Raleigh: Wake County keeping arrest-record portal, with limits

In Raleigh, the Wake County Bureau of Forensic Services says it will keep its online arrest-record portal and change what the public can see there. The county had announced plans to close that portal.

What the site will show on Nov. 23

The county's news release, dated Nov. 10, 2026, says that on Nov. 23 the website will hold only the most recent 30 days of arrest information and will leave out arrestee photographs. It says the types of information inside each record do not change. CBS 17, published at noon Eastern the same day, reported that date, that 30-day cutoff, the removal of those photos, and no change to the other fields in a listing.

Sam Pennica, the bureau's director, said in the release, "In today's digital world, it's increasingly important for government agencies to balance data openness and data accuracy."

Two public kiosks, and a split on where one of them sits

Photos and records older than 30 days will be at two public kiosks, the release says. CBS 17 printed the same pair of addresses and the same hours.

One terminal is in the main lobby of the John H. Baker Jr. Public Safety Center, 330 S. Salisbury St. in Raleigh. That lobby is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is closed on county holidays.

The other is at the Wake County Detention Center, 3301 Hammond Road, on the zero level opposite the magistrate's office. The release says that area is open all day, every day, holidays included.

A county FAQ puts the detention-center terminal "in front of" the magistrate's office, not opposite it. This page does not fold those two directions into one.

Both county pages say records more than five years old are available through a public records request. CBS 17 wrote that a request for those older files may be submitted online. The county pages do not say that, so this account does not add an online step.

The FAQ lists 919-255-7369 for questions about the change.

Why the bureau is narrowing the website

The release ties the limit to the Second Chance Act, SB 562, which it says was signed in 2020. Under that law, the bureau wrote, courts automatically expunge some charges. It said local courts do not send over the data for those automatic expungements, so listings that should have been cleared stayed on the public site. CBS 17 reported the same gap in its own words: some arrests can be removed by the courts on their own, and the local courts do not pass expungement data to the county.

The bureau said it settled on this version after more than 60 days of listening, discussion and planning, once people questioned the earlier closure announcement. CBS 17 also described those questions and that period of planning.

A closure that was announced, and what is still unknown

The Nov. 10 release says the bureau announced earlier this year that the portal would close. It does not give a month.

Axios Raleigh, on July 22, 2026, and The News & Observer, in a July 2026 story, each reported a plan to take the portal down on Aug. 17. Tuesday's CBS 17 story adds a later step. Five days before that Aug. 17 date, the station wrote, the county put the shutdown off and did not set another day. It also says the old plan would have left arrest information at one kiosk in downtown Raleigh. The new release names two.

This page does not say whether the website was offline at any point after that July plan. That is not established here.

The station's lede says officials spoke on Tuesday. Another sentence in the same piece places the keep-it announcement on Monday. The county release carries the date Nov. 10. This file uses that date and does not treat Monday as a separate announcement.

Other Wake County reporting is on the county page. Crime and court files that are not this records change are in the public safety section.

Triangle Local is not Wake County and not an emergency service. Call 911 if someone is in danger. Questions about these records go to the county, not to this site.

Photos

Text-only. No booking photographs, kiosk pictures, or images from the county, CBS 17, Axios Raleigh, or The News & Observer are used.