Arrest Records for Dale County, Alabama

Court filings for Dale County’s Thirty-Third Circuit sit under Circuit Clerk Delores Woodham, whose office is inside the Dale County Courthouse in Ozark. If you’re checking a name against court records, the county’s own portal at Circuit Clerk Delores Woodham is the county-level entry point. Alabama also runs a statewide paid index that covers all sixty-seven counties in one search — useful when a record may span multiple jurisdictions. The Circuit Clerk’s Office reported hours are Monday–Tuesday 8:00 AM–4:30 PM, Wednesday 8:00 AM–5:00 PM, and Thursday 8:00 AM–12:00 PM; verify before visiting, as early closures have been reported. Parking in downtown Ozark is limited, and the courthouse cannot arrange parking for visitors.

If someone you know was just booked tonight, our Dale County inmate-search page has phone-first contact info.

If your person has a history in other states

A Dale County court search only surfaces records filed in Alabama’s Thirty-Third Circuit and may miss charges that pre-date the portal’s online window or cases filed in other states entirely. A nationwide database search can help fill gaps that local portals often leave — it may surface records from other states, federal cases, and name variants across multiple jurisdictions. The preliminary scan is free; a full report requires creating an account.

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This tool is not a consumer reporting agency under the FCRA and may not be used to screen anyone for employment, housing, credit, or any other purpose covered by that law.

How to look up arrest records in Dale County

Checking your own record in Dale County is a reasonable thing to do before a court date, a professional licensing application, or a petition to seal. When you request your own record in person at the Dale County Courthouse, you’ll need a government-issued photo ID. Self-requests typically carry lower fees than third-party requests — call (205) 631-7155 to confirm the current fee before you drive to Ozark.

The county-level court search lives at the Dale County Thirty-Third Circuit Court records portal, maintained by Circuit Clerk Delores Woodham. This covers Circuit Court felony cases and District Court misdemeanor cases filed in Dale County. Traffic-related court records have a separate statewide lookup through the Alabama Traffic Court records system. Neither portal is the same as the statewide Alacourt paid index — the county portal shows Dale County cases; the paid statewide index covers all sixty-seven counties for a per-search fee.

Alabama’s statewide trial-court index charges a fee per name search. It is not free. The free portal on the Alabama Unified Judicial System website covers appellate courts only — it will not show a Dale County Circuit or District Court case. If you need a multi-county search or want to confirm records across Alabama, the paid Alacourt index is the correct tool.

For a recent booking — someone arrested and held at the Dale County Jail at 124 Adams Street, Ozark — contact the Dale County Sheriff’s Office directly. Alabama law requires the sheriff’s jail register to be open to public inspection, so booking information is presumptively available. The Sheriff’s Office hours are 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM; bring a valid ID to enter the premises. Ample parking is available in the lot.

Someone serving a state prison sentence — as opposed to someone held pre-trial in the county jail — appears in the Alabama Department of Corrections inmate search. The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) manages state facilities; the Dale County Sheriff manages the county jail. A new booking can take time to appear in any online roster, so calling the Sheriff’s Office directly is often faster than waiting for an online update.

Municipal charges — ordinance violations handled by Ozark, Daleville, Newton, or other Dale County cities — may sit outside the main Alacourt index. Confirm with the specific city’s municipal court if a charge isn’t appearing in the county portal. The Dale County Circuit Clerk’s phone line may not always answer and has no voicemail, so plan to call during morning hours or visit in person.

Are Dale County arrest records public?

Distinguish what’s sealed from what’s open before you search — the answer changes everything about what you’ll find. Arrest records and court filings in Dale County are presumptively public documents under Alabama’s Open Records Act, codified at Ala. Code §§ 36-12-40 to 36-12-46. Any person may inspect or copy them; no special standing is required.

Sealed and expunged records are the primary exception. When a Dale County Circuit Court grants an expungement petition under Ala. Code § 15-27-1, the record is removed from public view. It does not appear in the Alacourt portal, and the Clerk is not permitted to confirm its existence to a member of the public. Law enforcement agencies retain access to sealed records; the public does not.

Juvenile records carry a separate protection. Proceedings in Dale County’s juvenile docket are confidential by statute and do not appear in the public court index. A person who was arrested as a minor should not expect those records to surface in a standard name search — though the rules governing access and sealing differ from adult records.

Victim-protection redactions apply to certain case types. In domestic violence, sexual assault, and similar matters, the names and identifying details of victims and witnesses may be redacted from the public copy of a record even when the case itself remains open. What you receive from the Clerk’s Office may be a redacted version of the full file.

Booking records and the Dale County Sheriff’s jail register are also presumptively public under Alabama law. There is no statute restricting their publication. A booking entry may include a photograph — whether the Sheriff’s Office releases booking photos publicly is a policy question; call the Sheriff’s Office to confirm current practice.

What’s in a Dale County arrest record?

“Public record” covers two distinct documents that live in different systems and show different fields — understanding which one you need saves a trip. The booking entry lives on the Sheriff’s side; the court docket lives on the Clerk’s side at the Dale County Courthouse.

A booking entry, created by the Dale County Sheriff’s Office at the time of arrest, typically contains: the arrested person’s full name, booking date and time, the charge or charges as stated by the arresting agency, the arresting agency’s name, and a case or booking number. It may also include a photograph. Sensitive personal identifiers — Social Security numbers, full dates of birth, and witness names — are redacted from the public-facing version of the record. What you see at the jail register is the sanitized public copy, not the full internal file.

The court docket, accessible through the Dale County Thirty-Third Circuit Court records portal under Circuit Clerk Delores Woodham, shows the case number, the formal charge as filed by the prosecutor, all hearing dates, attorney of record (if one has appeared), and the disposition — guilty plea, acquittal, dismissal, or conviction — once the case resolves. Disposition data is often the most important field for a records-checker: an arrest without a conviction is a materially different record than a conviction.

Docket entries and booking entries can diverge. The charge on the booking entry reflects what the arresting officer wrote. The charge on the docket reflects what the prosecutor formally filed, which may differ. A case can also be dismissed after booking, leaving a booking record with no corresponding court disposition — the arrest happened, but no conviction followed.

Traffic court records for Dale County are maintained separately through the Alabama Traffic Court records system, not the main Circuit Clerk portal. If the charge you’re researching is a traffic offense, check that system rather than the general docket.

For the Dale County Sheriff’s Office mugshot release policy, call the Sheriff’s Office directly — the policy isn’t published online. Confirm numbers and hours before visiting or calling.

How to expunge an arrest record in Dale County

Does the charge on your Dale County record qualify for sealing — and does it matter whether you were convicted? The answer depends on which path applies, and the paths are meaningfully different.

Non-conviction records — charges that were dismissed, nolle prossed, or ended in acquittal — are generally the most straightforward to seal under Ala. Code § 15-27-1. Alabama’s expungement statute reaches these cases, and the process does not require a waiting period tied to a conviction. If your Dale County case was dismissed or you were found not guilty, petitioning to seal that record is a routine legal procedure worth pursuing.

Post-conviction sealing is a different matter. Since 2021, Alabama law extends expungement eligibility to certain convictions — not only to dismissed or acquitted cases. Much older guidance, including some material from the state bar, still states that convictions cannot be expunged; that is no longer accurate. The statute now covers qualifying misdemeanor convictions, violations, traffic offenses, and municipal offenses. Felony convictions have a narrower path. Whether a specific Dale County conviction qualifies depends on the offense class and the individual’s record — the statute sets the eligibility criteria, and a waiting period applies after a conviction before a petition may be filed. The statute does not supply a single universal waiting period; the applicable duration depends on the offense type. Check the current text of Ala. Code § 15-27-1 or ask the Dale County Circuit Clerk for the self-help materials.

Petitions to seal a Dale County record are filed in the Dale County Circuit Court — the court where the charge was originally brought. The Dale County Circuit Clerk’s Office at the Dale County Courthouse in Ozark handles the filing. The district attorney and the arresting agency are both entitled to object to the petition, and a judge rules on it. The filing fee is set by the court; call (205) 631-7155 to confirm the current amount. An indigency waiver path exists for those who cannot afford the fee — ask the Clerk about the fee waiver process when you call.

You may file the petition yourself without an attorney. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the Alabama State Bar Lawyer Referral Service can connect you with counsel if you want professional help. If you qualify for a public defender, the Alabama indigent defense locator is the right resource. Attorney-assisted petitions tend to move more smoothly when the district attorney is likely to object.

After sealing, the record is removed from public view — it will not appear in the Alacourt portal or in the Dale County Clerk’s public index. Law enforcement agencies retain access. The practical effect is that a standard background check run through public court records will not surface the sealed case.

Quick-contacts table

Frequently asked questions about Dale County arrest records

What is the first thing to check when looking up my own Dale County arrest record?

The county-level court docket at the Dale County Thirty-Third Circuit Court records portal under Circuit Clerk Delores Woodham shows charges, case numbers, and dispositions for Circuit and District Court cases. For a booking entry — the Sheriff’s side of the record — contact the Dale County Sheriff’s Office at (205) 631-7155 or visit 124 Adams Street, Ozark, with a government-issued photo ID. Self-requests typically carry lower fees than third-party requests. If the charge was a traffic matter, check the Alabama Traffic Court records system separately, as those records are not in the main Circuit Clerk portal.

How do I locate a Dale County arrest record that no longer appears in a public search?

A record that has disappeared from public view in Dale County has most likely been sealed under Ala. Code § 15-27-1 following a successful expungement petition filed in the Dale County Circuit Court. Sealed records are removed from the Alacourt portal and the Clerk’s public index; law enforcement retains access, but the public does not. If you believe a record should exist but cannot find it, call the Dale County Circuit Clerk at (205) 631-7155 — the Clerk can confirm whether a case exists in the sealed docket, though the contents remain confidential. For records that pre-date the portal’s online window or involve charges in other states, a nationwide database search may surface older or out-of-state entries that local portals do not index.