Arrest Records for Bossier Parish, Louisiana

Bossier Parish arrest records live in two separate systems that don’t automatically talk to each other. The Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office holds booking-side records — the arrest itself, charges at intake, and booking photos — accessible through the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office records page and through the parish Custodian of Records. Court-side records — case numbers, docket entries, and dispositions — sit with the Bossier Parish Clerk of Court, whose courthouse operates 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. Bossier Parish does not offer a single public online case-search portal, so most records checks require a direct request to one or both offices.

If someone you know was just booked tonight, our Bossier Parish inmate-search page has phone-first contact info.

If you need records outside Bossier Parish

A nationwide search may surface records from other Louisiana parishes, neighboring states, or federal courts that Bossier Parish portals never index. The preliminary scan is free; a full report requires creating an account. This tool may help fill gaps that local portals often leave — particularly for federal cases, records predating online systems, or name variants across multiple jurisdictions.

Sponsored: Nationwide Criminal Background Check (we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you).

This tool is not a consumer reporting agency under the FCRA and may not be used to screen anyone for employment, housing, credit, or any other purpose covered by that law.

How to look up arrest records in Bossier Parish

Send your written public-records request to the Bossier City Police Department at P.O. Box 6216, Bossier City, Louisiana 71171-6216 — include your mailing address, fax number, or email so the department can route the response back to you. That mailing address covers Bossier City PD records specifically; for parish-wide Sheriff’s Office records, use the Bossier Parish Custodian of Records contact page to confirm the current submission address before mailing.

The Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office records page at Sheriff is the county-first resource for arrest and booking records held by the Sheriff. It covers incidents where the Sheriff’s Office made the arrest or booked the individual into the Bossier Maximum Security Facility. To reach the jail directly, call (318) 326-4405. Confirm numbers and hours before visiting or calling, as schedules can change.

Court-side records — case filings, charge amendments, and dispositions — belong to the Bossier Parish Clerk of Court. The Bossier Parish Courthouse runs 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. The courthouse spans multiple floors, with different departments on different levels; plan to ask at the main desk for the correct floor. Afternoon visits tend to involve longer waits, so arriving before noon is worth considering. Payment at the courthouse is accepted in cash, money orders, or cashier’s checks — personal checks are not accepted. Bring valid photo ID for any in-person transaction.

For individuals who may have been transferred to a state facility, the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections — Bossier Parish location page confirms whether a person is in state custody and which facility holds them. The Louisiana DOC inmate lookup covers state-sentenced prisoners statewide. Parish jail inmates are tracked separately through the Sheriff’s Office, not through the DOC portal.

Bossier Parish does not publish a single online case-search portal covering all District Court filings. Because Louisiana has no statewide trial-court search, the Clerk of Court is the authoritative source for docket entries in the 26th Judicial District Court, which serves Bossier Parish. A parking garage is available two blocks from the courthouse in Regions Tower if street parking is full.

Are Bossier Parish arrest records public?

Treat Bossier Parish arrest records as presumptively public unless a specific legal exception applies. Louisiana’s Public Records Law — La. R.S. 44:1 and the sections that follow it — establishes that records made or received by a public body in the conduct of its official business are open to any person for inspection, copying, or reproduction. Arrest records generated by the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office and booking records held at the Bossier Maximum Security Facility fall squarely within that framework.

The default-public rule has narrow exceptions. Juvenile records are not public; Louisiana law treats records of persons under 17 who are processed through the juvenile system as confidential, and those records do not appear in standard public-records responses. Sealed or expunged records are also withheld from public disclosure — once a court grants an expungement under Louisiana law, the custodian of the record must treat it as if it does not exist for public-records purposes. Victim-identifying information in certain cases — sexual assault, domestic violence, and similar offenses — may be redacted before a record is released, even when the underlying arrest record is otherwise public.

Active investigative records present a separate consideration. An arrest record tied to an ongoing investigation may be withheld in whole or in part if disclosure would compromise the investigation. Once a case is closed or prosecution is complete, that exemption typically falls away and the record becomes accessible.

Booking photos (mugshots) are generally public in Louisiana under the same statute. Whether the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office releases them routinely or on request is worth confirming directly — call the Sheriff’s Office records line to ask about their current release practice before making a formal written request.

Nothing in the Public Records Act requires you to state a reason for your request or to identify yourself. You may request records in person at the Bossier Parish Courthouse or by mail. The custodian must respond within three business days, either by providing the record or by explaining the legal basis for any denial.

What’s in a Bossier Parish arrest record?

Arrest records in Bossier Parish exist in two distinct systems, and the fields you see depend on which system you’re pulling from. The booking entry — created by the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office when a person is processed into the Bossier Maximum Security Facility — and the docket entry created by the Clerk of Court are separate documents that may show different information about the same event.

A Sheriff’s Office booking record typically contains: the subject’s full legal name, date of birth, and physical descriptors; the booking date and time; the arresting agency; the charges as written at intake (which may differ from what the prosecutor later files); the bond amount set at first appearance; and the booking photo. The charge descriptions at booking reflect what the arresting officer wrote — they are not final and may be amended, reduced, or dropped entirely before or during prosecution.

The Clerk of Court’s docket record covers the court side of the same case. It includes the case number assigned by the 26th Judicial District Court, the formal charges as filed by the District Attorney, all docket entries (hearings, continuances, motions), the attorney of record for the defense, and the final disposition — guilty plea, acquittal, dismissal, or conviction after trial. Dispositions are not always entered into the docket promptly; if a case resolved recently, the docket may not yet reflect the outcome. The Bossier Parish Courthouse is the place to confirm current case status in person.

Records predating the current online window may not appear in any digital system. Older paper records are held by the Clerk of Court and can be requested in writing. The Bossier Parish Courthouse’s multi-floor layout means older archived records may be in a different department than current filings — ask at the main desk when you arrive.

Louisiana law does not set a general expiration date on how long arrest records remain accessible. A record from decades ago is as retrievable as one from last month, unless it has been expunged. Expunged records are removed from public view but remain accessible to law enforcement. For the Bossier Parish Courthouse’s mugshot release policy, call the Sheriff’s Office at (318) 326-4405 to confirm current practice.

How to expunge an arrest record in Bossier Parish

Who handles the expungement petition in Bossier Parish, and where does it get filed? The Clerk of Court is the filing authority. You submit your Petition to Expunge to the Bossier Parish Clerk of Court at the Bossier Parish Courthouse, which is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. The governing statute is La. Code Crim. Proc. art. 971, which sets out the full expungement framework for Louisiana criminal records.

Eligibility depends on how the case resolved. An arrest that ended in dismissal, acquittal, or a refusal to prosecute by the District Attorney carries no elapsed-time waiting period — you can petition immediately after the case closes. An arrest that was never prosecuted at all requires waiting for the prescriptive period to run before the petition is available.

Conviction-based expungements carry waiting periods measured from the completion of the sentence, probation, or parole — not from the conviction date itself. Under the current Louisiana statute, a misdemeanor conviction becomes eligible five years after sentence completion. A felony conviction requires ten years after sentence completion, along with a clean record during that period. A first marijuana-possession conviction has a shorter path: eligibility arrives ninety days after sentence completion. A DWI resolved through pretrial diversion is a special case — even though it is not a conviction, it carries a five-year wait from the date of arrest before the expungement petition is available.

The petition itself requires a filing fee paid to the Clerk of Court. If you cannot afford the fee, ask the Clerk about the indigency waiver process — Louisiana law provides a path for petitioners who qualify financially. Payment at the Bossier Parish Courthouse is accepted in cash, money orders, or cashier’s checks; personal checks are not accepted.

You can file the petition yourself without an attorney. The Louisiana State Bar Association’s attorney search and the Louisiana Public Defender locator are available if you want legal assistance. Attorney-assisted petitions are common for felony expungements, where the procedural requirements are more involved.

After an expungement is granted, the public record is sealed — it will not appear in response to a public-records request, and the Clerk of Court treats it as nonexistent for public purposes. Law enforcement agencies retain access to the sealed record. The expungement does not erase the underlying event from law enforcement databases; it removes the record from public view. If you are checking your own record after an expungement, the Louisiana State Police background check is the authoritative source for what remains visible to the public.

Quick-contacts decision table

Frequently asked questions about Bossier Parish arrest records

How do I confirm what’s on my Bossier Parish arrest record and get a copy?

Your Bossier Parish arrest record exists in two places. The booking record — charges at intake, booking date, and booking photo — is held by the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office. Submit a written public-records request under La. R.S. 44:1; include your contact information so the office can respond. The court-side record — case number, formal charges, and disposition — is held by the Bossier Parish Clerk of Court at the Bossier Parish Courthouse, open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. If the arrest involved Bossier City Police rather than the Sheriff, mail your request to P.O. Box 6216, Bossier City, Louisiana 71171-6216. Bring valid photo ID for any in-person transaction, and plan to pay in cash, money order, or cashier’s check.

If my Bossier Parish arrest was dismissed, can I get it expunged, and how long does it take?

An arrest that ended in dismissal or acquittal in Bossier Parish carries no waiting period under La. Code Crim. Proc. art. 971 — you can petition immediately after the case closes. File your Petition to Expunge with the Bossier Parish Clerk of Court at the Bossier Parish Courthouse (open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays). Pay the filing fee in cash, money order, or cashier’s check; if cost is a barrier, ask the Clerk about the indigency waiver. Once the court grants the expungement, the record is removed from public view — law enforcement retains access, but the public does not. You can file the petition yourself, or use the Louisiana State Bar Association attorney search to find legal help.