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 on September 24, 2026.
Bristol County, Rhode Island, has about 50,000 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 Bristol 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, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: Bristol County public records, Bristol County arrest records, Bristol County warrants, Bristol County inmate search, Bristol County court records, Rhode Island arrest records and Rhode Island inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Rhode Island Superior Court, Bristol County
In Rhode Island the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Bristol County are heard by the Rhode Island Superior Court, Bristol County, which hears felonies and civil cases over $10,000; the District Court and the Traffic Tribunal take misdemeanors and small civil cases in the District Court; traffic tickets in the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal, and the file of each case is kept by the clerk of each court.
For Bristol County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county 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
The statewide criminal history kept by the Rhode Island Attorney General Bureau of Criminal Identification is closed to the public in Rhode Island: 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 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 Bristol County
The state police or the town police keep the arrest records in Bristol 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.
Together, the two agencies in Bristol County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 281 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 Bristol County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Bristol County in 2025
The two agencies in Bristol County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 16 violent and 130 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 146 crimes in 2025 against 187 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 Bristol County public records guide.
The Sex Offender Registry for Bristol County
Registered sex offenders living in Bristol County 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 Bristol 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 Bristol County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Rhode Island Superior Court, Bristol 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 Bristol County 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 Bristol 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.