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 4, 2026.
Covington County, Alabama, has about 38,000 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 Covington 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 and common questions.
Related guides: Covington County public records, Covington County arrest records, Covington County warrants, Covington County inmate search, Covington County court records, Alabama arrest records and Alabama inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Covington County Circuit Court
A criminal case from Covington County is filed in the Covington 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.
For Covington County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at covington.alacourt.gov (page title: Covington County | Twenty-Second Circuit Court of Alabama), phone (334) 428-2520, 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 Covington 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 Covington County
The Covington County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Andalusia, Opp, Florala, River Falls, Lockhart, Red Level and one more cities keep the arrest records in Covington 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 one more agency in Covington County: Lurleen B. Wallace Community College (campus police); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the five agencies in Covington County with all twelve months of 2022 on file reported 934 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 Covington County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Covington County in 2022
The five agencies in Covington County with all twelve months of 2022 on file reported 74 violent and 488 property crimes to the FBI that year. 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 Covington County public records guide.
The District Attorney for Covington County
The District Attorney decides which arrests in Covington County become charges and files them in the Covington 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 covingtoncountyal.gov/263/District-Attorney---Mr-Walt-Merrell (page title: District Attorney | Mr. Walt Merrell | Covington County, AL), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 2, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Covington County
Registered sex offenders living in Covington County 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 Covington 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Covington County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Covington 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 Covington County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at covington.alacourt.gov (page title: Covington County | Twenty-Second 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 Covington County?
The District Attorney, which files its cases in the Covington County Circuit Court or the District Court.
Is this the official Covington 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.