Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest 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). A traffic ticket written in New Castle County is a court case in the Court of Common Pleas and the Justice of the Peace Courts, and the conviction it ends in goes on the driving record kept by the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles. This guide says which court takes the ticket, who writes them and where the driving record lives.
This guide covers where tickets go, who writes them, the driving record, cities 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 criminal records, Delaware arrest records and Delaware inmate search.
Where a Ticket Written in New Castle County Goes
Tickets in New Castle County go to the Court of Common Pleas and the Justice of the Peace Courts, which take misdemeanors in the Court of Common Pleas, traffic cases and small civil claims in the Justice of the Peace Courts. A paid ticket, a dismissal and a trial all end up in that court's records.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courts.delaware.gov/docket.aspx.
Statewide, CourtConnect is the Delaware courts' free online case search for civil cases and judgments.
Who Writes the Tickets 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 write the traffic tickets in New Castle County.
In Delaware the police for a given address is the town police in a town with its own department and the Delaware State Police elsewhere.
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); the New Castle County State Police writes the tickets on the state highways.
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.
The Driving Record and the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles
The driving record is a separate document from the court file. It is kept by the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles, which adds each conviction the court reports and handles suspensions; the court does not issue driving records.
Paying a ticket is a conviction, reported to the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles like any other; contesting it means a plea of not guilty entered with the court by the date on the ticket.
A DUI is a criminal charge rather than a ticket, with its own license case before the Division of Motor Vehicles (see New Castle County DUI).
Cities in New Castle County
Wherever in the county a ticket is written, it is answered in the Court of Common Pleas and the Justice of the Peace Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in New Castle County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own traffic tickets guide opens there:
- Wilmington (73,176)
- Newark (30,506)
- Middletown (25,686)
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do I pay a traffic ticket from New Castle County?
With the Court of Common Pleas and the Justice of the Peace Courts.
Who keeps my driving record in Delaware?
The Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles. The court reports each conviction to it, and paying a ticket counts as one.
Which court handles traffic tickets in New Castle County?
The Court of Common Pleas and the Justice of the Peace Courts, which take misdemeanors in the Court of Common Pleas, traffic cases and small civil claims in the Justice of the Peace Courts.
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.