Kent County Arrest Records Search

Kent County arrest records are kept by the Kent County Sheriff's Office in Chestertown and can be requested through Maryland's Public Information Act. This guide covers where to search, how to submit a formal records request, and what the Maryland Judiciary Case Search shows for Kent County cases.

Kent County Sheriff's Office Records

The Kent County Sheriff's Office in Chestertown is the primary law enforcement agency for the county and holds arrest records, incident reports, and related law enforcement documents. Kent County is one of Maryland's smallest counties by population, with roughly 19,000 residents spread across the Upper Eastern Shore. Despite its small size, the Sheriff's Office processes public records requests the same way as larger agencies in the state.

To request arrest records, you submit a formal Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) request to the Sheriff's Office. You can do this in writing by mail or in person at their office in Chestertown. When you write your request, include the full name of the person the record concerns, the approximate date of the arrest or incident, and a description of what you are looking for. The more detail you provide, the faster the agency can locate the file. Under state law, the agency has 10 working days to respond to your request.

That first response may not include the actual records. It can be an acknowledgment that they received your request and need more time, a fee estimate, a denial with a legal explanation, or a request for more information. If they deny any part of your request, they are required to cite the specific legal provision that justifies the denial. You can appeal that decision to the agency head and then, if necessary, to the courts.

Maryland Judiciary Case Search: Kent County

The Maryland Judiciary Case Search is a free statewide database that covers all Maryland courts, including the Circuit Court and District Court for Kent County. You can search by name and find criminal case filings, charges, hearing dates, case status, and dispositions. This tool shows what is in the court record after an arrest leads to charges, but it is not a direct record of the arrest itself. A person may be arrested without ever being charged, and that arrest will not appear in this system.

Since December 7, 2021, the system requires an exact name match. Use a percent sign (%) as a wildcard to handle uncertain spellings. Searching "Johnson%" will return Johnson, Johnstone, and similar names. A CAPTCHA prompt appears with each search. Expunged and shielded records do not show up, so a blank result does not always mean there is no record. The system is useful for getting a quick overview of someone's court history in Kent County or across Maryland more broadly.

The screenshot below shows the Case Search portal interface.

The portal asks for a name, date of birth, and court location. Entering Kent County as the court location will narrow results to cases filed there.

MPIA Fees and Your Rights as a Requester

Maryland's Public Information Act gives everyone the right to request government records, including arrest documents and police reports. The first two hours of staff search time are free of charge. After that, the agency can charge fees under the COMAR 29.01.02.13 fee schedule. Before they charge anything, they must give you a written estimate, and you have the option to narrow your request to keep costs down. You are not obligated to pay for records you did not know would cost that much. You can always revise what you are asking for.

If you are the person the record is about, you have broader rights than someone asking about a third party. A person in interest can sometimes access records that would otherwise be withheld, particularly those that relate directly to their own case or personal history. This does not override every exemption under the law, but it applies in many common situations. The Maryland Attorney General's office publishes a detailed MPIA manual at oag.state.md.us/Opengov/pia.htm that explains both the rights and the limits of those rights in plain language.

Arrest Records vs. Court Records in Kent County

People often treat arrest records and court records as the same thing. They are not. An arrest record is generated by the Sheriff's Office at the time of booking. It documents the date, charges at arrest, and identifying details of the person taken into custody. A court record is created by the court system and documents what happened after: whether charges were filed, what the plea was, what the court decided, and whether a sentence was imposed.

You may need both. If you want to know what happened to a case from start to finish, the Sheriff's Office has the front end and the Maryland Judiciary Case Search or the Circuit Court clerk has the back end. For Kent County, the Circuit Court clerk's office is also located in Chestertown at the county courthouse. You can contact them directly for certified copies of court documents, which carry more legal weight than an unofficial Case Search printout.

An arrest is not a conviction. Records from the Sheriff's Office may show an arrest that never resulted in charges. That is a normal outcome and does not indicate wrongdoing in itself. The court record will show if charges were dropped, if the person was acquitted, or if the case was resolved in some other way.

State Prison Records for Kent County Residents

If someone arrested in Kent County was later convicted and sent to a Maryland state prison, you can check the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) Inmate Locator. This free online tool shows current facility, sentence details, committing county, and projected release dates. It covers state correctional facilities only. It does not include people held at the Kent County Detention Center or anyone awaiting trial locally.

The locator is useful when you already know someone was sentenced and you want to check their current status. You can search by name. If the person is no longer incarcerated, they may not appear in the database at all, depending on how long ago they were released. For older cases, the Sheriff's Office or the court clerk's office in Chestertown is the better starting point.

Maryland State Police Records in Kent County

The Maryland State Police (MSP) patrols parts of Kent County and generates its own arrest records separate from the Sheriff's Office. If an arrest was made by a state trooper rather than a county deputy, the record will be held by MSP, not the Sheriff's Office. You would need to request those records separately from MSP Central Records.

MSP Central Records is located at 1711 Belmont Ave, Baltimore, MD 21244. The phone number is (410) 653-4246 and the office is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. They handle MPIA requests for MSP-generated records only. Submit your request in writing and include the case details you know. The same 10-day response rule applies.

The MSP Public Information Request page is shown below.

The page walks you through what to include in your request and how to submit it online or by mail.

Expungement and Record Shielding in Kent County

Maryland law allows people to petition for expungement of certain arrests and charges. Once a court grants an expungement, the record is removed from public view. It will not appear in the Maryland Judiciary Case Search, and the Sheriff's Office is required to remove it from their files as well. A clean result from any of these searches does not guarantee no arrest ever occurred. Expunged records are simply not accessible to the public.

Maryland also has a shielding process for certain non-violent convictions. Shielded records are not visible to the public but remain accessible to law enforcement and other authorized parties. Expungement and shielding are different processes with different eligibility rules, and neither amounts to deleting a record from every government system. If you are trying to understand your own record, an attorney familiar with Maryland expungement law can explain what may be eligible.

Nearby Maryland Counties

Kent County shares borders with several Eastern Shore counties, each with its own Sheriff's Office and records process.