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). Every warrant for New Castle County comes from a judge of the Delaware Superior Court, New Castle County or the Court of Common Pleas and the Justice of the Peace Courts, is served by whichever agency finds the person, and is recorded in the court file of the case it was issued in. This guide says who issues and serves warrants here, where a person arrested on one is held, how to check for one and how one is cleared.
This guide covers who issues warrants, who serves warrants, after a warrant arrest, checking for a warrant, clearing a warrant and common questions.
Related guides: New Castle County public records, New Castle County arrest records, New Castle County inmate search, New Castle County criminal records, New Castle County court records, Delaware arrest records and Delaware inmate search.
Who Issues Warrants in New Castle County
In Delaware an arrest warrant is signed by a judge. For New Castle County that means 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, which take misdemeanors in the Court of Common Pleas, traffic cases and small civil claims in the Justice of the Peace Courts, issue their own warrants on the cases before them.
A bench warrant follows a missed court date in any of those courts. Whichever kind it is, the warrant is part of the file of the case it was issued in, and the Prothonotary keeps that file.
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.
Who Serves Warrants 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 serve warrants 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); each serves warrants on its own ground.
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.
A warrant issued in New Castle County is good anywhere in Delaware, so it is served by whichever agency finds the person, in a traffic stop as often as at the door.
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; arrests on warrants are counted among them, not separately.
Each agency and what it reported is in New Castle County arrest records.
Where a Person Arrested on a Warrant from New Castle County Is Held
A person arrested on a warrant and kept in custody is in the custody of the Delaware Department of Correction, which runs every jail and prison in Delaware; its inmate locator is at doc.delaware.gov/views/inmate_locator.blade.shtml.
How to Check for a Warrant in New Castle County
Whether a warrant is out from New Castle County shows in two places:
- The court file of the case, through the Prothonotary, since a warrant is recorded in the case it was issued in.
- CourtConnect, the Delaware courts' free online case search for civil cases and judgments, for a case whose register of actions shows a warrant.
Not one of the New Castle County pages SearchSystems verified (the sheriff's and the court's) is a list of open warrants, so a check means asking the court or the prosecutor about a case by name.
The statewide criminal history kept by the Delaware State Bureau of Identification is not open to the public in Delaware, so it is not a route to a warrant check on someone else.
Clearing a Warrant from New Castle County
A warrant is recalled by the court that issued it, so clearing one from New Castle County starts with the Prothonotary: the case goes back on the calendar and the judge recalls the warrant when the person appears.
A missed date in a case before the Court of Common Pleas and the Justice of the Peace Courts is handled by that court, not by the Delaware Superior Court, New Castle County.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I check for a warrant online in New Castle County?
Not from the New Castle County pages SearchSystems verified; none of them is a warrant list. CourtConnect is the Delaware courts' free online case search for civil cases and judgments, and a case whose register of actions shows a warrant is the record of it. The court file is the record of a warrant: ask the Prothonotary.
Who serves warrants in New Castle County?
The New Castle County Police Department, and the agency that reports for the city where the person is found; a Delaware warrant is valid anywhere in the state.
Where is a person arrested on a warrant in New Castle County held?
In a facility of the Delaware Department of Correction, which runs every jail in Delaware.
How is a warrant from New Castle County cleared?
By appearing before the court that issued it; the judge recalls the warrant in court. The case is put back on the calendar through the Prothonotary.
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.