Cameron County, Texas Public Records

The Cameron County Sheriff's Office runs the county detention centers in Olmito and publishes the current inmate list online. Booking information for a person held there comes from the Sheriff. If the arrest was made by a city police department such as Brownsville or Harlingen, the arrest report is kept by that department while the jail record stays with the Sheriff.

Statewide criminal history checks are run by the Texas Department of Public Safety, which offers a name based search online for a fee and fingerprint based checks for regulated purposes. For a specific Cameron County case, use the District Clerk for district court cases and the County Clerk judicial case search for county court cases.

Use the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry kept by the Texas Department of Public Safety. It covers every county and can be searched by name, address or map. Local law enforcement agencies report to that registry rather than keeping a separate list.

Register through the Cameron County Elections and Voter Registration department in Brownsville, in person or by mailing the state application, which can be filled out at VoteTexas.gov. Texas closes registration 30 days before each election. The elections department also publishes polling places, sample ballots and results.

Recorded documents such as deeds, deeds of trust and liens are in the official public records of the Cameron County Clerk, which has an online search. Appraised values, ownership and exemptions are on the Cameron Appraisal District property search, and tax accounts and payments are with the Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector.

The Cameron County Clerk issues certified birth and death certificates for events recorded in the county, in person and by mail, with valid photo identification. Texas Vital Statistics in Austin issues certificates for births and deaths anywhere in Texas, and orders can be placed online through the official Texas.gov application. Texas limits birth certificates to the person named, immediate family and others allowed by law.

District court records (felonies, civil, family, juvenile) are kept by the Cameron County District Clerk. County court at law records (misdemeanors, probate, guardianship, civil) are kept by the Cameron County Clerk and can be searched online through its judicial case search. Justice courts keep their own traffic, small claims and eviction records by precinct.