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 September 25, 2026.
Santa Maria, California, in Santa Barbara County, has about 111,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In California the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Superior Court clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the California Department of Justice 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 Santa Maria 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: Santa Maria public records, Santa Barbara County criminal records, Santa Maria warrants, Santa Maria inmate search, Santa Maria court records, Santa Maria police reports, California arrest records and California inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara
A criminal case from Santa Maria is filed in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara, and the court file, kept by the Superior Court clerk, is the record of it that the public may see.
For Santa Barbara County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at santabarbara.courts.ca.gov/online-services/case-records-search/case... (page title: Case Information | Superior Court of California | County of Santa Barbara), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
California has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The California Criminal History and Your Own Copy
California does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the California Department of Justice goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court file in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara is the public record.
To see your own record, the route is a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR; the state fee is $25. The response cannot be used for immigration or visa purposes. Details are on the California Department of Justice page.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Santa Maria
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Santa Maria (filed by the FBI as Santa Maria Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Santa Maria: 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 campus police departments and three state police units in Santa Barbara County; each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the three agencies in Santa Barbara County with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 8,240 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: Santa Maria in 2025
The agency that reports for Santa Maria had 697 violent and 2,026 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 District Attorney for Santa Barbara County
The District Attorney decides which arrests in Santa Barbara County become charges and files them in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at da.countyofsb.org (page title: Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office), phone (805) 568-2300, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Santa Maria
Registered sex offenders living in Santa Maria are listed on the Megan's Law website, run by the California Department of Justice at meganslaw.ca.gov. The registry is tiered; some registrants are kept off the public site and others are shown by ZIP code only.
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 Santa Barbara 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 California Public Records Act a county office must answer a request within 10 days, with up to 14 more days in unusual circumstances, and it may charge the direct cost of copying only, not staff time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Santa Maria?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the California Department of Justice is not public; you can get your own for $25. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the California Public Records Act.
Can I search Santa Maria criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at santabarbara.courts.ca.gov (page title: Case Information | Superior Court of California | County of Santa Barbara).
How do I get my own California criminal history?
Through a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR; the state fee is $25.
Who prosecutes crimes in Santa Maria?
The District Attorney, reached at (805) 568-2300, which files its cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara.
Is this the official Santa Maria 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.