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.
Hot Springs, Arkansas, in Garland County, has about 38,000 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 Hot Springs 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: Hot Springs public records, Garland County criminal records, Hot Springs arrest records, Hot Springs warrants, Hot Springs inmate search, Hot Springs court records, Arkansas arrest records and Arkansas inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Garland County Circuit Court
In Arkansas the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Hot Springs are heard by the Garland County Circuit Court, which hears felonies, civil cases, divorces, probate and juvenile matters; the District Court takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and small claims, and the file of each case is kept by the Circuit Clerk.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at caseinfo.arcourts.gov/opad (page title: Case Search, Arkansas Judiciary), 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 Hot Springs
The Garland County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Hot Springs (filed by the FBI as Hot Springs Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Hot Springs: 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 Garland County: the State Park at Lake Ouachita State Park (state agency); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the three agencies in Garland County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,980 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 Hot Springs arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Hot Springs in 2025
The agency that reports for Hot Springs had 190 violent and 1,286 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 Garland County
The Prosecuting Attorney decides which arrests in Garland County become charges and files them in the Garland 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 garlandcounty.org/258/Prosecuting-Attorney (page title: 18th Judicial District East Prosecuting Attorney | Garland County, AR), phone 501-622-3724, 501 Ouachita Avenue Suite 107 Hot Springs, AR 71901, Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 2, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Hot Springs
Registered sex offenders living in Hot Springs 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 Garland 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 garlandcounty.org/m/newsflash/Home/Detail/125 (page title: Public Record Requests, Garland County, AR).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Hot Springs?
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 Hot Springs criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at caseinfo.arcourts.gov/opad (page title: Case Search, Arkansas Judiciary). 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 Hot Springs?
The Prosecuting Attorney, reached at 501-622-3724, which files its cases in the Garland County Circuit Court or the District Court.
Is this the official Hot Springs 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.