The Criminal History Records Section of the Arizona Department of Public Safety is serving as the Central State Repository for criminal history as well as arrest records. Criminal justice agencies of the state of Arizona are restricted to report the arrests and dispositions information to the Central State Repository. Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) keeps the latest and reliable information on arrest records. The Correctional Department updates the records after every seven days.
Arizona is an open record state. Law existed for 100 years, authorizes all the general public to inspect the public records at all times during office hours. Arizona’s public records law is a series of laws and court cases that explain public access to government information. These laws provide people with the right of accessing arrest records of the State of Arizona.
There are some exceptions in accessing the public records. These consist of any documents that would infringe an individual’s privacy or meddle in an ongoing investigation. For instance, student records, research documents, medical records, sealed court documents, and active criminal investigations are excluded from the general public access.
Access to Arizona State Criminal Records
If an individual has a criminal record in the State of Arizona it can be find out by checking central repository of the state, the relevant county criminal court records or the records of the civil courts. The Central Repository of the state only limits access to the criminal records, arrest Records and convictions.
All fifteen Arizona counties reported to facilitate the general public by providing them facility to access arrest records through mail or phone. Access to criminal history information through the state repository is limited to those persons, businesses and associations who are residents or licensed in Arizona and exclusively authorized by Arizona state law. The cost of searching arrest records is $20 per individual.
Obtaining the Arrest Record Information
The requests from the people for getting Arizona arrest records are processed by the Public Records Unit (PRU). Arizona Revised Statute (ARS) § 39-121.03 has prohibited the use of public records for commercial reasons.
Request made by an individual to get arrest record may be submitted in any of the following ways:
- Online by means of the Public Records Request Form downloaded from the state site
- Personally to the following address
- Mailed to the Department of Public Safety at:
- Faxed to (602) 223-2945
Department Records Section
Arizona Department of Public Safety,
2102 West Encanto Blvd., Phoenix, AZ.
Attention PRU MD1200,
P.O. Box 6638, Phoenix,
AZ 85005-6638
- No personal checks are acceptable to the record unit. Hence when the required payment in the form of a money order, cashiers check, or business check, is accepted by PRU, the records will be provided to the requester.
It is unlawful to get details on Arizona arrest records to make people harassed. This is the reason that online databases certify the obtained information not to be used for such purposes.