Search Somerville Booking Reports
Booking reports in Somerville are created by local police when someone is arrested in the city. The Somerville Police Department processes all local arrests and stores booking data at its station. For people held at the county level, the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office takes over and maintains its own booking records. Somerville sits in the most populous county in Massachusetts, so the volume of records is large. Whether you need to pull a booking report for a court matter, a personal check, or a public records request, the process starts with knowing which agency has the file. This guide walks through every option for getting Somerville booking reports from local, county, and state sources.
Somerville Overview
Somerville Police Booking Reports
The Somerville Police Department handles all arrests inside city limits. Each arrest produces a booking report that goes into the department's records system. The report contains the person's name, date of birth, charges, arrest date and time, and a booking photo. Somerville police are required to keep a daily log of all arrests and responses to complaints under M.G.L. c. 41 § 98F. That log is a public record. Anyone can view it without charge.
The daily log gives basic facts. It shows who was arrested, when, and on what charge. It does not include the full booking report with photos and detailed notes. To get the complete file, you need to submit a written public records request to the Somerville Police Department. State law under M.G.L. c. 66 § 10 gives the department 10 business days to respond. Somerville is a municipality with a population over 20,000, so the first two hours of search time are free. After that, the fee caps at $25 per hour.
| Agency | Somerville Police Department |
|---|---|
| Records | Booking Reports, Daily Arrest Logs, Incident Reports |
| Request Method | Written public records request |
| Response Time | 10 business days (per state law) |
Parts of a Somerville booking report can be withheld if a case is still open. The law enforcement exemption under M.G.L. c. 4 § 7(26) lets police hold back records tied to active investigations. Once a case closes, those records usually become available. If you think Somerville police wrongly denied your request, you can appeal to the Supervisor of Records.
Note: Somerville police daily arrest logs must be available for public inspection during normal business hours at no cost.
Middlesex County Booking Records for Somerville
When someone arrested in Somerville gets held at the county level, the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office takes custody. The sheriff runs the Middlesex Jail and House of Correction at 269 Treble Cove Road in North Billerica. This facility houses men awaiting trial or serving sentences up to two and a half years. Booking records from this facility are separate from what Somerville police keep. The sheriff's office is the custodian of those records.
The Records Division is at 400 Mystic Avenue, 4th Floor, Medford, MA 02155. You can reach them at (781) 960-2800 or by email at publicrecords@sdm.state.ma.us. To request Somerville-related booking records from the county, send a written request with the person's full name, date of birth, and arrest date if you have it. The sheriff's legal division handles records access and processes requests under the same 10-day state rule that applies to all public agencies.
The screenshot below shows the Middlesex County court arrest records page, which provides information about accessing booking data for Somerville and other Middlesex County cities.
This page lists how to search for arrest records processed through the Middlesex County system.
Middlesex County does not have an online inmate search tool. You have to call or write to get booking information. This is different from some other counties in Massachusetts that offer web-based lookups. For Somerville arrests that go through the county jail, calling (781) 960-2800 is the fastest way to check if someone is currently in custody.
Somerville Booking Reports Through State Systems
The state of Massachusetts keeps a central database of criminal records that includes Somerville data. The Department of Criminal Justice Information Services manages CORI, which stands for Criminal Offender Record Information. CORI collects data from police departments, courts, and jails across the state. If someone was booked in Somerville, that arrest may show up in CORI depending on the outcome of the case. The rules for access are laid out in M.G.L. c. 6 §§ 167-178B.
You can run a CORI check online through the iCORI portal. A check on your own record costs $25. A check on someone else costs $50. You register with a government-issued ID and search by name. Results come back within 10 business days. This will show open cases and convictions from Somerville or any other city in the state. It won't have the raw booking sheet with photos, but it tells you whether an arrest led to formal charges.
Court records from Somerville District Court offer another way to track cases that started with a booking. Once a person is arraigned, the case docket becomes public. You can search dockets through the Massachusetts Trial Court electronic system. No registration is needed for basic searches. It shows case numbers, charges, and hearing dates for Somerville criminal matters.
This screenshot shows the Massachusetts Open Government Guide, which explains your rights when requesting Somerville booking reports and other public records.
The guide covers exemptions, appeal processes, and fee limits that apply to all records requests in Somerville.
Sealing Somerville Booking Records
Massachusetts lets people seal certain criminal records, and that includes booking reports from Somerville. The process is governed by M.G.L. c. 276 §§ 100A-100U. Convictions can be sealed after a three-year wait for misdemeanors or a seven-year wait for felonies. If your case was dismissed or you were found not guilty in Somerville District Court, you can file to seal it right away with no waiting period.
A sealed booking report still exists in the Somerville police or Middlesex County files. It gets flagged so it won't come up in standard searches or most record searchs. Law enforcement can still see sealed records. Expungement is a more complete removal, but it applies only in narrow situations under state law. Both options start with a petition at the court that handled the original case.
The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security provides guidance on how sealing affects CORI results. If your Somerville booking record gets sealed, it should stop showing up in iCORI searches. You can check by running a personal CORI on yourself after the court grants the order. The Open Government Guide also covers how sealed records interact with public records requests.
Note: A sealed Somerville booking report can still be accessed by law enforcement, courts, and certain licensed agencies even after the court approves the sealing petition.
Requesting Somerville Booking Reports
The process for getting a booking report out of Somerville is straightforward. Pick the right agency, write your request, and send it in. Here is what to include in any request for Somerville booking records:
- Full legal name of the subject
- Date of birth
- Date or rough date of the arrest
- Booking number or case number if known
- Your name and contact details for the reply
For Somerville police records, mail or deliver your request to the police station. For Middlesex County records, send your request to 400 Mystic Avenue, 4th Floor, Medford, MA 02155, or email publicrecords@sdm.state.ma.us. For a statewide check that pulls in Somerville data, use the iCORI system online. Each agency may have a preferred form, so it helps to call first. If any agency denies your request, you can appeal to the Supervisor of Records at the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office. The Massachusetts State Police handle their own booking records if state troopers made the arrest in or near Somerville.
Costs depend on the agency and type of request. Daily logs at Somerville police are free. Copies of booking reports may have a small per-page charge. CORI checks are $25 for a self-check and $50 for someone else. The Public Records Guide from the Secretary of the Commonwealth spells out the fee rules that all Somerville agencies must follow.
Middlesex County Booking Reports
Somerville is in Middlesex County. All county-level booking records go through the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office. The sheriff runs the jail in North Billerica and the records division in Medford. For full county details on booking records, request procedures, and court information, see the Middlesex County booking reports page.
Nearby Cities
These cities near Somerville also have booking report pages with local records information.