Reviewed and updated October 9, 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 September 30, 2026.
Gadsden, Alabama, in Etowah County, has about 33,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Alabama the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Circuit Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency 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 Gadsden 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: Gadsden public records, Etowah County criminal records, Gadsden arrest records, Gadsden warrants, Gadsden court records, Gadsden traffic tickets, Alabama arrest records and Alabama inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Etowah County Circuit Court
In Alabama the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Gadsden are heard by the Etowah County Circuit Court, which hears felonies, civil cases over $20,000, divorces and appeals from the district court; the District Court takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, small claims and preliminary hearings in felony cases, and the file of each case is kept by the Circuit Clerk.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at etowah.alacourt.gov (page title: Etowah County | Sixteenth Circuit Court of Alabama), phone 256-549-5372, 801 Forrest Ave., Gadsden, AL 35901, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
Statewide, Alacourt is the statewide online index of Alabama trial court cases, sold by subscription.
The Alabama Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Alabama does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court file in the Etowah County Circuit Court is the public record.
To see your own record, the route is a fingerprint-based request to ALEA. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at alea.gov/sbi/criminal-justice-services/criminal-records.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Gadsden
The Etowah County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Gadsden (filed by the FBI as Gadsden Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Gadsden: 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 more agency in Etowah County: Etowah County Drug Enforcement Unit (other agency); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Boaz Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Etowah County, so its arrests are not broken out for Etowah County here.
Together, the nine agencies in Etowah County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,429 arrests to the FBI that year; how each case ended is in the court file, not in the arresting agency's.
The agencies and their counts, year by year, are in Gadsden arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Gadsden in 2025
The agency that reports for Gadsden had 131 violent and 713 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 Etowah County
Charges in Etowah County are filed by the District Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Etowah County Circuit Court or the District Court.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at etowahda.com (page title: Etowah County District Attorney's Office | Etowah County District Attorney's Office), 801 Forrest Avenue, Gadsden, AL 35901, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Gadsden
Registered sex offenders living in Gadsden are listed on the Alabama Sex Offender Registry, run by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency at alea.gov/node/43. 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 Etowah 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 Alabama Public Records Law a county office must answer a request within a reasonable time; the statute sets no fixed deadline, and it may charge a reasonable fee for copies. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at etowah.alacourt.gov/record-request-and-copies (page title: Etowah County | Sixteenth Circuit Court of Alabama).
More Official Criminal Records Pages for Etowah County
The SearchSystems directory, online since 1997, lists the official pages for Etowah County and Alabama. These criminal records pages from its Etowah County listing were opened again on October 2, 2026 and each one still answers:
- Sex Offender Registry (alea.gov)
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Gadsden?
The court files of criminal cases in the Etowah County Circuit Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Alabama Public Records Law.
Can I search Gadsden criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at etowah.alacourt.gov (page title: Etowah County | Sixteenth Circuit Court of Alabama). Statewide, Alacourt is the statewide online index of Alabama trial court cases, sold by subscription.
How do I get my own Alabama criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based request to ALEA.
Who prosecutes crimes in Gadsden?
The District Attorney, which files its cases in the Etowah County Circuit Court or the District Court.
Is this the official Gadsden 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.