St. Bernard Parish Arrest Records

St. Bernard Parish arrest records are kept by the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office in Chalmette, Louisiana. The office publishes arrest reports and booking information through its website, and the parish is part of the statewide LAVNS inmate notification network. Initial booking records and arrest reports are public under Louisiana law. This page explains how to find and request St. Bernard Parish arrest records using the resources available online and through the sheriff's office.

St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office

The St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office, led by Sheriff James Pohlmann, is the main agency for arrest records in the parish. The office and the St. Bernard Parish Prison are both at 2118 Jackson Blvd in Chalmette. You can reach the office by phone at (504) 271-2501. The sheriff's website is at sbso.org. All bookings, initial arrest reports, and jail records for St. Bernard Parish go through this office.

The St. Bernard Parish Prison holds inmates at the same location as the main sheriff's office on Jackson Blvd. The facility processes all local arrests for the parish. When someone is booked, the sheriff's office creates an initial arrest report that lists the person's name, date of birth, the charge or charges, the arresting deputy or officer, and the date of the arrest. These reports are public under Louisiana Revised Statute 44:3.

Louisiana's Public Records Act at LRS 44:1 covers all public agencies. Any adult has the right to inspect or copy records held by the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office. If you submit a written request, the office must respond within three business days. They may charge a reasonable fee for copies but cannot charge for the right to look at a record.

St. Bernard Parish Arrest Reports

The St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office publishes arrest reports on its website at sbso.org/tag/arrests/. These reports include the names of those arrested, the charges filed, and brief descriptions of the incidents. Each report from the sheriff's office includes a statement acknowledging the presumption of innocence. For example, one report notes: "SBSO ARRESTS TWO IN CONNECTION WITH AGGRAVATED BURGLY" and goes on to describe the charges and circumstances. These press releases give context beyond what a simple booking record shows.

The arrest report archive on the SBSO website goes back over time, letting you look up past incidents by date. This is useful if you know when an arrest happened but need more information about the circumstances. Each report is a public document produced by a government agency. You can view them without registering or logging in.

Note: Arrest reports published online by the sheriff's office represent incidents where arrests were made, not findings of guilt.

Statewide Inmate Search and VINE Notifications

St. Bernard Parish participates in the Louisiana Automated Victim Notification System, known as LAVNS. The statewide VINE portal at vinelink.vineapps.com lets you search for inmates across all participating Louisiana parishes in one place. If you need to know whether a specific person is in St. Bernard Parish custody, you can search the statewide system by name.

The VINE statewide portal covers Louisiana parishes including St. Bernard and allows free anonymous registration to receive alerts when an inmate's custody status changes.

Once you find an inmate in the system, you can register for VINE custody alerts. VINE stands for Victim Information and Notification Everyday. The service is free and anonymous. You choose how you want to be contacted, whether by phone, text, or email. The system will then notify you any time that person's custody status changes. This includes releases, transfers, and other changes.

For inmates who have been sentenced and transferred to state prison, custody information shifts to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. The state DOC maintains its own inmate search system for those held in state facilities.

How to Request St. Bernard Parish Records

To get copies of arrest records or booking sheets from the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office, call (504) 271-2501 or visit in person at 2118 Jackson Blvd, Chalmette, LA 70043. Put your request in writing. Include the person's full name, an approximate arrest date, and the type of record you need. The office will tell you if there are copy fees before processing your request.

You can also check the online arrest report archive at sbso.org for recent and past arrests. For incidents where a formal report was issued as a press release, those are publicly available on the site without a formal records request. For the underlying booking documents, a written request to the sheriff's office is the standard process.

If you need a certified copy of your own criminal history in Louisiana, that request goes to the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information. The BCII handles statewide criminal history records. Visit lsp.org for the current process and fees. This is separate from requesting a local booking record from St. Bernard Parish.

The BCII page at Louisiana State Police outlines how to request a certified personal criminal history record, which is a separate process from local parish records.

Arrest Record Laws in St. Bernard Parish

Louisiana law is direct about what is public. LRS 44:3 says initial arrest reports, booking records, summons, citations, and bills of information are public records. Any adult can ask for them. Charges being dropped later does not make the record private. The arrest happened, and the record of it is open.

The statewide criminal history database at the Louisiana Criminal History (LACCH) level is different. LRS 15:587 restricts who can search the LACCH system. General members of the public cannot run broad criminal history searches through state police. What they can access is the public jail roster, online arrest reports, and the initial booking records held at the parish level. These cover the vast majority of what people need when searching for arrest records in St. Bernard Parish.

If a request is wrongly denied, you can pursue it in district court under LRS 44:35. Legal aid organizations in the New Orleans metro area serve St. Bernard Parish residents who need help with records access issues. Most standard requests go through without a problem.

Cities in St. Bernard Parish

There are no cities in St. Bernard Parish with dedicated arrest records pages on this site. All records for communities in the parish, including Chalmette, Arabi, Violet, and Meraux, are handled through the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office at 2118 Jackson Blvd in Chalmette. Call (504) 271-2501 for records help anywhere in the parish.

Nearby Parishes

St. Bernard Parish is in southeast Louisiana, just east of New Orleans. It borders a small number of parishes given its location near the Gulf.