Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Court Case Numbers

It varies from county to county or from federal to state court. In addition, they have changed systems within a particular county. But generally, the case number first shows either the arresting agency or the year of the case. Then a letter indicating the courthouse, usually followed by either an "F" or an "M" to denote either a felony or a misdemeanor, respectively. Finally, the next set of numbers usually are just a number in order of the filing. For example, a 2003 misdemeanor case from Brea Police Department would look something like this: BR03NM03655. That's Brea, 2003, North (North OC Court) Misdemeanor, the 3655th case filed.

Again, every county is slightly different, and the older case numbers, even in that same county, reflect a different system.

Hope it helps.