Arrest Records for Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

Circuit Clerk Magaria Bobo’s office at the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse, 714 Greensboro Ave, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, is the county’s primary custodian of criminal court filings — felony and misdemeanor cases both. The Clerk’s office is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., except state and federal holidays. For a court-side case search, the Tuscaloosa County Sixth Circuit Court records portal is the county’s official online entry point. If you need the jail register for a recent booking, the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office maintains that record separately, and Alabama law requires it to be open to public inspection.

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

If you need records outside Tuscaloosa County

A nationwide criminal records search may help surface records from other Alabama counties, neighboring states, or federal cases that Tuscaloosa County’s own portals never index. The preliminary scan is free; a full report requires creating an account. This tool may also be useful if you’ve lived in multiple states and want to verify what’s on your own record across jurisdictions.

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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 Tuscaloosa County

Pull up the Alabama Department of Corrections inmate search when the person you’re researching has been convicted and transferred to a state prison facility — that tool is the authoritative path for post-conviction transfers out of the county jail. For everyone else, the records live in one of three county-level systems described below.

Tuscaloosa County Circuit Clerk — court-side records. The Tuscaloosa County Sixth Circuit Court records portal under Clerk Magaria Bobo is the county’s official source for felony and misdemeanor case filings. The Circuit Court office sits on the 6th floor of the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse at 714 Greensboro Ave — the building directory board may not make this obvious, so check floor signage when you arrive. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Phone lines can be congested near closing time, so calling mid-morning tends to get a faster answer. Call to confirm the current records-request fee before visiting.

Alacourt paid statewide index. Alabama’s statewide trial-court index, Alacourt, covers all 67 counties including Tuscaloosa and charges a per-name search fee. It is a paid service — there is no free statewide trial-court search. Do not confuse it with the state’s free appellate-court portal, which covers only appeals and will not show a county criminal case. Alacourt is useful when you need to check whether a name appears in multiple counties without driving to each courthouse.

Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office — jail register and booking records. Recent bookings at the Tuscaloosa County Jail are in the custody of the elected Sheriff. Alabama law requires the jail register to be open to public inspection. Call the jail at (205) 339-7000 to request booking information. Note that the number listed on Google for the Sheriff’s Department sometimes routes to the jail instead — that’s a known routing quirk, so don’t be surprised if you reach the jail line when dialing the main Sheriff’s number. The Sheriff’s Civil Division keeps business hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday; jail visitor hours run 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Tuesday and are closed Sundays.

Traffic citations — Alacourt Resolve. If the record you’re looking for involves a traffic citation handled through the Tuscaloosa County traffic court, the Alacourt Resolve traffic citation portal is the county-linked tool for resolving those matters online. This is separate from the Circuit Clerk’s criminal docket.

Municipal court charges. Arrests made by city police departments — Tuscaloosa Police Department, Northport Police Department, or University of Alabama Police Department — may generate charges in a municipal court that sits outside the Alacourt statewide index. A Tuscaloosa Police Department arrest record may need to be confirmed directly with that department’s records window; call the non-emergency line to confirm current hours and required identification before visiting. Municipal charges that were later bound over to Circuit Court will appear in the Alacourt index.

Post-conviction state prison records. Once a person is sentenced and transferred to a state facility, the Alabama Department of Corrections inmate search at the ADOC website is the correct lookup tool. The county jail and the ADOC are separate custody systems — a name that doesn’t appear in one may appear in the other.

Are Tuscaloosa County arrest records public?

What makes a Tuscaloosa County arrest record public — and what keeps parts of it sealed — comes down to which statute applies and what happened in the case. Alabama’s Open Records Act, codified at Ala. Code §§ 36-12-40 to 36-12-46, establishes the default rule: government records are presumptively open to public inspection unless a specific exemption applies. Booking records and the jail register fall squarely within that default-public category, and no Alabama statute restricts their publication.

Federal arrest records are an important exception that state systems cannot address. If the arrest was made by a federal agency — the FBI, DEA, ATF, or U.S. Marshals — the record will not appear in Alacourt or the Tuscaloosa County Clerk’s system. Federal criminal cases are handled in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, and the federal PACER system is the correct lookup path for those records.

Juvenile records carry their own protection. Arrests and adjudications involving minors are not part of the public record in Alabama. The Tuscaloosa County Juvenile Detention Center handles those cases, and access is restricted by statute regardless of the Open Records Act’s general default.

Victim-protection redactions apply in certain cases. Records involving sexual offenses, domestic violence, and similar charges may have victim-identifying information removed before public release. The underlying case record remains accessible; specific fields within it may be redacted.

Expunged and sealed records are the final category of exception. Once a court grants a petition to seal under Alabama’s expungement statute, the record is no longer visible to the public — though it remains accessible to law enforcement. A case that has been expunged will not appear in a standard Alacourt search or a Clerk’s records request.

What’s in a Tuscaloosa County arrest record?

Paper and digital records sit in different systems at the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse, and what you can see depends on which system you’re accessing.

On the court side, the Circuit Clerk’s docket entry — accessible through the Tuscaloosa County Sixth Circuit Court records portal — typically shows: the case number, the charge or charges as filed by the prosecutor, the filing date, the defendant’s name and date of birth, the attorney of record (if one has appeared), and the case disposition if the matter has been resolved. Disposition entries include guilty pleas, verdicts, dismissals, and nolle prosequi notations. Not every case will have a disposition visible online — older paper-era cases filed before the county’s digital conversion may require an in-person records request at the Clerk’s office on the 6th floor of the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse.

On the Sheriff’s side, the jail register and booking entry are a separate record. A booking entry typically includes: the booking date and time, the arresting agency, the charges at the time of arrest (which may differ from what the prosecutor later files), the bond amount set at first appearance, and a booking photograph. Alabama law makes the jail register presumptively public, so the booking date, charges, and bond information are generally available on request. For the current mugshot release policy at the Tuscaloosa County Jail, call (205) 339-7000 — the policy is not posted online.

One practical distinction worth knowing: the charge listed in a booking entry reflects what the arresting officer alleged at the time of arrest. The charge in the Circuit Clerk’s docket reflects what the District Attorney actually filed. These can differ — a booking charge of felony theft may become a misdemeanor charge in the formal filing, or may be dropped entirely. Always check both systems if you need the complete picture.

Docket entries from Tuscaloosa County’s District Court — which handles misdemeanors, preliminary hearings, and smaller civil matters — are also accessible through the Alacourt paid index. District Court records are separate from Circuit Court records and may not appear in the same search result.

How to expunge an arrest record in Tuscaloosa County

Petitioning to seal an arrest record in Tuscaloosa County is a routine legal procedure available to a significant number of people — and since 2021, Alabama’s expungement law reaches convictions, not only dismissed charges or acquittals.

The controlling statute is Ala. Code § 15-27-1, which governs expungement of misdemeanors, violations, traffic offenses, and municipal offenses. The 2021 amendments extended the law’s reach to certain convictions, making a large body of older published guidance — including some from the state bar — out of date. If you’ve read that Alabama expungement only covers non-convictions, that was the pre-2021 rule.

Non-conviction cases — dismissed charges and acquittals. When a charge was dismissed, nolle prossed, or resulted in a not-guilty verdict, the path to sealing is generally more straightforward. A waiting period may not be required for these cases. The petition is filed in the Circuit Court of Tuscaloosa County — the court where the charge was originally brought — which is the correct venue under the statute.

Conviction cases. For a conviction, a waiting period applies before you can petition. The statute sets the timing requirements; check the current text of Ala. Code § 15-27-1 or ask the Clerk of Court for the applicable window for your specific offense type. Not every conviction is eligible — the statute lists categories of offenses that cannot be expunged regardless of time elapsed.

Filing the petition. The Petition to Seal is filed with the Tuscaloosa County Circuit Clerk at 714 Greensboro Ave. Call the Clerk to confirm the current filing fee before submitting — the fee is set by statute and subject to change. If the fee creates a financial hardship, an indigency waiver path exists; ask the Clerk’s office about the process for requesting a fee waiver when you call.

Who gets notice. Once filed, the Tuscaloosa County District Attorney’s office and the arresting agency are both entitled to receive notice and may object to the petition. The court then holds a hearing if an objection is raised. This is standard procedure under the statute — it does not mean the petition will be denied.

Self-petition vs. attorney-assisted. You can file the petition yourself. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s self-help resources and the Alabama State Bar Lawyer Referral Service can connect you with an attorney if you prefer assistance. If you qualify for a public defender, the Alabama indigent defense locator is the correct resource.

What changes after sealing. Once the court grants the petition, the record is removed from public view. It will not appear in a standard Alacourt search, a Clerk’s records request, or a public background check. Law enforcement retains access to the sealed record. The practical effect is that the arrest or conviction is no longer visible to the general public.

Quick-contacts: Tuscaloosa County arrest records at a glance

Frequently asked questions about Tuscaloosa County arrest records

What’s the bond process for a Tuscaloosa County arrest, and how do I find out what bond was set?

Alabama uses money bail with judicial discretion — a judge sets bond at a first appearance before the court, and the amount is not fixed by a schedule. For certain violent offenses, a 2022 constitutional amendment allows a court to deny bail entirely after a hearing. The bond amount set at first appearance is part of the booking record held by the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office; call the jail at (205) 339-7000 to ask about a specific booking. Once a case moves to the Circuit Court docket, bond information may also appear in the Alacourt case record. To find a licensed bondsman, the Alabama Professional Bail Bonding Board maintains a roster of licensed agents statewide.

Will a Tuscaloosa County arrest record appear on a background check, and can it be removed?

An arrest that resulted in a charge filed in Circuit or District Court will typically appear in the Alacourt index and may surface in third-party background checks that draw from public court records. A booking record at the jail is also presumptively public under Alabama law. Sealing the record under Ala. Code § 15-27-1 removes it from public view — after a successful petition, the record will no longer appear in standard court searches or public background checks, though law enforcement retains access. The petition is filed with the Tuscaloosa County Circuit Clerk at 714 Greensboro Ave. Dismissed charges and acquittals often qualify for a streamlined path; convictions require satisfying the waiting period and eligibility criteria set in the statute. Confirm the current filing fee with the Clerk before submitting your petition.