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 October 9, 2026.
Pelham, Alabama, in Shelby County, has about 25,000 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 Pelham is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, the crimes behind the records, sex offender registry, records requests, directory links and common questions.
Related guides: Pelham public records, Shelby County criminal records, Pelham arrest records, Pelham warrants, Pelham inmate search, Pelham court records, Alabama arrest records and Alabama inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Shelby County Circuit Court
A criminal case from Pelham is filed in the Shelby County Circuit Court or the District Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, small claims and preliminary hearings in felony cases, and the court file, kept by the Circuit Clerk, is the record of it that the public may see.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at shelby.alacourt.gov (page title: Welcome to the Shelby County Circuit Clerk's Office), phone 205-669-3760, 112 North Main Street P.O. Box 1810 Columbiana, AL 35051, Monday Through Friday 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M., 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
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 Pelham
The Shelby County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Pelham (filed by the FBI as Pelham Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Pelham: 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 Shelby County: the University of Montevallo (campus police); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Vestavia Hills Police Department, the Hoover Police Department, the Birmingham Police Department and one more are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Shelby County, so their arrests are not broken out for Shelby County here.
Together, the eight agencies in Shelby County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,526 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 Pelham arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Pelham in 2025
The agency that reports for Pelham had 40 violent and 211 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 Sex Offender Registry for Pelham
Registered sex offenders living in Pelham 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 Shelby 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 shelbyal.com/501/Freedom-of-Information-Act (page title: Public Records Requests | Shelby County, AL).
More Official Criminal Records Pages for Shelby County
The SearchSystems directory, online since 1997, lists the official pages for Shelby County and Alabama. These criminal records pages from its Shelby County listing were opened again on October 2, 2026 and each one still answers:
- Active Warrants (mostwanted.shelbyal.com)
- Sex Offender Registry (alea.gov)
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Pelham?
The court files of criminal cases in the Shelby 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 Pelham criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at shelby.alacourt.gov (page title: Welcome to the Shelby County Circuit Clerk's Office). 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.
Is this the official Pelham 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.