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 9, 2026.
Prince William County, Virginia, has about 497,000 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 Prince William 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: Prince William County public records, Prince William County arrest records, Prince William County warrants, Prince William County inmate search, Prince William County court records, Virginia arrest records and Virginia inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Prince William Circuit Court
A criminal case from Prince William County is filed in the Prince William 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.
For Prince William County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at pwcva.gov/department/circuit-court/court-case-information (page title: Court Case Information), phone (703) 792-4311, 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
Virginia does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Virginia State Police goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court file in the Prince William Circuit Court is the public record.
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 Prince William County
The Prince William County Police Department and the agencies that report for Dumfries, Haymarket, Occoquan and Quantico keep the arrest records in Prince William 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 Prince William County: the Prince William County State Police (state police); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the four agencies in Prince William County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 9,036 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 Prince William County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Prince William County in 2025
The three agencies in Prince William County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,054 violent and 6,327 property crimes to the FBI that year; the two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 7,376 crimes in 2025 against 8,467 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 Prince William County public records guide.
The Commonwealth's Attorney for Prince William County
The Commonwealth's Attorney decides which arrests in Prince William County become charges and files them in the Prince William 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 pwcva.gov/department/commonwealth-attorney (page title: Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney), phone (703) 792-4311, 9311 Lee Avenue, Suite 200 Manassas, VA 20110, Mon. - Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Prince William County
Registered sex offenders living in Prince William 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 Prince William 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 pwcva.gov/policefoia (page title: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Requests).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Prince William County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Prince William 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 Prince William County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at pwcva.gov (page title: Court Case Information). 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 Prince William County?
The Commonwealth's Attorney, reached at (703) 792-4311, which files its cases in the Prince William Circuit Court or the General District Court.
Is this the official Prince William 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.