Access to records of legal proceedings is meant to hold law enforcement agencies accountable for their actions. Among such records, you can find arrest records of individuals in the United States. Access to such public records is available both offline and online. So, you can get access to arrest records more quickly than ever. How to find arrest records online? Here is the answer.
What are arrest records?
To make sure that you receive the data that you are searching for, you must first know: what are arrest records? Arrest records are documents that contain a detailed criminal history of a person who has been convicted of committing a crime. This information includes:
- Identifying information about the individual
- Their name, aliases, residence, contact information, etc.
Police report
A document that describes all the data that the police have gathered. A police report records the incident in question, including eyewitness testimonies, the nature of the crime, information about the offender, and more.
Charges that were filed against the suspect
If someone is suspected of committing a crime, and the police have sufficient evidence to support the allegations – charges will be filed against the suspect.
Charges dismissed
If the suspect has been found to be innocent, the arrest record will specify that the charges against him/her were dismissed.
Trial information
If a suspect went through a trial, their arrest record will have a detailed account of the court proceedings. This data includes the court date, prosecution information, trial decisions, and more.
Exceptions to arrest records
While an arrest record provides a great deal of information about people’s criminal past, this is not always the case. If a record has been sealed or expunged – it will no longer be available to the public. The statute of limitations defines in which cases a criminal record will be expunged. So, people have the right to have their records sealed in case the statute of limitations of their records has passed.
Also, in cases of juvenile criminal records, the public will not have access to such records.
How to find arrest records?
Today, you have several options for finding a person’s arrest record or records. For an offline search, you will need to contact the arresting law enforcement agency of the person in question. You can also contact the court or court clerk to ask for access to arrest records.
With an offline search, you will need to fill out a request form for access. Then, you will need to pay a fee for the search. The fee varies between counties and is based on the number of copies you require.
Once the form is filled and the search fee is paid, the arrest record search will begin. In general, you will need to wait several days or several weeks for your request to process.
Aside from going to law enforcement agencies and requesting an arrest record search in person, you can also file the request with the following:
- Via US post
- Via fax
- Via the phone
How to find arrest records online?
A faster alternative for finding arrest records is the internet; you can now perform an online arrest record search from your personal computer or from mobile devices. Most law enforcement agencies and courts in the USA provide an online arrest records search service.
To find information about a certain individual, you need to type the name of the state in which the arrest took place into a search engine of your choice. Then type “arrest records search’ to get access to public records. For instance, you need to type “Florida arrest records search” if you need data about an arrest that took place in Florida.
To narrow down the search results, it is best to write the name of the country or the name of the arresting authority.
In certain cases, you will need to wait several days to get the search results. It depends on the website that you have chosen and the policy of the state/country in regard to access to public records.
A quick online arrest record search
Another option for finding arrest records online is to use a directory that is dedicated to public records. GoLookUp is one of the premier public record search sites today, and you can use it to find arrest records all over the United States.
How can you perform the search?
To find an arrest record, all you have to do is type in the state of residence and the name of the person in question. The arrest record search directory will do the rest. They has access to billions of public records in the entire country, and it performs each query in mere minutes.
Once the search is complete, you will receive an online report about the person in question. The report will include the name of the individual, their aliases, arrest history, court records, and more.
If you do not have the correct name of an individual, the website offers several other search services; you can use a reverse address search, an email search, or a reverse phone number search to get access to public records.
The service is 100% legal, and provides unlimited searches. So, you can perform as many queries as you desire and learn the truth about certain people. The search is quick, accurate, and available for all 50 states, so you can have unlimited access to public records in the entire country.