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 26, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Lincoln, Nebraska, in Lancaster County, has about 301,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Nebraska the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of the District Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the Nebraska State Patrol is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Lincoln 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: Lincoln public records, Lancaster County criminal records, Lincoln arrest records, Lincoln warrants, Lincoln inmate search, Lincoln court records, Nebraska arrest records and Nebraska inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Lancaster County District Court
A criminal case from Lincoln is filed in the Lancaster County District Court or the County Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, probate, small claims and juvenile matters, and the court file, kept by the Clerk of the District Court, is the record of it that the public may see.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at lancaster.ne.gov/926/Courts (page title: Courts | Lancaster County, NE), phone 402.441.7328, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 2, 2026.
Statewide, Nebraska Trial Court Case Search is the Nebraska Judicial Branch's statewide case search, with a fee per search.
The Nebraska Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Nebraska is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Patrol sells name-based criminal history checks to anyone online, through the Nebraska State Patrol. 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 Lincoln
The Lancaster County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Lincoln (filed by the FBI as Lincoln Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Lincoln: 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 these agencies in Lancaster County: the Nebraska State Fire Marshal (state agency); the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (campus police); the State Patrol in Lancaster County (state police); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the two agencies in Lancaster County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 12,899 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 Lincoln arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Lincoln in 2025
The agency that reports for Lincoln had 1,293 violent and 5,817 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 Lancaster County
The County Attorney decides which arrests in Lancaster County become charges and files them in the Lancaster County District Court or the County Court; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at lancaster.ne.gov/179/County-Attorney (page title: County Attorney | Lancaster County, NE), phone 402-441-7321, 605 S 10th Street 2nd Floor Lincoln, NE 68508, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Lincoln
Registered sex offenders living in Lincoln are listed on the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry, run by the Nebraska State Patrol at sor.nebraska.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 Lancaster 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 Nebraska Public Records Statutes a county office must answer a request within 4 business days, and it may charge copying, and staff time after the first four hours. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lancaster.ne.gov/1000/Records-Requests (page title: Public Records Requests | Lancaster County, NE).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Lincoln?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Nebraska State Patrol: the Patrol sells name-based criminal history checks to anyone online. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Nebraska Public Records Statutes.
Can I search Lincoln criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at lancaster.ne.gov/926/Courts (page title: Courts | Lancaster County, NE). Statewide, Nebraska Trial Court Case Search is the Nebraska Judicial Branch's statewide case search, with a fee per search.
How do I get my own Nebraska criminal history?
Through the same name-based search, run on yourself.
Who prosecutes crimes in Lincoln?
The County Attorney, reached at 402-441-7321, which files its cases in the Lancaster County District Court or the County Court.
Is this the official Lincoln 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.