
To see your own record, the route is a request to the State Police Central Criminal Records Exchange; a check on someone else needs their signed consent.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Bedford County
The Bedford County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Bedford keep the arrest records in Bedford 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 one more agency in Bedford County: the Bedford County State Police (state police); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the two agencies in Bedford County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,576 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 Bedford County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Bedford County in 2025
The two agencies in Bedford County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 93 violent and 468 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 561 crimes in 2025 against 609 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 Bedford County public records guide.
The Commonwealth's Attorney for Bedford County
The Commonwealth's Attorney decides which arrests in Bedford County become charges and files them in the Bedford Circuit Court or the General District Court; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at bedfordcountyva.gov/government/departments-offices-a-d/commonwealth... (page title: Commonwealth's Attorney (Criminal Prosecutions) | County of Bedford, Virginia), phone (540) 586-7628, 123 East Main St. Suite 302 Bedford, VA 24523, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Bedford County
Registered sex offenders living in Bedford County are listed on the Virginia Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry, run by the Virginia State Police. 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 Bedford 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 Virginia Freedom of Information Act a county office must answer a request within 5 working days, and it may charge the actual cost of searching and copying. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at sheriff.bedfordcountyva.gov/services/make-a-foia-request (page title: Make a FOIA Request | County of Bedford, Virginia).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Bedford County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Bedford 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.
Can I search Bedford County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at vacourts.gov/courts/gd/bedford/home (page title: Bedford General District Court | Virginia Court System). Statewide, Online Case Information System is the Virginia courts' free statewide case search.
How do I get my own Virginia criminal history?
Through a request to the State Police Central Criminal Records Exchange; a check on someone else needs their signed consent.
Who prosecutes crimes in Bedford County?
The Commonwealth's Attorney, reached at (540) 586-7628, which files its cases in the Bedford Circuit Court or the General District Court.
Is this the official Bedford 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.