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 23, 2026 and September 25, 2026.
Morro Bay, California, in San Luis Obispo County, has about 11,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In California the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Superior Court clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the California Department of Justice 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 Morro Bay 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, directory links and common questions.
Related guides: Morro Bay public records, San Luis Obispo County criminal records, Morro Bay arrest records, Morro Bay warrants, Morro Bay inmate search, Morro Bay court records, California arrest records and California inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Superior Court of California, County of San Luis Obispo
In California the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Morro Bay are heard by the Superior Court of California, County of San Luis Obispo, which hears every civil, criminal, family, probate, traffic and juvenile case, and the file of each case is kept by the Superior Court clerk.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at slo.courts.ca.gov/online-services/online-case-lookup (page title: Online Case Lookup | Superior Court of California | County of San Luis Obispo), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
California has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The California Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the California Department of Justice is closed to the public in California: 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 through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR; the state fee is $25. The response cannot be used for immigration or visa purposes. Details are on the California Department of Justice page.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Morro Bay
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Morro Bay (filed by the FBI as Morro Bay Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Morro Bay: 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 four state agencies, one other agency, two campus police departments and three state police units in San Luis Obispo County (the arrest records guide names each one); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the seven agencies in San Luis Obispo County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,169 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 Morro Bay arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Morro Bay in 2025
The agency that reports for Morro Bay had 21 violent and 109 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 District Attorney for San Luis Obispo County
The District Attorney decides which arrests in San Luis Obispo County become charges and files them in the Superior Court of California, County of San Luis Obispo; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at slocounty.ca.gov/departments/district-attorney/what-does-the-distri... (page title: What Does the District Attorney Do? | County of San Luis Obispo), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Morro Bay
Registered sex offenders living in Morro Bay are listed on the Megan's Law website, run by the California Department of Justice at meganslaw.ca.gov. The registry is tiered; some registrants are kept off the public site and others are shown by ZIP code only.
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 San Luis Obispo 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 California Public Records Act a county office must answer a request within 10 days, with up to 14 more days in unusual circumstances, and it may charge the direct cost of copying only, not staff time. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at slocounty.ca.gov/departments/planning-building/most-requested-servi... (page title: Public Records Request | County of San Luis Obispo).
More Official Criminal Records Pages for San Luis Obispo County
The SearchSystems directory, online since 1997, lists the official pages for San Luis Obispo County and California. These criminal records pages from its San Luis Obispo County listing were opened again on October 2, 2026 and each one still answers:
- Crime Data, State of California (oag.ca.gov)
- Sheriff`s Most Wanted Wednesday (sanluisobispocounty.crimestoppersweb.com)
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Morro Bay?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of San Luis Obispo are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the California Department of Justice is not public; you can get your own for $25. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the California Public Records Act.
Can I search Morro Bay criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at slo.courts.ca.gov (page title: Online Case Lookup | Superior Court of California | County of San Luis Obispo).
How do I get my own California criminal history?
A Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR; the state fee is $25.
Who prosecutes crimes in Morro Bay?
The District Attorney, which files its cases in the Superior Court of California, County of San Luis Obispo.
Is this the official Morro Bay 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.