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. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 24, 2026 and October 4, 2026.
Randolph County, West Virginia, has about 27,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Randolph County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and three campus, state or other agencies. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the regional jail, and, if the Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Randolph County Circuit Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Randolph County public records, West Virginia arrest records, West Virginia inmate search and West Virginia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Randolph County
The Randolph County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Randolph County.
One city in Randolph County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Elkins, 6,698 residents: 113 arrests reported for 2024.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Randolph County: the Elkins State Police (state police); the State Fire Marshal in Randolph County and the Department of Natural Resources in Randolph County (state agency).
How Many Arrests Elkins Reports
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Elkins: 113 for 2024 and 174 for 2023.
Elkins's 113 arrests in 2024 were down 35 percent from 174 in 2023.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Randolph County Are Held
West Virginia closed its county jails in favor of regional jails run by the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, so a person held after an arrest in Randolph County goes to the regional jail that serves Randolph County, and the state's inmate search covers all of them.
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 84 people, down from about 110 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 77 beds, and it ran at 104 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Randolph County Sheriff's Office at randolphcountywv.com (page title: Randolph County, WV, Sheriff Office, Jails, Inmate Search), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, whose inmate locator is at dcr.wv.gov/offendersearch/Pages/default.aspx.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Randolph County
Whether someone was arrested in Randolph County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Randolph County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at randolphctywv.gov/prosecuting-attorney, phone 304.636.2053).
West Virginia does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the West Virginia State Police goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Randolph County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act the agency must answer within 5 business days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying.
- An arrest by the Randolph County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Elkins: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by the Elkins State Police, the State Fire Marshal in Randolph County or the Department of Natural Resources in Randolph County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 304.636.2053, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the State Police Criminal Identification Bureau.
Cities in Randolph County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the seven cities in Randolph County: Elkins. Beverly, Mill Creek, Womelsdorf (Coalton), Huttonsville, Montrose and Harman have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the regional jail and the case goes to the Randolph County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Randolph County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Elkins (6,698)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Randolph County each year?
Elkins reported 113 arrests to the FBI for 2024, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Randolph County booked?
In the regional jail that serves Randolph County, run by the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Are arrest records public in Randolph County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Randolph 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.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Randolph County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Randolph County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 5 business days.
Is this the official Randolph 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.