Reviewed and updated October 11, 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 11, 2026.
Rockingham County, Virginia, has about 88,000 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 Rockingham 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: Rockingham County public records, Rockingham County arrest records, Rockingham County warrants, Rockingham County inmate search, Rockingham County court records, Virginia arrest records and Virginia inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Rockingham Circuit Court
A criminal case from Rockingham County is filed in the Rockingham 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 rockinghamcountyva.gov/173/Clerk-of-Circuit-Court (page title: Clerk of Circuit Court | Rockingham County, VA), phone 540-564-3111, 80 Court Square, Harrisonburg, VA 22802, Monday - Friday, excluding holidays 8:30 am - 4:30 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 11, 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 Rockingham 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 Rockingham County
The Rockingham County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Bridgewater, Broadway, Timberville, Elkton, Grottoes and Dayton keep the arrest records in Rockingham 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 these agencies in Rockingham County: James Madison University (campus police); the Rockingham County State Police (state police); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the seven agencies in Rockingham County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,782 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 Rockingham County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Rockingham County in 2025
The six agencies in Rockingham County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 24 violent and 105 property crimes to the FBI that year; the four of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 106 crimes in 2025 against 116 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 Rockingham County public records guide.
The Commonwealth's Attorney for Rockingham County
The Commonwealth's Attorney decides which arrests in Rockingham County become charges and files them in the Rockingham 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 rockinghamcountyva.gov/293/Commonwealths-Attorney (page title: Commonwealth's Attorney | Rockingham County, VA), phone (540) 564-3350, 9161 Email 53 Court Square, Suite 210 Harrisonburg, VA 22801, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Rockingham County
Registered sex offenders living in Rockingham 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 Rockingham 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 rockinghamcountyva.nextrequest.com (page title: Rockingham County FOIANextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
More Official Criminal Records Pages for Rockingham County
The SearchSystems directory, online since 1997, lists the official pages for Rockingham County and Virginia. These criminal records pages from its Rockingham County listing were opened again on October 11, 2026 and each one still answers:
- Criminal Division (rockinghamcountyva.gov)
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Rockingham County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Rockingham 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 Rockingham County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at rockinghamcountyva.gov (page title: Clerk of Circuit Court | Rockingham County, VA). 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 Rockingham County?
The Commonwealth's Attorney, reached at (540) 564-3350, which files its cases in the Rockingham Circuit Court or the General District Court.
Is this the official Rockingham 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.