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 24, 2026 and September 26, 2026.
Cranston, Rhode Island, in Providence County, has about 84,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Rhode Island the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the clerk of each court; the statewide criminal history kept by the Rhode Island Attorney General Bureau of Criminal Identification 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 Cranston 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: Cranston public records, Providence County criminal records, Cranston arrest records, Cranston warrants, Cranston inmate search, Cranston court records, Rhode Island arrest records and Rhode Island inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Rhode Island Superior Court, Providence County
A criminal case from Cranston is filed in the Rhode Island Superior Court, Providence County or the District Court and the Traffic Tribunal, which take misdemeanors and small civil cases in the District Court; traffic tickets in the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal, and the court file, kept by the clerk of each court, is the record of it that the public may see.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courts.ri.gov/Public-Resources/Pages/case-information.aspx (page title: Public Resources), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
Statewide, Rhode Island Judiciary Public Portal is the courts' free statewide case search.
The Rhode Island Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Rhode Island does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Rhode Island Attorney General Bureau of Criminal Identification goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court file in the Rhode Island Superior Court, Providence County is the public record.
To see your own record, the route is a request in person to the Bureau of Criminal Identification. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at riag.ri.gov/i-want/get-background-check.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Cranston
The agency that reports for Cranston (filed by the FBI as Cranston Police Department) and, elsewhere, the state police keep the arrest records in and around Cranston: 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 Providence County: Brown University (campus police); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the 15 agencies in Providence County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 11,074 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 Cranston arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Cranston in 2025
The agency that reports for Cranston had 75 violent and 754 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 Sex Offender Registry for Cranston
Registered sex offenders living in Cranston are listed on the Rhode Island Sex Offender Registry, run by the Rhode Island Parole Board at risp.ri.gov/safety-education/sex-offenders. Level 2 and Level 3 offenders are listed online.
Registration itself is done in person with the local agency where the registrant lives: the town police in a town with its own department and the state police elsewhere.
Asking an Agency in Providence 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 Access to Public Records Act a county office must answer a request within 10 business days, and it may charge copying at 15 cents a page and search time after the first hour.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Cranston?
The court files of criminal cases in the Rhode Island Superior Court, Providence County are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Rhode Island Attorney General Bureau of Criminal Identification is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Access to Public Records Act.
Can I search Cranston criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courts.ri.gov (page title: Public Resources). Statewide, Rhode Island Judiciary Public Portal is the courts' free statewide case search.
How do I get my own Rhode Island criminal history?
Through a request in person to the Bureau of Criminal Identification.
Is this the official Cranston 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.