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 24, 2026 and September 28, 2026.
Beckley, West Virginia, in Raleigh County, has about 17,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In West Virginia the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Circuit Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the West 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 Beckley is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, the crimes behind the records, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: Beckley public records, Raleigh County criminal records, Beckley arrest records, Beckley warrants, Beckley inmate search, Beckley court records, West Virginia arrest records and West Virginia inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Raleigh County Circuit Court
A criminal case from Beckley is filed in the Raleigh County Circuit Court or the Magistrate Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and civil cases up to $10,000, and the court file, kept by the Circuit Clerk, is the record of it that the public may see.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courtswv.gov/public-resources/court-information-county/raleigh_county (page title: Raleigh County Information | West Virginia Judiciary), phone 304-252-2417, 222 Main Street Beckley, WV 25801, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
West Virginia has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The West Virginia Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the West Virginia State Police is closed to the public in West 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 fingerprint-based request to the State Police Criminal Identification Bureau.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Beckley
The Raleigh County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Beckley (filed by the FBI as Beckley Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Beckley: 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 other agency, two state agencies, one campus police department and one state police unit in Raleigh County (the arrest records guide names each one); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the two agencies in Raleigh County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,851 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 Beckley arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Beckley in 2025
The agency that reports for Beckley had 117 violent and 1,160 property crimes reported for 2025; each one is a report on file with it, and each arrest that follows is the start of a criminal record.
The Sex Offender Registry for Beckley
Registered sex offenders living in Beckley are listed on the West Virginia Sex Offender Registry, run by the West Virginia State Police at apps.wv.gov. 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 Raleigh 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 West Virginia Freedom of Information Act a county office must answer a request within 5 business days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Beckley?
The court files of criminal cases in the Raleigh County Circuit Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the West 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 West Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
Can I search Beckley criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courtswv.gov (page title: Raleigh County Information | West Virginia Judiciary).
How do I get my own West Virginia criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based request to the State Police Criminal Identification Bureau.
Is this the official Beckley 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.