California, Kern County
Where Shafter's records are kept. Shafter has its own city government, clerk's office and police department; county and state offices keep its other public records.
Start here
The cards below include Shafter's own offices, along with State of California offices; the Kern County offices are on our Kern County page. Use the category buttons to narrow the list.
Property records
Oversees how California's 58 county assessors apply property tax law, audits their practices, certifies appraisers and itself assesses utility and railroad property and pipelines spanning two or more counties.
Open official site California State Board of Equalization Property Tax DepartmentState records
The Secretary of State's archives holds over 105,000 cubic feet of California government records, maps and photographs, described in its Minerva catalog, including court, legislative, land grant and family history collections.
Open official site California State Archives CollectionsCounty court
In California's Eastern District, debtors without a lawyer can use the court's pro se clinic, drop box and free eSR service to prepare and submit Chapter 7 and 13 forms online.
Open official site U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of CaliforniaCounty court
Judicial Branch guide to looking up a California case: county courts keep the records, so start on the court's website or with its clerk; juvenile and adoption files are confidential.
Open official site California Courts Self Help GuideVital records
Keeps California birth, death, fetal death, marriage and divorce records, issues certified copies and registers or amends records as the law allows. Accepted orders cannot be canceled or refunded.
Open official site California Department of Public Health Vital RecordsState records
The California Department of Justice unit that helps police locate missing people and identify unknown persons; its missing persons database, searchable by name, county and description, holds a subset of reported cases.
Open official site California DOJ Missing and Unidentified Persons SectionFederal
The FBI Sacramento Field Office posts the people it is seeking in murder, violent crime, white collar and crimes against children cases, plus kidnapped and missing persons, many with FBI rewards for information.
Open official site FBI Sacramento Field Office Most WantedPolice & jail
California Department of Justice listing of registered sex offenders that state law allows it to disclose; some registrants are left out, and registrants who use the search face a fine or jail.
Open official site California Megan's Law WebsiteCity records
City of Shafter official site: City Hall at 336 Pacific Avenue, 661-746-5000, along with online bill pay, public records requests, agendas and minutes, building and safety, problem reports, police services, a mapping center and ShafterAlerts.
Open official site City of ShafterCity records
City legal records and files 336 Pacific Avenue Shafter, CA 93263 Tel: 661-746-5006 Fax: 661-746-0607
Open official site Shafter City ClerkPolice & jail
Law enforcement services 201 Central Valley Highway Shafter, CA 93263 Phone: (661) 746-8500
Open official site Shafter Police DepartmentCity records
Kern County Fire Department protects unincorporated Kern County and contract cities including Shafter, Delano, Wasco, Taft, Tehachapi, Ridgecrest, Arvin, Maricopa and McFarland, with fire, emergency medical, rescue and prevention services.
Open official site Kern County Fire DepartmentEverything else, organized
12 more Shafter sources not listed above.
Local record guide
Useful local context without burying the official record links above.
Local profile
Shafter, a place of 19,953 people, is in Kern County, whose county seat is Bakersfield. Court and property records sit with Kern County, and birth and death certificates come from the State of California. Shafter's own offices are in the cards above, and our Kern County page lists each county office.
Straight answers
Open only the answer you need.
Voter registration in California is run by the California Secretary of State and local election officials. Its site lists the registration deadline, online registration where California offers it, polling places and the local election office for Shafter.
Deeds for property in Shafter are recorded by the Kern County Recorder, and the county office that assesses property keeps the tax values. Our Kern County page lists the county offices.
Certified birth and death certificates for events in California come from the state vital records office, California Department of Public Health Vital Records. Its site lists who may order a copy, the fee and how to order.
Same county
Use the city page when a record was created by a municipal police department or city office; use the county page for courts, deeds, vital records and jail custody.