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 4, 2026.
Hawaii County, Hawaii, has about 210,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Hawaii the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Legal Documents Branch of each circuit; the statewide criminal history kept by the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Hawaii 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, the prosecutor, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: Hawaii County public records, Hawaii County arrest records, Hawaii County warrants, Hawaii County inmate search, Hawaii County court records, Hawaii arrest records and Hawaii inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Circuit Court for Hawaii County
In Hawaii the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Hawaii County are heard by the Circuit Court for Hawaii County, which hears felonies, civil cases over $40,000 and probate; the District Court takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, small claims and civil cases up to $40,000, and the file of each case is kept by the Legal Documents Branch of each circuit.
For Hawaii County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at courts.state.hi.us/legal_references/records/search_court_records (page title: Judiciary | Search Court Records), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
Statewide, eCourt Kokua is the Hawaii State Judiciary's free statewide case search.
The Hawaii Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Hawaii is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the eCrim system lets anyone search adult conviction records online by name, through the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center. 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.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Hawaii County
The Hawaii Police Department keeps the arrest records in Hawaii 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 one more agency in Hawaii County: the Department of Law Enforcement at Hawaii Island (state agency); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Hawaii Police Department reported 6,036 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 Hawaii County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Hawaii County in 2025
The one agency in Hawaii County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 604 violent and 4,047 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,651 crimes in 2025 against 4,861 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 Hawaii County public records guide.
The Prosecuting Attorney for Hawaii County
Charges in Hawaii County are filed by the Prosecuting Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Circuit Court for Hawaii County or the District Court.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at hawaiicounty.gov/departments/prosecuting-attorney (page title: Office of the Prosecuting Attorney | Hawaii County, HI), phone (808) 961-0466, 655 Kilauea Avenue Hilo, HI 96720, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Hawaii County
Registered sex offenders living in Hawaii County are listed on the Hawaii Sex Offender and Other Covered Offender Registry, run by the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center at sexoffenders.ehawaii.gov/coveredoffender. The registry is public and searchable by name and location.
Registration itself is done in person with the local agency where the registrant lives: the county police department, which covers the whole county.
Asking an Agency in Hawaii 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 Uniform Information Practices Act a county office must answer a request within 10 business days, and it may charge for search, review and copying, with the first $30 of search and review free.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Hawaii County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center: the eCrim system lets anyone search adult conviction records online by name. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Uniform Information Practices Act.
Can I search Hawaii County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courts.state.hi.us (page title: Judiciary | Search Court Records). Statewide, eCourt Kokua is the Hawaii State Judiciary's free statewide case search.
How do I get my own Hawaii criminal history?
Through the same eCrim search, run on yourself.
Who prosecutes crimes in Hawaii County?
The Prosecuting Attorney, reached at (808) 961-0466, which files its cases in the Circuit Court for Hawaii County or the District Court.
Is this the official Hawaii 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.