There are countless reasons that public and private entities decide to undertake a search for criminal background records. This said, it is not an easy task to endeavor-as there are so many conflicting and limiting factors in both the criminal justice system and criminal records industry that can offer some information as accessible, and conversely restrict other types of information. One of these kinds of criminal activities that can be limited in its findings, but invaluable depending on its contents is police records. In the following article, we examine the nature and process of “police arrests” in accordance with a thorough criminal records search, to understand what factors might be included as well as omitted from this search.
When arrests occur, it is the arresting of a particular crime from happening further, and the police taking into custody of the person that potentially was the cause of the crime. In most cases, the police enforcement on the scene of a crime can make his/her own judgment regarding whether or not a person should be taken into police custody. In other cases, however, an arrest warrant is needed to authorize this police arrest. The factor that differentiates the two, typically, is that the jurisdiction or severity of the crime plays a part in the process. These arrests are then used to detain the individual, to gather information on the crime, and process the alleged criminal through the due process of the law-to determine by a court’s standpoint if they are indeed, guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crime in question.
Police detainments of this nature are processed in the city, county, state, or federal jurisdictional departments in which the crime was purportedly committed-or according to it based on the nature of the crime. So, if a person commits a murder allegedly, and they are arrested for the crime, they might be detained by whoever the arresting jurisdiction is for a night or two; but then sent to the appropriate police jurisdiction which would most probably be county or state jail. From this point, it is determined if there is enough information to link the criminal to the crime, and what his/her bail should be set at at the preliminary hearing.
Now, in the matter of a search for police arrest information, this information will most often be publically accessible at the particular jurisdictional police department handling the crime, but sometimes authorization is required-depending on the state and municipal regulations on the release of such police information. It is not uncommon for municipalities to restrict this police information from the general public based on purpose. Aside from the municipality restriction, you may also encounter a restriction as regards the state regulation on public records. In many states, arrest records will be expunged or sealed from public and private view if no conviction followed the said arrest. So, depending on the state in which the subject of your search lived and worked, the information regarding their arrest history could be completely restricted from your search altogether, though in some states, the police records could be marked at least as “expunged record”.