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 24, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Orleans Parish, Louisiana, has about 363,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Louisiana the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification 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 Orleans Parish 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: Orleans Parish public records, Orleans Parish warrants, Orleans Parish inmate search, Orleans Parish court records, Orleans Parish police reports, Louisiana arrest records and Louisiana inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the District Court for Orleans Parish
A criminal case from Orleans Parish is filed in the District Court for Orleans Parish or the City Courts and Parish Courts, which take misdemeanors, traffic cases and small civil claims; mayor's courts handle town ordinance tickets, and the court file, kept by the Clerk of Court, is the record of it that the public may see.
Louisiana has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The Louisiana Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Louisiana does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court file in the District Court for Orleans Parish is the public record.
To see your own record, the route is a fingerprint-based request to the Bureau of Criminal Identification. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at ibc.dps.louisiana.gov.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Orleans Parish
The Orleans Parish Sheriff Office, LA | Official Website and the agency that reports for New Orleans keep the arrest records in Orleans Parish: 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 six campus police departments in Orleans Parish; each keeps the records of its own arrests.
New Orleans reported 14,694 arrests to the FBI for 2023; how each case ended is in the court file, not in the arresting agency's.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Orleans Parish in 2023
The one agency in Orleans Parish with all twelve months of 2023 on file reported 4,957 violent and 18,536 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2023 and 2022 complete reported 23,493 crimes in 2023 against 22,788 in 2022. 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 Orleans Parish public records guide.
The District Attorney for Orleans Parish
Charges in Orleans Parish are filed by the District Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the parish and brings the cases in the District Court for Orleans Parish or the City Courts and Parish Courts.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at orleansda.com/home (page title: Orleans Parish District Attorney), 619 South White Street., New Orleans, LA 70119, Monday - Friday, 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Orleans Parish
Registered sex offenders living in Orleans Parish are listed on the Louisiana Sex Offender and Child Predator Registry, run by the Louisiana State Police at lsp.org. 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 Orleans Parish 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 Louisiana Public Records Law a parish office must answer a request within 3 business days when the record is not immediately available, and it may charge a reasonable fee for copies. The parish records request page SearchSystems verified is at nola.gov/public-records-requests (page title: Services | Public Records | Request City Records or Information | Public Records Requests | City of New Orlean).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Orleans Parish?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for Orleans Parish are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Louisiana Public Records Law.
How do I get my own Louisiana criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based request to the Bureau of Criminal Identification.
Who prosecutes crimes in Orleans Parish?
The District Attorney, which files its cases in the District Court for Orleans Parish or the City Courts and Parish Courts.
Is this the official Orleans Parish website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official parish, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.