Reviewed and updated October 11, 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 11, 2026.
Richland County, Ohio, has about 125,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Ohio the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of Courts; the statewide criminal history kept by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal 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 Richland 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: Richland County public records, Richland County arrest records, Richland County warrants, Richland County inmate search, Richland County court records, Ohio arrest records and Ohio inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Richland County Court of Common Pleas
A criminal case from Richland County is filed in the Richland County Court of Common Pleas or the Municipal and County Courts, which take misdemeanors, traffic cases, evictions and civil cases up to $15,000; mayor's courts handle some village tickets, and the court file, kept by the Clerk of Courts, is the record of it that the public may see.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at probatecourt.richlandcountyoh.gov (page title: Richland County Probate Court | Record Search), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 11, 2026.
Ohio has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The Ohio Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is closed to the public in Ohio: 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 fingerprint-based WebCheck at any WebCheck location. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Individuals-and-Families/Consumers/Requesti....
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Richland County
The Richland County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Mansfield, Shelby, Ontario, Lexington, Bellville, Plymouth and one more cities keep the arrest records in Richland 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 Richland County: Ohio State University at Mansfield (campus police); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Crestline Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Richland County, so its arrests are not broken out for Richland County here.
Together, the five agencies in Richland County with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 4,637 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 Richland County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Richland County in 2025
The five agencies in Richland County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 464 violent and 1,588 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,052 crimes in 2025 against 2,320 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 Richland County public records guide.
The Prosecuting Attorney for Richland County
The Prosecuting Attorney decides which arrests in Richland County become charges and files them in the Richland County Court of Common Pleas or the Municipal and County Courts; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at richlandcountyoh.gov/departments/prosecutorsoffice (page title: Richland County Ohio | Prosecutor's Office), phone 419-774-5676, 911 Location 38 South Park Street 2nd Floor Mansfield, OH 44902-1717, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Richland County
Registered sex offenders living in Richland County are listed on eSORN, run by the Ohio Attorney General at icrimewatch.net/index.php?AgencyID=55149. 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 Richland 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 Ohio Public Records Act a county office must answer a request promptly, within a reasonable period of time, and it may charge the actual cost of copying. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at richlandcountyoh.gov/CoronerPublicRecordsRequests (page title: Richland County Ohio | Coroner Public Records Requests).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Richland County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Richland County Court of Common Pleas are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Ohio Public Records Act.
Can I search Richland County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at probatecourt.richlandcountyoh.gov (page title: Richland County Probate Court | Record Search).
How do I get my own Ohio criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based WebCheck at any WebCheck location.
Who prosecutes crimes in Richland County?
The Prosecuting Attorney, reached at 419-774-5676, which files its cases in the Richland County Court of Common Pleas or the Municipal and County Courts.
Is this the official Richland 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.