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 September 30, 2026.
Independence, Kentucky, in Kenton County, has about 30,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Kentucky the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Circuit Court Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Independence 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: Independence public records, Kenton County criminal records, Independence arrest records, Independence warrants, Independence inmate search, Independence court records, Kentucky arrest records and Kentucky inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Kenton Circuit Court
In Kentucky the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Independence are heard by the Kenton Circuit Court, which hears felonies, civil cases over $5,000, divorces and appeals from the district court; the District Court takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, small claims, probate and juvenile matters, and the file of each case is kept by the Circuit Court Clerk.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at kycourts.gov/Courts/County-Information/Pages/Kenton.aspx (page title: Kenton | Kentucky Court of Justice), phone 859-292-6521, 230 Madison Ave. Covington, KY 41011, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
Kentucky has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The Kentucky Criminal History and Your Own Copy
In Kentucky the public route to a statewide criminal record is the court system's own search: the Administrative Office of the Courts, not the state police, sells name-based criminal record reports to the public, at $25 a search. It covers cases that reached a court, not arrests that never did. The search is on the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts site.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Independence
The Kenton County Sheriff's Office, the Kenton County Police Department and the agency that reports for Independence (filed by the FBI as Independence Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Independence: 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 Kenton County: Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force (other agency); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the 14 agencies in Kenton County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 6,285 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 Independence arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Independence in 2025
The agency that reports for Independence had 15 violent and 107 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 Commonwealth's Attorney for Kenton County
The Commonwealth's Attorney decides which arrests in Kenton County become charges and files them in the Kenton Circuit Court or the 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 kentoncountyky.gov/387/Commonwealths-Attorney (page title: Commonwealth's Attorney | Kenton County, KY), phone 859-292-6580, 1840 Simon Kenton Way Suite 2300 Covington, KY 41011, Monday through Friday 8 AM to 5 PM, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Independence
Registered sex offenders living in Independence are listed on the Kentucky Sex Offender Registry, run by the Kentucky State Police at kspsor.state.ky.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 Kenton 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 Kentucky Open Records Act a county office must answer a request within 5 business days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying, 10 cents a page for standard copies. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at kentoncountyky.gov/618/Open-Records-Request (page title: Open Records Request | Kenton County, KY).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Independence?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts: the Administrative Office of the Courts, not the state police, sells name-based criminal record reports to the public, for $25. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Kentucky Open Records Act.
Can I search Independence criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at kycourts.gov (page title: Kenton | Kentucky Court of Justice).
How do I get my own Kentucky criminal history?
Through the same court record report, run on yourself.
Who prosecutes crimes in Independence?
The Commonwealth's Attorney, reached at 859-292-6580, which files its cases in the Kenton Circuit Court or the District Court.
Is this the official Independence 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.