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 September 30, 2026.
Clark County, Washington, has about 527,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Washington the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the County Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the Washington State Patrol is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Clark 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: Clark County public records, Clark County arrest records, Clark County warrants, Clark County inmate search, Clark County court records, Washington arrest records and Washington inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Clark County Superior Court
In Washington the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Clark County are heard by the Clark County Superior Court, which hears felonies, civil cases over $100,000, divorces, probate and juvenile matters; the District Court takes misdemeanors, traffic infractions, small claims and civil cases up to $100,000, and the file of each case is kept by the County Clerk.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courts.wa.gov/index.cfm (page title: Washington State Courts Name and Case Search), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Statewide, Washington Courts Search Case Records is the Administrative Office of the Courts' free statewide case search.
The Washington Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Washington is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: WATCH lets anyone search conviction records by name online, for $12 a search, through the Washington State Patrol. The result is the repository record, what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it. The search is on the Washington State Patrol site.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Clark County
The Clark County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Vancouver, Camas, Battle Ground, Washougal, Ridgefield and La Center keep the arrest records in Clark 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 Clark County: Washington State University at Vancouver (campus police); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Woodland Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Clark County, so its arrests are not broken out for Clark County here.
Together, the five agencies in Clark County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,494 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 Clark County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Clark County in 2025
The five agencies in Clark County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,199 violent and 6,522 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 7,721 crimes in 2025 against 8,886 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 Clark County public records guide.
The Prosecuting Attorney for Clark County
The Prosecuting Attorney decides which arrests in Clark County become charges and files them in the Clark County Superior Court or the 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 clark.wa.gov/prosecuting-attorney (page title: Prosecuting Attorney | Clark County), phone (564) 397-2261, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Clark County
Registered sex offenders living in Clark County are listed on the Washington Sex Offender Registry, run by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. 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 Clark 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 Public Records Act (RCW 42.56) a county office must answer a request within 5 business days, and it may charge for copies at 15 cents a page, and set fees for electronic records. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at clark.wa.gov/community-development/public-records-requests (page title: Public records requests | Clark County).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Clark County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Washington State Patrol: WATCH lets anyone search conviction records by name online, for $12. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Public Records Act (RCW 42.56).
Can I search Clark County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courts.wa.gov/index.cfm (page title: Washington State Courts Name and Case Search). Statewide, Washington Courts Search Case Records is the Administrative Office of the Courts' free statewide case search.
How do I get my own Washington criminal history?
Through the same WATCH search, run on yourself.
Who prosecutes crimes in Clark County?
The Prosecuting Attorney, reached at (564) 397-2261, which files its cases in the Clark County Superior Court or the District Court.
Is this the official Clark 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.