Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest 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 October 9, 2026.
Dunbar, West Virginia, in Kanawha County, has about 7,100 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). A traffic ticket written in Dunbar is a court case in the Magistrate Court; a city with a municipal court tries its own, and the conviction it ends in goes on the driving record kept by the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles. This guide says which court takes the ticket, who writes them and where the driving record lives.
This guide covers where tickets go, who writes them, the driving record and common questions.
Related guides: Dunbar public records, Kanawha County traffic tickets, Dunbar arrest records, Dunbar warrants, Dunbar inmate search, Dunbar criminal records, West Virginia arrest records and West Virginia inmate search.
Where a Ticket Written in Dunbar Goes
A ticket written by a deputy or a state trooper in Dunbar goes to the Magistrate Court; one written by city police goes to that city's municipal court where it has one. Either way the ticket is a court case, and the court's index is the record of it.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courtswv.gov/appellate-courts/office-of-the-clerk, phone (304) 558-2601.
West Virginia has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
Who Writes the Tickets in Dunbar
The Kanawha County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Dunbar (filed by the FBI as Dunbar Police Department) write the traffic tickets in and around Dunbar.
The FBI's agency list also places two campus police departments, four state agencies, two other agencies and four state police units in Kanawha County (the arrest records guide names each one); the state police write the tickets on the state highways.
The Montgomery Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Kanawha County, so its arrests are not broken out for Kanawha County here.
The Driving Record and the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles
The driving record is a separate document from the court file. It is kept by the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles, which adds each conviction the court reports and handles suspensions; the court does not issue driving records.
Paying a ticket is a conviction, reported to the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles like any other; contesting it means a plea of not guilty entered with the court by the date on the ticket.
A DUI is a criminal charge rather than a ticket, with its own license case before the Division of Motor Vehicles (see Dunbar DUI).
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do I pay a traffic ticket from Dunbar?
With the Magistrate Court; a ticket from city police goes to the city's municipal court where it has one.
Who keeps my driving record in West Virginia?
The West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles. The court reports each conviction to it, and paying a ticket counts as one.
Which court handles traffic tickets in Dunbar?
The Magistrate Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and civil cases up to $10,000. A city with a municipal court of its own tries the tickets under its ordinances.
Is this the official Dunbar 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.