Reviewed and updated October 11, 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 11, 2026.
Gulf Shores, Alabama, in Baldwin County, has about 17,000 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 Gulf Shores 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: Gulf Shores public records, Baldwin County criminal records, Gulf Shores arrest records, Gulf Shores warrants, Gulf Shores inmate search, Gulf Shores court records, Alabama arrest records and Alabama inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Baldwin County Circuit Court
In Alabama the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Gulf Shores are heard by the Baldwin 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 baldwincountyal.gov/government/28th-judicial-circuit-court (page title: 28th Judicial Circuit Court), phone 251.580.1695, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 11, 2026.
Statewide, Alacourt is the statewide online index of Alabama trial court cases, sold by subscription.
The Alabama Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is closed to the public in Alabama: it is released to its subject and to authorized employers and licensing agencies, and a member of the public uses the court's own case index instead.
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 Gulf Shores
The Baldwin County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Gulf Shores (filed by the FBI as Gulf Shores Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Gulf Shores: 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 Baldwin County: Coastal Alabama Community College (campus police); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the 13 agencies in Baldwin County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 9,663 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 Gulf Shores arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Gulf Shores in 2025
The agency that reports for Gulf Shores had 52 violent and 314 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 Baldwin County
The District Attorney decides which arrests in Baldwin County become charges and files them in the Baldwin County Circuit Court or the District Court; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at baldwincountyal.gov/government/district-attorney (page title: District Attorney), phone 251.580.1695, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Gulf Shores
Registered sex offenders living in Gulf Shores 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 Baldwin 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 baldwincountyal.nextrequest.com (page title: Important | Read before proceedingNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Gulf Shores?
The court files of criminal cases in the Baldwin 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 Gulf Shores criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at baldwincountyal.gov (page title: 28th Judicial Circuit Court). 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 Gulf Shores?
The District Attorney, reached at 251.580.1695, which files its cases in the Baldwin County Circuit Court or the District Court.
Is this the official Gulf Shores 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.