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 30, 2026.
Erie County, New York, has about 951,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In New York the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the County Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the New York State Office of Court Administration is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Erie 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: Erie County public records, Erie County arrest records, Erie County warrants, Erie County inmate search, Erie County court records, New York arrest records and New York inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Erie County Supreme and County Courts
A criminal case from Erie County is filed in the Erie County Supreme and County Courts or the city, town and village courts, which take misdemeanors, traffic cases and small claims, and the court file, kept by the County Clerk, is the record of it that the public may see.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at www4.erie.gov/clerk/court-recordsfiling (page title: Court Records/Filing | Erie County Clerk Michael P. Kearns), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Statewide, eCourts is the Unified Court System's free online case search (WebCivil, WebCrims and WebFamily).
The New York Criminal History and Your Own Copy
In New York the public route to a statewide criminal record is the court system's own search: the Office of Court Administration sells a statewide search of criminal court records by name and date of birth, at $95 a search. It covers cases that reached a court, not arrests that never did. The search is on the New York State Office of Court Administration site.
To see your own record, the route is a fingerprint-based Record Review through the Division of Criminal Justice Services. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at criminaljustice.ny.gov/ojis/recordreview.htm.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Erie County
The Erie County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Buffalo, Lackawanna, Tonawanda (town), Tonawanda, Kenmore, Lancaster and five more cities keep the arrest records in Erie 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 these agencies in Erie County: the Buffalo State College State University of New York Police and the Buffalo State University of New York Police (campus police); the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (other agency); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Gowanda Village Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Erie County, so its arrests are not broken out for Erie County here.
Together, the 19 agencies in Erie County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 17,041 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 Erie County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Erie County in 2025
The 21 agencies in Erie County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,716 violent and 20,223 property crimes to the FBI that year; the 19 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 22,485 crimes in 2025 against 23,990 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 Erie County public records guide.
The District Attorney for Erie County
Charges in Erie County are filed by the District Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Erie County Supreme and County Courts or the city, town and village courts.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at www4.erie.gov/da (page title: Erie County District Attorney's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Erie County
Registered sex offenders living in Erie County are listed on the New York Sex Offender Registry, run by the Division of Criminal Justice Services at criminaljustice.ny.gov/nsor. Level 2 and Level 3 offenders are listed online; Level 1 offenders are not.
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 Erie 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 Freedom of Information Law a county office must answer a request within 5 business days, at least with an acknowledgment and a date for the full answer, and it may charge copying at 25 cents a page. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at www4.erie.gov/clerk/general-rules-requesting-information (page title: General Rules for Requesting Information | Erie County Clerk Michael P. Kearns).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Erie County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the New York State Office of Court Administration: the Office of Court Administration sells a statewide search of criminal court records by name and date of birth, for $95. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Freedom of Information Law.
Can I search Erie County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at www4.erie.gov/clerk/court-recordsfiling (page title: Court Records/Filing | Erie County Clerk Michael P. Kearns). Statewide, eCourts is the Unified Court System's free online case search (WebCivil, WebCrims and WebFamily).
How do I get my own New York criminal history?
A fingerprint-based Record Review through the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
Who prosecutes crimes in Erie County?
The District Attorney, which files its cases in the Erie County Supreme and County Courts or the city, town and village courts.
Is this the official Erie 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.