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.
New Castle County, Delaware, has about 588,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Delaware the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Prothonotary; the statewide criminal history kept by the Delaware State Bureau of Identification 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 New Castle 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, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: New Castle County public records, New Castle County arrest records, New Castle County warrants, New Castle County inmate search, New Castle County court records, Delaware arrest records and Delaware inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Delaware Superior Court, New Castle County
In Delaware the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from New Castle County are heard by the Delaware Superior Court, New Castle County, which hears felonies and civil cases without a dollar limit; the Court of Common Pleas and the Justice of the Peace Courts take misdemeanors in the Court of Common Pleas, traffic cases and small civil claims in the Justice of the Peace Courts, and the file of each case is kept by the Prothonotary.
For New Castle County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at courts.delaware.gov/docket.aspx (page title: Civil Case Search | Delaware Courts | State of Delaware), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
Statewide, CourtConnect is the Delaware courts' free online case search for civil cases and judgments.
The Delaware Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the Delaware State Bureau of Identification is closed to the public in Delaware: 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 fingerprint-based request to the State Bureau of Identification. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at dsp.delaware.gov/obtaining-a-certified-criminal-history.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in New Castle County
The New Castle County Police Department and the agencies that report for Wilmington, Newark, Middletown, Elsmere, New Castle, Townsend and two more cities keep the arrest records in New Castle 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 four state agencies, two other agencies, one campus police department and one state police unit in New Castle County (the arrest records guide names each one); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Smyrna Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including New Castle County, so its arrests are not broken out for New Castle County here.
Together, the eight agencies in New Castle County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 8,104 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 New Castle County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: New Castle County in 2025
The nine agencies in New Castle County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,679 violent and 5,924 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 7,603 crimes in 2025 against 8,296 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 New Castle County public records guide.
The Sex Offender Registry for New Castle County
Registered sex offenders living in New Castle County are listed on the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry, run by the Delaware State Police at sexoffender.dsp.delaware.gov. Tier 2 and Tier 3 offenders are listed online.
Registration itself is done in person with the local agency where the registrant lives: the town police in a town with its own department and the Delaware State Police elsewhere.
Asking an Agency in New Castle 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 Delaware Freedom of Information Act a county office must answer a request within 15 business days, and it may charge the copy fees set by statute, plus staff time after the first hour.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in New Castle County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Delaware Superior Court, New Castle County are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Delaware State Bureau of Identification is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Delaware Freedom of Information Act.
Can I search New Castle County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courts.delaware.gov/docket.aspx (page title: Civil Case Search | Delaware Courts | State of Delaware). Statewide, CourtConnect is the Delaware courts' free online case search for civil cases and judgments.
How do I get my own Delaware criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based request to the State Bureau of Identification.
Is this the official New Castle 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.