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.
Harris County, Texas, has about 5.0 million residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Texas the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the District Clerk for district court cases and the County Clerk for county court cases; the statewide criminal history kept by the Texas Department of Public Safety is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Harris 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: Harris County public records, Harris County warrants, Harris County inmate search, Harris County court records, Harris County police reports, Texas arrest records and Texas inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Harris County District Court
A criminal case from Harris County is filed in the Harris County District Court or the County Courts and Justice Courts, which take misdemeanors in the County Court or County Court at Law; traffic tickets, evictions and small claims in the Justice Courts, and the court file, kept by the District Clerk for district court cases and the County Clerk for county court cases, is the record of it that the public may see.
For Harris County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at jpwebsite.harriscountytx.gov/FindMyCase/search.jsp (page title: Harris County JP Public Access -- Welcome), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026. That page belongs to a lower court, the County Courts and Justice Courts, not to the Harris County District Court.
Texas has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The Texas Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Texas is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Conviction Database search lets anyone look up convictions and deferred adjudications by name, for $3 a search, through the Texas Department of Public Safety. The result is the repository record, what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it. The search is on the Texas Department of Public Safety site.
To see your own record, the route is a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at securesite.dps.texas.gov/dpswebsite/criminalhistory.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Harris County
The Harris County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Houston, Pasadena, Baytown, La Porte, Deer Park, Katy and 16 more cities keep the arrest records in Harris 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 Harris County: the Galena Park Independent School District, the Harris County Constable's Precincts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, the La Porte Fire Marshal's Office, the Houston Independent School District and 19 more (other agency); the University of Texas at Houston, the University of Houston's Central and Downtown Campuses, Texas Southern University, San Jacinto College's Central Campus and six more (campus police); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Waller Police Department, the Stafford Police Department, the Missouri City Police Department and three more are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Harris County, so their arrests are not broken out for Harris County here.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Harris County in 2025
The 23 agencies in Harris County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 29,819 violent and 132,513 property crimes to the FBI that year; the 21 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 161,898 crimes in 2025 against 181,498 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 Harris County public records guide.
The District Attorney for Harris County
Charges in Harris County are filed by the District Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Harris County District Court or the County Courts and Justice Courts.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at dao.harriscountytx.gov (page title: District Attorney’s Office), phone 713-274-5800, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Harris County
Registered sex offenders living in Harris County are listed on the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry, run by the Texas Department of Public Safety at dps.texas.gov. 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 Harris 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 Texas Public Information Act a county office must answer a request within 10 business days, and it may charge the copy rates set by the Attorney General, plus labor for large requests.
More Official Criminal Records Pages for Harris County
The SearchSystems directory, online since 1997, lists official pages for Harris County. These criminal records pages from it were opened again on October 1, 2026 and each one still answers:
- Crime Records Services - Texas Department of Public Safety (dps.texas.gov)
- Index-Harris County Texas Sheriff's Office (harriscountyso.org)
- Inmates - VineLink (vinelink.vineapps.com)
- Office of Harris County District Clerk - Marilyn Burgess | Search Our Records (hcdistrictclerk.com)
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Harris County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Texas Department of Public Safety: the Conviction Database search lets anyone look up convictions and deferred adjudications by name, for $3. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Texas Public Information Act.
Can I search Harris County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at jpwebsite.harriscountytx.gov (page title: Harris County JP Public Access -- Welcome); it belongs to a lower court, not to the Harris County District Court.
How do I get my own Texas criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety; the state fee is $3.
Who prosecutes crimes in Harris County?
The District Attorney, reached at 713-274-5800, which files its cases in the Harris County District Court or the County Courts and Justice Courts.
Is this the official Harris 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.