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 2, 2026.
Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, has about 241,000 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 Tuscaloosa 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: Tuscaloosa County public records, Tuscaloosa County arrest records, Tuscaloosa County warrants, Tuscaloosa County inmate search, Tuscaloosa County court records, Alabama arrest records and Alabama inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court
A criminal case from Tuscaloosa County is filed in the Tuscaloosa 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 tuscaloosa.alacourt.gov (page title: Tuscaloosa County | Sixth Circuit Court of Alabama), phone (205) 464-8260, 714 Greensboro Ave, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, 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 Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa County
The Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Tuscaloosa, Northport, Lake View, Brookwood, Vance and Coaling keep the arrest records in Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa County: the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and Shelton State Community College (campus police); Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility (state agency); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Woodstock Police Department and the Moundville Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Tuscaloosa County, so their arrests are not broken out for Tuscaloosa County here.
Together, the six agencies in Tuscaloosa County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 6,771 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 Tuscaloosa County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Tuscaloosa County in 2025
The six agencies in Tuscaloosa County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 829 violent and 3,669 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,498 crimes in 2025 against 5,017 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 Tuscaloosa County public records guide.
The District Attorney for Tuscaloosa County
The District Attorney decides which arrests in Tuscaloosa County become charges and files them in the Tuscaloosa 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 tuscaloosada.com (page title: Tuscaloosa District Attorney's Office | The Chief Law Enforcement Office in Tuscaloosa County), phone 205-349-1252, 714 Greensboro Avenue, Suite 410 Tuscaloosa AL 35401-2894, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Tuscaloosa County
Registered sex offenders living in Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at tuscaloosa.alacourt.gov (page title: Tuscaloosa County | Sixth 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 Tuscaloosa County?
The District Attorney, reached at 205-349-1252, which files its cases in the Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court or the District Court.
Is this the official Tuscaloosa 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.