Reviewed and updated October 11, 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 11, 2026.
Ottawa, Illinois, in LaSalle County, has about 19,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Illinois the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Circuit Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the Illinois State Police is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Ottawa 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: Ottawa public records, LaSalle County criminal records, Ottawa arrest records, Ottawa warrants, Ottawa inmate search, Ottawa court records, Illinois arrest records and Illinois inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Circuit Court of LaSalle County
A criminal case from Ottawa is filed in the Circuit Court of LaSalle County, and the court file, kept by the Circuit Clerk, is the record of it that the public may see.
For LaSalle County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at lasallecounty.com/i-want-to/request/court-transcripts (page title: Court Transcripts), phone 815-434-0786, 119 W. Madison St Room 200 Ottawa, IL 61350, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 11, 2026.
Illinois has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The Illinois Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Illinois is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act, through the Illinois State Police. 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.
To see your own record, the route is a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at isp.illinois.gov/BureauOfIdentification/MyRecord.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Ottawa
The La Salle County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Ottawa (filed by the FBI as Ottawa Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Ottawa: 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 LaSalle County: Tri-County Drug Enforcement Narcotics Team (other agency); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Somonauk Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including LaSalle County, so its arrests are not broken out for LaSalle County here.
Together, the 13 agencies in LaSalle County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,788 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 Ottawa arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Ottawa in 2025
The agency that reports for Ottawa had 46 violent and 232 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's Attorney for LaSalle County
The State's Attorney decides which arrests in LaSalle County become charges and files them in the Circuit Court of LaSalle County; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at lasallecountyil.gov/m/directory/department?did=30 (page title: Staff Directory, State's Attorney), phone 815-434-8340, 707 E Etna Road Ottawa, IL 61350, Monday through Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Ottawa
Registered sex offenders living in Ottawa are listed on the Illinois Sex Offender Registry, run by the Illinois State Police at illinois.gov. 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 LaSalle 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 Illinois Freedom of Information Act a county office must answer a request within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension, and it may charge copying only after the first 50 pages. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lasallecounty.com/i-want-to/request/foiapublic-records (page title: FOIA/Public Records).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Ottawa?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Illinois State Police: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
Can I search Ottawa criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at lasallecounty.com (page title: Court Transcripts).
How do I get my own Illinois criminal history?
Through a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Who prosecutes crimes in Ottawa?
The State's Attorney, reached at 815-434-8340, which files its cases in the Circuit Court of LaSalle County.
Is this the official Ottawa 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.