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 23, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Bartow, Florida, in Polk County, has about 22,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Florida the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller; the statewide criminal history kept by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Bartow is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, the prosecutor, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: Bartow public records, Polk County criminal records, Bartow arrest records, Bartow warrants, Bartow inmate search, Bartow court records, Florida arrest records and Florida inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Polk County Circuit Court
In Florida the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Bartow are heard by the Polk County Circuit Court, which hears felonies, civil cases over $50,000, divorces, probate and juvenile matters; the County Court takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, small claims and civil cases up to $50,000, and the file of each case is kept by the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at polkclerkfl.gov/297/Court-Records (page title: Court Records | Polk County Clerk, FL), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Florida has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The Florida Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Florida is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: anyone can run a name-based criminal history search online for $24, for $24 a search, through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The result is the repository record, what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it. The search is on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement site.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Bartow
The Polk County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Bartow (filed by the FBI as Bartow Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Bartow: 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 five state agencies, one campus police department and one state police unit in Polk County (the arrest records guide names each one); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Lakeland reported 2,858 arrests to the FBI for 2025; 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 Bartow arrest records.
The State Attorney for Polk County
Charges in Polk County are filed by the State Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Polk County Circuit Court or the County Court.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at sao10.com/contact-us (page title: Contact Us | State Attorney Office 10th Judicial Circuit), phone 863-534-4800, 255 N Broadway Ave. Bartow, FL 33880-3912, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Bartow
Registered sex offenders living in Bartow are listed on the Florida Sexual Offenders and Predators Registry, run by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement at offender.fdle.state.fl.us. The registry is public and can be searched 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 Polk 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 Florida Public Records Act (Chapter 119) a county office must answer a request promptly and in good faith; the statute sets no number of days, and it may charge the copy fees set by statute, plus a special service charge for large requests. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at polkfl.gov/about/public-records-request (page title: Public Records Request | Polk County, Florida).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Bartow?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement: anyone can run a name-based criminal history search online for $24, for $24. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Florida Public Records Act (Chapter 119).
Can I search Bartow criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at polkclerkfl.gov/297/Court-Records (page title: Court Records | Polk County Clerk, FL).
How do I get my own Florida criminal history?
Through the same search, run on yourself.
Who prosecutes crimes in Bartow?
The State Attorney, reached at 863-534-4800, which files its cases in the Polk County Circuit Court or the County Court.
Is this the official Bartow 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.