Los Angeles County, California Public Records

Booking photos are kept by the agency that made the arrest, such as the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department or a city police department in Los Angeles County. Ask that agency for its record. Under Penal Code 13665, a police department or sheriff's office may not share on social media the booking photos of a person arrested on suspicion of a nonviolent crime unless an exception applies, and must remove booking photos it shared on social media within 14 days unless an exception still applies.

The California criminal history record comes from the California Department of Justice and goes only to the person it is about: submit fingerprints through Live Scan, which the Sheriff's Records and Identification Bureau in Norwalk offers by appointment, and follow the Record Review instructions. The fee is $25 to the Department of Justice plus the Live Scan site's rolling fee, and a fee waiver may be available. Employers and landlords must use a licensed background check company instead, and what they see of a conviction is the Superior Court case, which anyone can search by defendant name for $4.75 through Public Access Online Services.

On the California Megan's Law site, run by the state Department of Justice and linked among the Police and jail sources above, which lists the registered sex offenders of Los Angeles County by name, address or ZIP code. The Los Angeles Police Department and the Sheriff's Department both register the offenders who live in their areas and run compliance checks, and neither keeps a separate public list of its own.

In Los Angeles County the county elections official is the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk in Norwalk, (800) 815-2666, and its voter registration status page is among the sources above. Register with that office or through the California Secretary of State and its paper form, or online on the state online registration site. The deadline to register is 15 days before Election Day; after that, same day (conditional) registration and voting is available at any vote center in the county.

Deeds and other recorded land documents in Los Angeles County are kept by the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk at Norwalk, which has no online index, so the search is made in person or by mail. Property values are set by the County Assessor, whose portal returns any parcel by address or Assessor's Identification Number, and tax bills come from the Treasurer and Tax Collector, whose portal shows the bill and the payment history by parcel. The state Board of Equalization explains how the three offices divide the work in every California county.

In Los Angeles County a birth or death of the current or the previous year comes from the Department of Public Health Vital Records Office at 313 North Figueroa Street, $34 for a birth certificate and $26 for a death certificate, and everything older from the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk at Norwalk for the same fees; the certificates guide above gives the details. Statewide, certified copies also come from the California Department of Public Health, Vital Records (CDPH VR) by mail with form VS 111 to MS 5103, P.O. Box 997410, Sacramento, CA 95899-7410; since July 1, 2026 CDPH VR no longer accepts applications sent through online third party vendors. Fee: $31 for each certified copy of a birth record from the state office.

Business entity filings are searched with the California Secretary of State (bizfile Online) at no charge. In Los Angeles County a fictitious business name is searched at the County Clerk, part of the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, and a business inside the City of Los Angeles also holds a Business Tax Registration Certificate from the city's Office of Finance; the 87 other cities license businesses through their own city halls, and the unincorporated areas through the Treasurer and Tax Collector.

By case number, the Superior Court's Court Access Portal shows the case summary and the register of actions without charge. By a person's name, use Public Access Online Services, which charges $4.75 for each name searched in the civil or the criminal index and sells document images at $1.00 a page for the first five pages of a document. Both are linked in the court sources above. The clerk's office of the courthouse that heard the case gives paper and certified copies, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.

Search the Sheriff's Inmate Information Center by name or booking number, or call (213) 473-6100 at any hour; the line covers people held by the Sheriff and by the Los Angeles Police Department. A very recent arrest by the Sheriff appears first in the station booking log. Someone arrested by the LAPD is held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, the 77th Street Regional Jail or the Valley Jail until arraignment and then moves to Sheriff's custody.

From the agency that wrote it. The Sheriff's Records and Identification Bureau releases crime reports to victims and collision reports to involved parties by appointment, (562) 345-4441, at 12440 East Imperial Highway in Norwalk. The LAPD takes a mailed request form with a $28 check or money order at its Document Processing Unit, P.O. Box 30158, Los Angeles, CA 90030, with a recorded status line on (213) 486-8130. The other city police departments in the county each release their own reports.

From the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk in Norwalk, which has recorded deeds since 1850. There is no online index, so the search is done at 12400 Imperial Highway or sent by mail with the document year and the names: $0.50 a name a year to search, $6 for the first certified page and $3 for each further page, $5 and $3 for plain copies. Copies ordered in person at the Norwalk, LAX, Van Nuys and Lancaster offices cover documents recorded from 1982 onward.

From the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, $19 a certified copy, in person at Norwalk or a branch office with same day service for marriages from 1995 onward, or by mail to P.O. Box 489, Norwalk, CA 90651-0489, mailed within 20 business days. A confidential marriage record goes only to the two spouses or on a court order and has no informational copy. The marriage license itself is also issued by the County Clerk, at the same offices.

To the department that holds the record; the county has no central request desk. The county's public records request page, linked above, lists the records officer, phone number or portal of each of the 38 departments, the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk runs its own NextRequest center, and the Sheriff's Department takes record requests on (562) 345-4470. Inside the City of Los Angeles most departments share one request portal. The agency has ten days to say whether it holds the records, under Government Code 7922.535.

The Court's Filing Court Locator takes a ZIP code or an address and names the courthouse for each case type. Unlimited civil cases are centered at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 North Hill Street, felony arraignments for the central district at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, 210 West Temple Street, and the other 34 courthouses take the cases of their own districts, from the Michael Antonovich Antelope Valley Courthouse in Lancaster to the Catalina Courthouse in Avalon. All 36 are listed with their addresses above.

The County Medical Examiner's case search returns the deaths its office investigated, by name or case number, with the case status; it is not a list of all deaths in the county, and cases in which the next of kin has not been notified are withheld. The office is at 1104 North Mission Road, (323) 343-0512, weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The death certificate itself comes from the Department of Public Health or the Registrar-Recorder, not from the Medical Examiner.

Inside the City of Los Angeles, in the Department of Building and Safety's PRISM records search, which lists permits, inspections and certificates of occupancy by address or parcel. In the unincorporated areas, in the Public Works Building Permit Viewer, since Public Works is the building department there. In the other 87 cities, at that city's own building department, because each incorporated city issues its own permits.

The Assessor's portal gives the parcel, its assessed value and its sale dates by address or Assessor's Identification Number, but it does not display owner names. The name is on the recorded deed, which the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk supplies in person at Norwalk or by mail; that office keeps no online index. A property tax bill from the Treasurer and Tax Collector is addressed to the assessee of record as well, and a title company can run the chain of title for a fee.

On the Registrar-Recorder's voter registration status page, linked above, which shows whether you are registered, your party preference and your vote by mail status. Registration closes 15 days before an election, and after that conditional registration is done in person at any vote center in the county. The Registrar's registration line is (800) 815-2666.

Federal civil and criminal cases for Los Angeles County are filed in the Central District of California, at the Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez United States Courthouse, 350 West First Street, and the Roybal Federal Building, 255 East Temple Street; dockets and documents are on PACER, and the clerk's office answers on (213) 894-1565. Bankruptcy cases are heard by the Los Angeles division of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District in the same Roybal building, also on PACER.

Each city keeps its own: the city clerk holds council minutes, ordinances and contracts, the city police department holds its own reports and arrests, and the building department holds the permits. Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pasadena, Burbank, Glendale, Santa Monica, Torrance and about forty other cities run their own police departments, while the Sheriff's Department polices the rest under contract. Courts, deeds, vital records and jail custody stay with the county for every city. The city pages linked below carry each city's own offices.