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 26, 2026.
Billings, Montana, in Yellowstone County, has about 121,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Montana the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of District Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the Montana Department of Justice is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Billings 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: Billings public records, Yellowstone County criminal records, Billings arrest records, Billings warrants, Billings inmate search, Billings court records, Montana arrest records and Montana inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Yellowstone County District Court
A criminal case from Billings is filed in the Yellowstone County District Court or the Justice Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and small claims, and the court file, kept by the Clerk of District Court, is the record of it that the public may see.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at yellowstonecountymt.gov/clerk_court/copies.asp (page title: Yellowstone County, Montana), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
Montana has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The Montana Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Montana is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the CHOPRS service lets anyone search public criminal history online by name, through the Montana Department of Justice. 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 Billings
The Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Billings (filed by the FBI as Billings Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Billings: 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 Yellowstone County: Montana State University at Billings (campus police); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the three agencies in Yellowstone County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,825 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 Billings arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Billings in 2025
The agency that reports for Billings had 935 violent and 3,083 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 County Attorney for Yellowstone County
Charges in Yellowstone County are filed by the County Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Yellowstone County District Court or the Justice Court.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at yellowstonecountymt.gov/Coattorney (page title: Yellowstone County, Montana), phone 406-256-2832, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Billings
Registered sex offenders living in Billings are listed on the Montana Sexual or Violent Offender Registry, run by the Montana Department of Justice at dojmt.gov/sexual-or-violent-offender-registry. Sexual and violent offenders are both 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 Yellowstone 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 Montana Public Records Act a county office must answer a request in a timely manner; the statute sets no number of days, and it may charge the actual cost of fulfilling the request.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Billings?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Montana Department of Justice: the CHOPRS service lets anyone search public criminal history online by name. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Montana Public Records Act.
Can I search Billings criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at yellowstonecountymt.gov (page title: Yellowstone County, Montana).
How do I get my own Montana criminal history?
Through the same name-based search, run on yourself.
Who prosecutes crimes in Billings?
The County Attorney, reached at 406-256-2832, which files its cases in the Yellowstone County District Court or the Justice Court.
Is this the official Billings 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.