Search Wilmington Criminal History
Wilmington criminal history records are held by the Wilmington Police Department Records Unit, the Superior Court of Delaware at the Leonard L. Williams Justice Center, and the State Bureau of Identification. Arrest reports, charge files, and court dispositions from Wilmington feed into the statewide SBI system. Residents can look up Wilmington criminal history case data online through CourtConnect or in person at the court. This page shows where to go, who to call, and what each office holds. Use it as a map for your Wilmington records search.
Wilmington Records Overview
Wilmington Police Criminal History Records
The Wilmington Police Department Records Unit at (302) 576-3607 keeps police reports for every incident within city limits. That includes arrest reports, incident reports, and accident files. If a case happened in Wilmington, the first stop for a criminal record copy is WPD. Valid ID is needed. You fill out a short form with the subject's name, date of birth, and an approximate date of the event.
To start the process, visit the WPD records request page. The form is short and takes a few minutes. Fees apply for copies. Reports tied to open cases are held back until the case is closed. WPD also works with New Castle County Police, Delaware State Police, and federal agencies on joint cases, so a single Wilmington criminal history file may touch several desks before it is final.
A typical Wilmington arrest record lists the suspect's full name, date of birth, address, arrest date, charges, and arresting officer. It also lists booking details. Booking for Wilmington arrests is done at Howard R. Young Correctional Institution, also in Wilmington. The jail is the main detention site for New Castle County. That means the same file name may show up in WPD records, jail booking logs, and the court file.
A police report is not the same as a state rap sheet. The Wilmington police file covers one case. The state file covers all cases across every agency. For a full Wilmington criminal history that pulls from every source, you need the SBI certified report. That is covered in a later section of this page.
Note: The Wilmington Police Department does not mail out copies of reports to requesters who have not paid the search fee in advance.
Wilmington City Records and FOIA
The City of Wilmington runs under a 13-member City Council with 4-year terms. The council meets at 800 North French Street on the first and third Thursday each month at 6:30 PM. City Hall handles FOIA requests for city records, including police files, contracts, and meeting minutes.
The lead-in source for the image below is a real Delaware Attorney General FOIA opinion letter that shows how the AG office rules on Wilmington FOIA disputes. These letters set the standard for public access to city records.
That opinion letter shows the clock on FOIA response. The Delaware FOIA at Title 29, Chapter 100 gives a public body 15 business days to respond. Denials can be sent up to the Attorney General for review. Wilmington denials can and do go through this same track.
Wilmington Criminal History at the Courts
The Superior Court of Delaware for New Castle County sits at the Leonard L. Williams Justice Center, 500 N. King Street, Wilmington, DE 19801. Phone is (302) 255-0800. Public counter hours run Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. This court is the trial court of general jurisdiction for felony cases tied to Wilmington.
The court file is the long form of the Wilmington criminal history for any given case. It holds the indictment, motions, plea paperwork, and sentencing order. The Prothonotary's Office at the Justice Center manages record requests. Fees apply for certified copies and for wider name searches. The court's public access terminals let you pull case data from CourtConnect without making an appointment.
The Court of Common Pleas runs out of the same building. It handles misdemeanor criminal cases and smaller civil matters. The Court of Common Pleas also runs preliminary hearings for some felony matters before they move up to Superior Court. The Family Court for New Castle County also sits in the building and handles juvenile cases. Juvenile records are sealed under Delaware law and are not part of the public Wilmington criminal history record.
Federal cases filed in Wilmington run through the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, also at the Justice Center area. Federal records use the PACER system. PACER is separate from CourtConnect and has its own fee setup. The US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware is also in Wilmington and is the busiest bankruptcy court in the country.
Wilmington Criminal History SBI Reports
The State Bureau of Identification is the centralized criminal history repository for the state. A certified Delaware SBI criminal history report pulls from every police agency in the state, every court, and the jail system. That makes the SBI report the go-to document for a full Wilmington criminal history request.
Wilmington residents head to State Police Troop 2 in Newark at 100 LaGrange Avenue for fingerprinting. Troop 2 is the SBI North desk and serves the entire Wilmington area. Appointments are required. Call 1-800-464-4357 or 302-739-2528 to book. Payment can be made by cash, credit or debit card, certified check, money order, or company check made out to Delaware State Police. Personal checks are not accepted.
Results are not returned on the same day. Prints go through IdentoGO and come back as a report sent to the requesting agency. The wait time runs a few business days on average. Applicants seeking a copy for themselves can get one mailed to a home address. The report lists name, date of birth, a summary of arrests, charges, and final case outcomes across the state.
Bring this to the Troop 2 site:
- Photo ID (driver license or state ID)
- Service code from the agency that asked for the check
- Payment in an allowed form
- IdentoGO appointment confirmation
Note: Wilmington residents are free to schedule SBI prints at the Dover SBI desk too, but Troop 2 in Newark is closer and the usual pick.
Howard R. Young Jail Records
Wilmington arrestees are booked at Howard R. Young Correctional Institution, right inside the city. The facility runs under the Delaware Department of Correction. Booking records, charges, and custody status for any Wilmington arrest feed into the DOC system. The DOC inmate locator tool is the public-facing search point for people in custody.
Victim alerts run through VINE. Families and victims can sign up to get notices about custody changes, court dates, and release events. The DOC shares some jail data with victims, the accused, and legal counsel. Broad public access to jail files is limited. VINE is the standard workaround for people tracking a Wilmington case.
Bail and bond post through the court system at the Justice Center. The Court of Common Pleas runs first-appearance hearings. Short sentences are served at Howard Young. Longer state sentences send an inmate to other DOC facilities across Delaware.
Clearing a Wilmington Criminal History
Expungement of a Wilmington criminal history falls under Title 11, Chapter 43, Subchapter VII. Section 4373 covers mandatory expungement. Section 4374 covers discretionary expungement. The application goes through SBI and carries a filing fee. If SBI finds the case qualifies, the applicant mails back signed paperwork with a money order for the balance.
The Clean Slate Act kicked in on August 1, 2024. That law clears some convictions from a record on a set timeline. Drug possession drops off after 5 years. Some other drug offenses drop off after 10 years. DUIs, sex offenses, and serious violent felonies do not get the auto track and stay on the file.
The Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry is public and searchable by name, address, city, or zip code. Wilmington residents can sign up for email alerts tied to their zip code. The registry is a key piece of a wider Wilmington background check when a family is looking for safety info on their block.
For deep historical research, the Delaware Public Archives hold old court files, police records, and other state papers. The Wilmington Public Library at 10 E 10th Street also has access to genealogy tools, historical newspapers, and research databases for case lookups that go back many years.
Nearby Cities and County
Wilmington sits inside New Castle County. The county page covers the shared court, jail, and SBI data that serves Wilmington. The cities below are the nearest ones with their own page on this site.