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 26, 2026.
Fort Smith, Arkansas, in Sebastian County, has about 91,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Arkansas the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Circuit Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the Arkansas State Police is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Fort Smith 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: Fort Smith public records, Sebastian County criminal records, Fort Smith arrest records, Fort Smith warrants, Fort Smith inmate search, Fort Smith court records, Arkansas arrest records and Arkansas inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Sebastian County Circuit Court
A criminal case from Fort Smith is filed in the Sebastian County Circuit Court or the District Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and small claims, 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 sebastiancountyar.gov/Departments/Circuit-Clerk/Circuit-Clerk-Inquiry (page title: Circuit Court Inquiry), 901 South B St. Fort Smith, AR Greenwood Courthouse 11 Town Square Greenwood, AR 72936, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
Statewide, CourtConnect is the Arkansas Judiciary's free statewide case search.
The Arkansas Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Arkansas is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the state runs an online name-based background check open to the public, through the Arkansas State Police. The result is the repository record, what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
To see your own record, the route is a request to the Arkansas State Police Identification Bureau. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at dps.arkansas.gov/crime-info-support/arkansas-crime-information-cent....
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Fort Smith
The Sebastian County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Fort Smith (filed by the FBI as Fort Smith Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Fort Smith: 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 Sebastian County: Fort Smith Public Schools (other agency); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the 11 agencies in Sebastian County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,560 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 Fort Smith arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Fort Smith in 2025
The agency that reports for Fort Smith had 720 violent and 3,070 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 Prosecuting Attorney for Sebastian County
Charges in Sebastian County are filed by the Prosecuting Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Sebastian County Circuit Court or the District Court.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at sebastiancountyar.gov/Courts/Prosecuting-Attorney (page title: Sebastian County Government > Courts > Prosecuting Attorney), phone 479-783-8976, 901 South B Street Fort Smith, AR 72901, Mon - Fri: 8:00am-5:00pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Fort Smith
Registered sex offenders living in Fort Smith are listed on the Arkansas Sex Offender Registry, run by the Arkansas Crime Information Center at sexoffenderregistry.ar.gov/public. Level 3 and Level 4 offenders are listed online; Level 1 and 2 offenders are not.
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 Sebastian 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 Arkansas Freedom of Information Act a county office must answer a request within 3 working days when the record is not immediately available, and it may charge the actual cost of copying. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at sebastiancountyar.nextrequest.com (page title: Public Records RequestsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Fort Smith?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Arkansas State Police: the state runs an online name-based background check open to the public. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
Can I search Fort Smith criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at sebastiancountyar.gov (page title: Circuit Court Inquiry). Statewide, CourtConnect is the Arkansas Judiciary's free statewide case search.
How do I get my own Arkansas criminal history?
Through a request to the Arkansas State Police Identification Bureau.
Who prosecutes crimes in Fort Smith?
The Prosecuting Attorney, reached at 479-783-8976, which files its cases in the Sebastian County Circuit Court or the District Court.
Is this the official Fort Smith 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.