Pull Nantucket County arrest records through the statewide MassCourts docket search, a public-records request to the Nantucket County Clerk of Court at the Nantucket County Courthouse, or a records request to the Nantucket Police Department at (508) 228-1212. Court dockets are searchable online at no cost; certified copies and police records carry fees — call the Clerk to confirm the current amount before visiting. Nantucket’s District Court handles misdemeanor and lower-level felony matters; the Superior Court handles serious felonies.
If someone you know was just booked tonight, our Nantucket County inmate-search page has phone-first contact info.
If you need records outside Nantucket County
Nantucket County’s court portal covers cases filed on the island, but a name may carry records from prior addresses in other Massachusetts counties, neighboring states, or federal court — none of which appear in the local docket. A nationwide background search may help surface records from those other jurisdictions that local portals often leave out. The preliminary scan is free; a full report requires creating an account.
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How to look up arrest records in Nantucket County
What happens to a sealed or expunged record when you search? It disappears from standard public searches entirely — which means the pathways below will not surface it. If you believe a record exists but nothing appears, see the expungement section below for context on what gets hidden and why.
For court-side records, the MassCourts docket search is the primary online tool. It covers Nantucket District Court and Superior Court filings statewide. Search by name or case number. Docket entries show charges, hearing dates, dispositions, and attorney of record. The portal is free to use. If you need help navigating it, the MassCourts access guide walks through the search interface step by step.
For older or archived court records not yet digitized, contact the Nantucket County Clerk of Court directly. The Clerk’s office is located at the Nantucket County Courthouse on Broad Street. Clerk office hours are weekday business hours — confirm the current schedule and any records-request fee before visiting, as both can change. Certified copies of docket sheets and case records are available in person or by mail; written requests should be addressed to the Clerk of Court, Nantucket District Court, Nantucket, MA 02554.
For booking-side records — the arrest itself rather than the court case — submit a public-records request to the Nantucket Police Department. The department handles all local arrests on the island. Reach them at (508) 228-1212. Nantucket’s online public-records request form lets you submit requests electronically. The town’s public-records process follows the Massachusetts Public Records Law; the Nantucket town website also links to A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law as a reference for requesters.
For state-prison-level custody, the Massachusetts Department of Correction maintains a separate inmate lookup. That covers sentenced inmates at state facilities, not local lockups. The Nantucket County Sheriff’s Office page through the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association is the reference point for the county’s jail-side operations. Nantucket is a small island county; the Nantucket Police Department serves the dual function of local law enforcement and booking authority.
A practical note: new bookings can take time to appear in online systems. If a docket search returns nothing for a recent arrest, the case may not yet be entered. Calling the Clerk or the Police Department directly is the faster path for very recent events.
Are Nantucket County arrest records public?
Court filings in Massachusetts carry a default-open status — public access is the rule, not the exception. The controlling framework is M.G.L. c. 66, § 10 (with c. 4, § 7, cl. 26), which establishes the right to inspect and copy public records held by government agencies, including court documents and police reports. Nantucket’s own public-records request process operates under this same statute.
That default openness has narrow but important exceptions. Sealed records are the most common: once a court enters a sealing order, the record is removed from public view and does not appear in standard searches. Expunged records go further — they are permanently destroyed under M.G.L. c. 276, §§ 100E-100U, and no public trace remains. Both categories are invisible to anyone searching MassCourts or submitting a public-records request.
Juvenile records are a separate category. Cases adjudicated in the Juvenile Court are not public records in Massachusetts. They are shielded by statute and do not appear in standard docket searches, regardless of the outcome.
Victim-protection redactions apply in certain cases. Records involving sexual assault, domestic violence, and some other offense categories may have identifying victim information redacted before release. The Clerk’s office handles these redactions when producing certified copies.
Massachusetts is among the more privacy-protective states on criminal records. The CORI law — M.G.L. c. 6, §§ 167-178B — restricts who can access full criminal-history information and for what purposes. What you can retrieve through a public docket search is the court record of a case; a full CORI report requires a separate process and is not available to the general public for arbitrary third parties. The Nantucket Police Department’s public-records process similarly operates within these constraints.
What’s in a Nantucket County arrest record?
At the moment of booking, the Nantucket Police Department generates a booking entry that is separate from anything the court will later create. One arrest can produce multiple records across different systems, and they don’t always contain the same fields.
The booking entry — held on the police side — typically includes the arrest date and time, the arresting officer, the charges as initially written, the subject’s name and date of birth, and booking number. This is the raw arrest record. It exists whether or not charges are ever filed in court. To get this record, you request it from the Police Department, not from the Nantucket County Courthouse.
Once the case moves to court, the Clerk of Court at the Nantucket County Courthouse opens a docket. The docket entry is the court-side record. It carries the case number (formatted for Nantucket District Court), the charges as formally filed by the prosecutor, all scheduled and completed hearing dates, bail or release conditions set at arraignment, continuances, and the final disposition — whether that’s a guilty finding, a not-guilty verdict, a dismissal, a nolle prosequi, or a continuance without a finding. The attorney of record appears on the docket once counsel enters an appearance.
Disposition matters significantly for records purposes. A docket that ends in dismissal or a not-guilty finding is still a public record unless it has been sealed. The arrest happened; the court record reflects it. Only a sealing order removes it from public view.
Mugshot release policy for Nantucket County: the Nantucket Police Department does not publish a public booking-photo database online. For a specific booking photo, submit a public-records request to the department directly at (508) 228-1212 or through the Nantucket public-records request form. Whether a booking photo is releasable depends on the status of the underlying case and any applicable exemptions under the Public Records Law.
A citation — a civil or criminal citation issued in the field without a full arrest — generates its own record at the Registry of Motor Vehicles or in the court’s civil-infraction system. That record is distinct from both the booking entry and the criminal docket. If you’re looking for a citation rather than an arrest, the pathway is different from what’s described above.
How to expunge an arrest record in Nantucket County
Petition in hand, a person walks into the courthouse where the case was originally heard — that’s the procedural picture for sealing or expunging a Nantucket County arrest record. The form is the Petition to Seal, available from the Clerk of Court at the Nantucket County Courthouse or through the Massachusetts Trial Court’s self-help resources.
Sealing and expungement are distinct remedies under Massachusetts law. Sealing hides a record from public view but does not destroy it — law enforcement can still see a sealed record. Expungement permanently destroys the record under M.G.L. c. 276, §§ 100E-100U. Expungement is the narrower path; sealing is available to more people.
For sealing a conviction, the waiting period is 3 years for a misdemeanor and 7 years for a felony, measured from the completion of the sentence — meaning the end of any incarceration or custody, not just the date of the court’s disposition. Sex offenses carry a 15-year wait. There is no fee to petition for sealing.
For sealing a non-conviction — a dismissal, a nolle prosequi, a not-guilty finding, a no-bill, or a no-probable-cause finding — no waiting period applies. You can petition immediately after the case closes. This is the most common scenario for people who were arrested but never convicted.
Expungement is available only when the offense occurred before the petitioner’s 21st birthday. The same 3-year misdemeanor / 7-year felony waiting period applies. The petitioner may have no more than two records total. Serious offense categories are excluded: offenses causing death or serious bodily injury, sex offenses, firearms violations, OUI, restraining-order violations, and domestic assault are all ineligible.
To petition, file the Petition to Seal at the court where the matter was originally adjudicated — for most Nantucket County cases, that is the Nantucket District Court. The Commissioner of Probation effects the order once the court grants it. You can self-petition without an attorney; the Clerk’s office can direct you to the correct form. If your situation is complex — multiple cases, prior convictions, or uncertainty about eligibility — a licensed attorney can help you assess the options. The state’s lawyer-search tool and the Committee for Public Counsel Services are the official referral paths for finding representation.
After sealing, the record does not appear in public docket searches or in response to public-records requests. Law enforcement agencies retain access. If you are asked on a job application whether you have been convicted of a crime, Massachusetts law generally allows you to answer “no” for sealed records — but confirm the specific question’s wording with an attorney, because some licensing contexts have different rules.
Quick-contacts for Nantucket County arrest records
| Resource | What it confirms | What it cannot confirm | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| MassCourts docket search | Court-filed charges, case number, hearing dates, dispositions, attorney of record | Booking entries, sealed/expunged records, very recent filings not yet entered | Search by name or case number; free online access |
| Nantucket Police Department | Arrest/booking records, incident reports, booking photos (subject to exemptions) | Court dispositions, records from other agencies | Call (508) 228-1212 or submit via the Nantucket public-records request form |
| Nantucket County Clerk of Court | Certified docket copies, case files, historic paper records | Booking entries, sealed records, records from other counties | Visit the Nantucket County Courthouse on Broad Street during weekday business hours; confirm fee before visiting |
| Nantucket County Sheriff’s Office | Jail-side custody information, house-of-correction records | Court dockets, police booking records, state-prison inmates | Contact the Sheriff’s Office — see the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association for current contact details |
| Massachusetts DOC inmate search | Inmates currently held in state correctional facilities | Local jail detainees, court records, arrest records | Search by name at the DOC inmate lookup |
| Nationwide background search | May surface records from other states, federal cases, or prior addresses not in local portals | Cannot guarantee completeness; does not replace official certified records | Use the form above; preliminary scan is free |
Sources used for this page, verified 2026-10-23:
- Massachusetts Courts docket search — statewide Trial Court docket search portal, covering Nantucket District and Superior Court filings.
- MassCourts access guide — official instructions for navigating the docket search interface.
- Nantucket Police Department — county-official source for local arrest and booking records.
- Nantucket County Sheriff’s Office — Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association listing for Nantucket County jail-side operations.
- Nantucket public-records request form — official town portal for submitting public-records requests under the Massachusetts Public Records Law.
- A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law (PDF) — Secretary of State’s office reference guide, linked from Nantucket’s official public-records page.
- Massachusetts public-records requests overview — state-level guidance on the Public Records Law process.
- Massachusetts DOC inmate lookup — state corrections agency search for inmates in state facilities.
- Massachusetts lawyer-search tool — official referral resource for finding licensed attorneys.
- Committee for Public Counsel Services — public defender and legal-aid referral for eligible petitioners.
Found an error or outdated detail? Submit a correction — we review and update within 48 hours.
Frequently asked questions about Nantucket County arrest records
How do I visit or contact the right office to get my Nantucket County arrest record?
For the court-side record, visit the Nantucket County Courthouse on Broad Street during weekday business hours and ask the Clerk of Court for a docket copy or certified case record. Confirm the current fee before you go. For the booking record — the arrest entry itself — contact the Nantucket Police Department at (508) 228-1212 or submit a request through the Nantucket public-records request form. The two offices hold different records; you may need both to get the full picture.
Do Nantucket County arrest records show up on background checks, and can they be sealed?
An unsealed Nantucket County arrest record — even one that ended in dismissal — can appear in background checks that draw on public court data. Sealing removes the record from public view. For a dismissed case or other non-conviction, no waiting period applies under Massachusetts law; you can petition the Nantucket District Court immediately. For a misdemeanor conviction, the wait is 3 years from the end of your sentence; for a felony conviction, 7 years. There is no filing fee to petition for sealing. File the Petition to Seal at the court where the case was heard. After sealing, the record does not appear in public docket searches or public-records responses.
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