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.
Burke County, North Carolina, has about 89,000 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 Burke 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: Burke County public records, Burke County arrest records, Burke County warrants, Burke County inmate search, Burke County court records, North Carolina arrest records and North Carolina inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Burke County Superior Court
In North Carolina the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Burke County are heard by the Burke County Superior Court, which hears felonies and civil cases over $25,000; the District Court takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, divorces, child custody, small claims and civil cases up to $25,000, and the file of each case is kept by the Clerk of Superior Court.
For Burke County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at nccourts.gov/locations/burke-county (page title: Burke 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
The statewide criminal history kept by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is closed to the public in North Carolina: 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 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 Burke County
The Burke County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Morganton, Valdese, Drexel, Glen Alpine and Rhodhiss keep the arrest records in Burke 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 Burke County: the State Park Rangers at South Mountains (state agency); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Long View Police Department and the Hickory Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Burke County, so their arrests are not broken out for Burke County here.
Together, the six agencies in Burke County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,720 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 Burke County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Burke County in 2025
The four agencies in Burke County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 167 violent and 1,068 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,235 crimes in 2025 against 1,493 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 Burke County public records guide.
The Sex Offender Registry for Burke County
Registered sex offenders living in Burke County 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 Burke 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Burke County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Burke 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 Burke County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at nccourts.gov/locations/burke-county (page title: Burke 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.
Is this the official Burke 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.