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 28, 2026.
Gaston County, North Carolina, has about 242,000 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 Gaston 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: Gaston County public records, Gaston County arrest records, Gaston County warrants, Gaston County inmate search, Gaston County court records, North Carolina arrest records and North Carolina inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Gaston County Superior Court
In North Carolina the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Gaston County are heard by the Gaston 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 Gaston County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at nccourts.gov/locations/gaston-county (page title: Gaston 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 Gaston 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 Gaston County
The Gaston County Sheriff's Office, the Gaston County Police Department and the agencies that report for Gastonia, Mount Holly, Belmont, Cherryville, Dallas, Bessemer City and four more cities keep the arrest records in Gaston 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 Gaston County: Belmont Abbey College (campus police); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Kings Mountain Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Gaston County, so its arrests are not broken out for Gaston County here.
Together, the ten agencies in Gaston County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,330 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 Gaston County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Gaston County in 2025
The 11 agencies in Gaston County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 943 violent and 3,569 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,512 crimes in 2025 against 5,281 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 Gaston County public records guide.
The District Attorney for Gaston County
The District Attorney decides which arrests in Gaston County become charges and files them in the Gaston 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 gastongov.com/174/Attorney (page title: Attorney | Gaston County, NC), phone (704) 852-3113, 128 W Main Avenue Gastonia, NC 28053, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Gaston County
Registered sex offenders living in Gaston 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 Gaston 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 gastonianc.gov/government/public-records-requests.html (page title: City of Gastonia | Public Records Requests).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Gaston County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Gaston 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 Gaston County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at nccourts.gov/locations/gaston-county (page title: Gaston 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 Gaston County?
The District Attorney, reached at (704) 852-3113, which files its cases in the Gaston County Superior Court or the District Court.
Is this the official Gaston 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.