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.
Franklin County, Kansas, has about 26,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Kansas the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of the District Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Franklin 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: Franklin County public records, Franklin County arrest records, Franklin County warrants, Franklin County inmate search, Franklin County court records, Kansas arrest records and Kansas inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Franklin County District Court
In Kansas the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Franklin County are heard by the Franklin County District Court, which hears every civil, criminal, family, probate and juvenile case, and the file of each case is kept by the Clerk of the District Court.
For Franklin County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at casesearch.kscourts.gov (page title: Search | Kansas Case Search), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
Statewide, Kansas District Court Public Access Portal is the Kansas courts' statewide case search.
The Kansas Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Kansas is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: anyone can order a name-based criminal history record check online, through the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. 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 Franklin County
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Ottawa and Wellsville keep the arrest records in Franklin 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 Franklin County: Franklin County Drug Enforcement (other agency); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the two agencies in Franklin County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 789 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 Franklin County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Franklin County in 2025
The two agencies in Franklin County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 80 violent and 195 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 275 crimes in 2025 against 281 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 Franklin County public records guide.
The County Attorney for Franklin County
The County Attorney decides which arrests in Franklin County become charges and files them in the Franklin County District Court; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at franklincoks.org/566/County-Attorney (page title: County Attorney | Franklin County, KS), phone (785)229-8970, 220 S. Beech St. Suite B Ottawa, KS 66067, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Franklin County
Registered sex offenders living in Franklin County are listed on the Kansas Offender Registry, run by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at kansas.gov/kbi/ro.shtml. Sex, violent and drug offenders are all listed.
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 Franklin 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 Kansas Open Records Act a county office must answer a request within 3 business days, and it may charge staff time and copying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Franklin County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation: anyone can order a name-based criminal history record check online. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Kansas Open Records Act.
Can I search Franklin County criminal cases online?
Kansas District Court Public Access Portal is the Kansas courts' statewide case search.
How do I get my own Kansas criminal history?
Through the same record check, run on yourself.
Who prosecutes crimes in Franklin County?
The County Attorney, reached at (785)229-8970, which files its cases in the Franklin County District Court.
Is this the official Franklin 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.