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 October 9, 2026.
Panama City, Florida, in Bay County, has about 37,000 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 Panama City 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 and common questions.
Related guides: Panama City public records, Bay County criminal records, Panama City arrest records, Panama City warrants, Panama City inmate search, Panama City court records, Florida arrest records and Florida inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Bay County Circuit Court
A criminal case from Panama City is filed in the Bay County Circuit Court or the County Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, small claims and civil cases up to $50,000, and the court file, kept by the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, is the record of it that the public may see.
For Bay County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at baycoclerk.com/public-records/search-court-cases-court-docket (page title: Search Court Cases & Court Docket | Bay County Clerk of Court), phone (850) 521-3501, 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 Panama City
The Bay County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Panama City (filed by the FBI as Panama City Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Panama City: 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 one campus police department, two other agencies, five state agencies and one state police unit in Bay County (the arrest records guide names each one); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the five agencies in Bay County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 9,959 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 Panama City arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Panama City in 2025
The agency that reports for Panama City had 117 violent and 502 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 State Attorney for Bay County
The State Attorney decides which arrests in Bay County become charges and files them in the Bay County Circuit Court or the County Court; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at jud14.flcourts.org/state-attorney (page title: State Attorney | Fourteenth Judicial Circuit), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Panama City
Registered sex offenders living in Panama City 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 Bay 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Panama City?
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 Panama City criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at baycoclerk.com (page title: Search Court Cases & Court Docket | Bay County Clerk of Court).
How do I get my own Florida criminal history?
Through the same search, run on yourself.
Who prosecutes crimes in Panama City?
The State Attorney, which files its cases in the Bay County Circuit Court or the County Court.
Is this the official Panama City 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.