Reviewed and updated October 7, 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 1, 2026.
Maricopa County, Arizona, has about 4.7 million residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Arizona the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of the Superior Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the Arizona Department of Public Safety 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 Maricopa 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: Maricopa County public records, Maricopa County warrants, Maricopa County inmate search, Maricopa County court records, Maricopa County police reports, Arizona arrest records and Arizona inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Maricopa County Superior Court
A criminal case from Maricopa County is filed in the Maricopa County Superior Court or the Justice Courts, which take misdemeanors, traffic cases, civil cases up to $10,000 and evictions, and the court file, kept by the Clerk of the Superior Court, is the record of it that the public may see.
For Maricopa County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at justicecourts.maricopa.gov/app/courtrecords/casesearch (page title: Case Search), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026. That page belongs to a lower court, the Justice Courts, not to the Maricopa County Superior Court.
Statewide, Public Access to Court Information is the Arizona Judicial Branch's free statewide case search; the Maricopa and Pima county courts run their own.
The Arizona Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Arizona does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Arizona Department of Public Safety goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court file in the Maricopa County Superior Court is the public record.
To see your own record, the route is a Record Review Packet, fingerprint-based, from the Department of Public Safety. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at azdps.gov/services/public-services-portal/records-request.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Maricopa County
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Phoenix, Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, Glendale, Scottsdale and 12 more cities keep the arrest records in Maricopa 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 Maricopa County: Maricopa Community College and Arizona State University's Main Campus (campus police); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Apache Junction Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Maricopa County, so its arrests are not broken out for Maricopa County here.
Together, the 16 agencies in Maricopa County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 122,747 arrests to the FBI that year; how each case ended is in the court file, not in the arresting agency's.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Maricopa County in 2025
The 17 agencies in Maricopa County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 18,806 violent and 73,134 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 91,940 crimes in 2025 against 102,262 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 Maricopa County public records guide.
The County Attorney for Maricopa County
Charges in Maricopa County are filed by the County Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Maricopa County Superior Court or the Justice Courts.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at maricopa.gov/m/directory/department?did=389 (page title: Staff Directory, County Attorney), phone (602) 506-3411, 225 West Madison Street Phoenix, AZ 85003, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Maricopa County
Registered sex offenders living in Maricopa County are listed on the Arizona Sex Offender Information Center, run by the Arizona Department of Public Safety at azdps.gov/content/basic-page/106. Level 2 and Level 3 offenders are listed; Level 1 offenders are not shown 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 Maricopa 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 Arizona Public Records Law a county office must answer a request promptly, with no fixed number of days in the statute, and it may charge the cost of copies, and more for commercial requests. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at maricopa.gov/4214/Public-Records (page title: Maricopa County Public Records Request | Maricopa County, AZ).
More Official Criminal Records Pages for Maricopa County
The SearchSystems directory, online since 1997, lists the official pages for Maricopa County and Arizona. These criminal records pages from its Maricopa County listing were opened again on October 1, 2026 and each one still answers:
- Mugshot Lookup *UNAVAILABLE* (mcso.org)
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Maricopa County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Maricopa County Superior Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Arizona Department of Public Safety is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Arizona Public Records Law.
Can I search Maricopa County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at justicecourts.maricopa.gov (page title: Case Search); it belongs to a lower court, not to the Maricopa County Superior Court. Statewide, Public Access to Court Information is the Arizona Judicial Branch's free statewide case search; the Maricopa and Pima county courts run their own.
How do I get my own Arizona criminal history?
Through a Record Review Packet, fingerprint-based, from the Department of Public Safety.
Who prosecutes crimes in Maricopa County?
The County Attorney, reached at (602) 506-3411, which files its cases in the Maricopa County Superior Court or the Justice Courts.
Is this the official Maricopa 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.