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 23, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Bristol County, Massachusetts, has about 589,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Massachusetts the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of Courts; the statewide criminal history kept by the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Bristol 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: Bristol County public records, Bristol County arrest records, Bristol County warrants, Bristol County inmate search, Bristol County court records, Massachusetts arrest records and Massachusetts inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Bristol County Superior Court
In Massachusetts the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Bristol County are heard by the Bristol County Superior Court, which hears felonies and civil cases over $50,000; the District Court and Boston Municipal Court take misdemeanors, traffic cases, small claims and civil cases up to $50,000, and the file of each case is kept by the Clerk of Courts.
For Bristol County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at mass.gov/locations/bristol-county-superior-court (page title: Bristol County Superior Court), phone (508) 823-6588, Monday - Friday: 8:00 am-4:30 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Statewide, masscourts.org is the Massachusetts Trial Court's free online case search.
The Massachusetts Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Massachusetts is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: open access iCORI lets anyone request limited conviction information by name, for $25 a search, through the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services. 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. The search is on the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services site.
To see your own record, the route is a personal CORI request, free once a year online. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at mass.gov/massachusetts-criminal-offender-record-information-cori.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Bristol County
The Bristol County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for New Bedford, Fall River, Taunton, Attleboro and North Attleborough Town keep the arrest records in Bristol 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 four campus police departments, one state agency and one state police unit in Bristol County (the arrest records guide names each one); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the 19 agencies in Bristol County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 10,586 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 Bristol County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Bristol County in 2025
The 19 agencies in Bristol County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,942 violent and 6,012 property crimes to the FBI that year; the 18 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 6,029 crimes in 2025 against 5,682 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 Bristol County public records guide.
The District Attorney for Bristol County
Charges in Bristol County are filed by the District Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Bristol County Superior Court or the District Court and Boston Municipal Court.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at bristolda.com/contact/district-attorney-offices (page title: District Attorney Offices | Bristol County District AttorneyBristol County District Attorney), phone 508-997-0711, 218 South Main Street, Suite 101 Fall River, MA 02721, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Bristol County
Registered sex offenders living in Bristol County are listed on the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry, run by the Sex Offender Registry Board at mass.gov/information-about-sex-offenders. Level 2 and Level 3 offenders are listed online; Level 1 offenders are not.
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 Bristol 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 Massachusetts Public Records Law a county office must answer a request within 10 business days, and it may charge staff time after the first four hours for towns and two for the state, plus copying. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at countyofbristol.net/how_do_i/request_for_public_records.php (page title: Welcome to Bristol County, MA).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Bristol County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services: open access iCORI lets anyone request limited conviction information by name, for $25. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Massachusetts Public Records Law.
Can I search Bristol County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at mass.gov (page title: Bristol County Superior Court). Statewide, masscourts.org is the Massachusetts Trial Court's free online case search.
How do I get my own Massachusetts criminal history?
Through a personal CORI request, free once a year online.
Who prosecutes crimes in Bristol County?
The District Attorney, reached at 508-997-0711, which files its cases in the Bristol County Superior Court or the District Court and Boston Municipal Court.
Is this the official Bristol 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.