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 on September 23, 2026.
Dorchester County, Maryland, has about 33,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Maryland the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of the Circuit Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, Criminal Justice Information System is released only to its subject and to the employers and agencies the law allows. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Dorchester 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, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: Dorchester County public records, Dorchester County arrest records, Dorchester County warrants, Dorchester County inmate search, Dorchester County court records, Maryland arrest records and Maryland inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Circuit Court for Dorchester County
In Maryland the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Dorchester County are heard by the Circuit Court for Dorchester County, which hears felonies, civil cases over $30,000, divorces, juvenile matters and appeals from the District Court; the District Court of Maryland takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, landlord-tenant cases and civil claims up to $30,000, and the file of each case is kept by the Clerk of the Circuit Court.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at mdcourts.gov/clerks/dorchester/records (page title: Records | Maryland Courts), phone 410-228-0481, 206 High Street, Cambridge, MD 21613, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Statewide, Maryland Judiciary Case Search is the free statewide case search of every Maryland court.
The Maryland Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, Criminal Justice Information System is closed to the public in Maryland: it is released to its subject and to authorized employers and licensing agencies, and a member of the public uses the court's own case index instead.
To see your own record, the route is a fingerprint-based request to the CJIS Central Repository. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at dpscs.maryland.gov/publicservs/bgchecks.shtml.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Dorchester County
The Dorchester County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Cambridge and Hurlock keep the arrest records in Dorchester 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 Dorchester County: the Dorchester County State Police (state police); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the three agencies in Dorchester County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 603 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 Dorchester County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Dorchester County in 2025
The three agencies in Dorchester County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 110 violent and 625 property crimes to the FBI that year; the two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 181 crimes in 2025 against 169 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 Dorchester County public records guide.
The Sex Offender Registry for Dorchester County
Registered sex offenders living in Dorchester County are listed on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry, run by the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services at dpscs.maryland.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 Dorchester 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 Maryland Public Information Act a county office must answer a request within 30 days, with a denial due within 10 working days, and it may charge staff time after the first two hours, plus copying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Dorchester County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Circuit Court for Dorchester County are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, Criminal Justice Information System is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Maryland Public Information Act.
Can I search Dorchester County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at mdcourts.gov/clerks/dorchester/records (page title: Records | Maryland Courts). Statewide, Maryland Judiciary Case Search is the free statewide case search of every Maryland court.
How do I get my own Maryland criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based request to the CJIS Central Repository.
Is this the official Dorchester 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.