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 2, 2026.
South Bend, Indiana, in St. Joseph County, has about 104,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Indiana the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of the Circuit Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the Indiana State Police is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from South Bend 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: South Bend public records, St. Joseph County criminal records, South Bend arrest records, South Bend warrants, South Bend inmate search, South Bend court records, Indiana arrest records and Indiana inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the St. Joseph Circuit and Superior Courts
In Indiana the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from South Bend are heard by the St. Joseph Circuit and Superior Courts, which hear every civil, criminal, family, probate and juvenile case, and the file of each case is kept by the Clerk of the Circuit Court.
For St. Joseph County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at in.gov/courts/local/st-joseph-county (page title: Indiana Judicial Branch: St. Joseph County), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Statewide, mycase.IN.gov is the Indiana courts' free statewide case search.
The Indiana Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Indiana is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Limited Criminal History search is open to anyone online, through the Indiana 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.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in South Bend
The St. Joseph County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for South Bend (filed by the FBI as South Bend Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around South Bend: 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 these agencies in St. Joseph County: Indiana University at South Bend and the University of Notre Dame (campus police); the St. Joseph County Airport Authority (other agency); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the five agencies in St. Joseph County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,582 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 South Bend arrest records.
The Prosecuting Attorney for St. Joseph County
The Prosecuting Attorney decides which arrests in St. Joseph County become charges and files them in the St. Joseph Circuit and Superior Courts; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at sjcindiana.gov/2227/Prosecuting-Attorney (page title: Prosecuting Attorney | St. Joseph County, IN), phone 574-235-9544, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
The Sex Offender Registry for South Bend
Registered sex offenders living in South Bend are listed on the Indiana Sex and Violent Offender Registry, run by the Indiana Department of Correction with the county sheriffs at in.gov. The registry is public and can be searched online; the county sheriff maintains the local entries.
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 St. Joseph 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 Indiana Access to Public Records Act a county office must answer a request within 24 hours for a request made in person and 7 days for one sent by mail or email, and it may charge a copy fee set by the agency, within statutory limits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in South Bend?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Indiana State Police: the Limited Criminal History search is open to anyone online. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act.
Can I search South Bend criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at in.gov/courts/local/st-joseph-county (page title: Indiana Judicial Branch: St. Joseph County). Statewide, mycase.IN.gov is the Indiana courts' free statewide case search.
How do I get my own Indiana criminal history?
Through the same limited criminal history search, run on yourself.
Who prosecutes crimes in South Bend?
The Prosecuting Attorney, reached at 574-235-9544, which files its cases in the St. Joseph Circuit and Superior Courts.
Is this the official South Bend 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.