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.
Santa Cruz County, Arizona, has about 51,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Arizona the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of the Superior Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the Arizona Department of Public Safety 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 Santa Cruz 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: Santa Cruz County public records, Santa Cruz County arrest records, Santa Cruz County warrants, Santa Cruz County inmate search, Santa Cruz County court records, Arizona arrest records and Arizona inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Santa Cruz County Superior Court
In Arizona the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Santa Cruz County are heard by the Santa Cruz County Superior Court, which hears felonies, civil cases over $10,000, divorces, probate and juvenile matters; the Justice Courts take misdemeanors, traffic cases, civil cases up to $10,000 and evictions, and the file of each case is kept by the Clerk of the Superior Court.
For Santa Cruz County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at santacruzcountyaz.gov/782/High-Interest-Cases (page title: High Interest Cases | Santa Cruz County, AZ), phone (520) 375-7300, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
Statewide, Public Access to Court Information is the Arizona Judicial Branch's free statewide case search; the Maricopa and Pima county courts run their own.
The Arizona Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the Arizona Department of Public Safety is closed to the public in Arizona: 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 Record Review Packet, fingerprint-based, from the Department of Public Safety. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at azdps.gov/services/public-services-portal/records-request.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Santa Cruz County
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Nogales keep the arrest records in Santa Cruz 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.
Together, the two agencies in Santa Cruz County with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 1,502 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 Santa Cruz County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Santa Cruz County in 2024
The two agencies in Santa Cruz County with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 84 violent and 800 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 884 crimes in 2024 against 957 in 2023. 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 Santa Cruz County public records guide.
The County Attorney for Santa Cruz County
The County Attorney decides which arrests in Santa Cruz County become charges and files them in the Santa Cruz County Superior Court or the Justice Courts; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at santacruzcountyaz.gov/155/County-Attorney (page title: County Attorney | Santa Cruz County, AZ), phone 520-375-7780, 2150 N. Congress Drive Suite 201 Nogales, AZ 85621, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
The Sex Offender Registry for Santa Cruz County
Registered sex offenders living in Santa Cruz County are listed on the Arizona Sex Offender Information Center, run by the Arizona Department of Public Safety at azdps.gov/content/basic-page/106. Level 2 and Level 3 offenders are listed; Level 1 offenders are not shown 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 Santa Cruz 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 Arizona Public Records Law a county office must answer a request promptly, with no fixed number of days in the statute, and it may charge the cost of copies, and more for commercial requests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Santa Cruz County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Santa Cruz County Superior Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Arizona Department of Public Safety is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Arizona Public Records Law.
Can I search Santa Cruz County criminal cases online?
Public Access to Court Information is the Arizona Judicial Branch's free statewide case search; the Maricopa and Pima county courts run their own.
How do I get my own Arizona criminal history?
Through a Record Review Packet, fingerprint-based, from the Department of Public Safety.
Who prosecutes crimes in Santa Cruz County?
The County Attorney, reached at 520-375-7780, which files its cases in the Santa Cruz County Superior Court or the Justice Courts.
Is this the official Santa Cruz 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.