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 October 9, 2026.
Knightdale, North Carolina, in Wake County, has about 22,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In North Carolina the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of Superior Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation 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 Knightdale 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, directory links and common questions.
Related guides: Knightdale public records, Wake County criminal records, Knightdale arrest records, Knightdale warrants, Knightdale inmate search, Knightdale court records, North Carolina arrest records and North Carolina inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Wake County Superior Court
A criminal case from Knightdale is filed in the Wake County Superior Court or the District Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, divorces, child custody, small claims and civil cases up to $25,000, and the court file, kept by the Clerk of Superior Court, is the record of it that the public may see.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at nccourts.gov/locations/wake-county (page title: Wake County | North Carolina Judicial Branch), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Statewide, eCourts Portal is the North Carolina Judicial Branch's free statewide case search.
The North Carolina Criminal History and Your Own Copy
North Carolina does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court file in the Wake County Superior Court is the public record.
To see your own record, the route is a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation. Statewide court records are the public route: the Clerk of Superior Court sells certified criminal record checks. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at nccourts.gov/help-topics/court-records/criminal-background-check.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Knightdale
The Wake County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Knightdale (filed by the FBI as Knightdale Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Knightdale: 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 other agencies, three campus police departments and six state agencies in Wake County (the arrest records guide names each one); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Angier Police Department and the Durham Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Wake County, so their arrests are not broken out for Wake County here.
Together, the 12 agencies in Wake County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 33,810 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 Knightdale arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Knightdale in 2025
The agency that reports for Knightdale had 46 violent and 513 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 District Attorney for Wake County
The District Attorney decides which arrests in Wake County become charges and files them in the Wake County Superior 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 nccourts.gov/taxonomy/term/557 (page title: District Attorney | North Carolina Judicial Branch), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Knightdale
Registered sex offenders living in Knightdale are listed on the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry, run by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation at sexoffender.ncsbi.gov. The registry is public and can be searched online; the county sheriff registers them.
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 Wake 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 North Carolina Public Records Act a county office must answer a request as promptly as possible; the statute sets no number of days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at wake.gov/departments-government/communications-office/public-record... (page title: Public Records Requests | Wake County Government).
More Official Criminal Records Pages for Wake County
The SearchSystems directory, online since 1997, lists the official pages for Wake County and North Carolina. These criminal records pages from its Wake County listing were opened again on October 2, 2026 and each one still answers:
- North Carolina Offender Registry (sexoffender.ncsbi.gov)
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Knightdale?
The court files of criminal cases in the Wake County Superior Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the North Carolina Public Records Act.
Can I search Knightdale criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at nccourts.gov/locations/wake-county (page title: Wake County | North Carolina Judicial Branch). Statewide, eCourts Portal is the North Carolina Judicial Branch's free statewide case search.
How do I get my own North Carolina criminal history?
Through a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Who prosecutes crimes in Knightdale?
The District Attorney, which files its cases in the Wake County Superior Court or the District Court.
Is this the official Knightdale 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.