Monday, August 12, 2013

Florida Criminal Records

Florida Criminal Records

By Claire Dowell


For those who are looking to conduct criminal background checks in Florida, they might want to check out the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Criminal History Information, which houses thousands of Florida arrest records updated every day. The online site is a self-service application and researchers are required to pay for every search that they make through the online portal.

Although arrest records are public records, there are some reports that are restricted for the public. These reports include sealed and expunged cases and juvenile cases that have not been charged with felony. These reports are only available for authorized agencies and law enforcement agencies.

To ensure faster and efficient services, those who are looking for records can check the site's self-service application. The self-service application costs $24 per search and per report. Should the service return with more than one search, the results are displayed for the researcher to choose which one they want. Each additional report would cost $24.

Credit card information is required before one can access the search query as the FDLE only allows credit card payments. A no-match result will not mean a refund of the $24 that the site charges for each search service. A receipt will be emailed to the researcher once the charge is deducted from the credit card bill. Please note that the site does not keep a record of the searcher's credit card information thus one needs to input manually their credit card bill when doing a research. Once the researcher finds the record that they need, they have the option to print the records or have them delivered to their email address. The FDLE does not send results through regular mail. For request of certification of criminal history, the researcher should not use the self-service application but rather send a request to the FDLE and indicate that the results need to be certified.

For those who have no access to online forms, they can still request for criminal information from the office. The person who requests the information should send the form "Criminal History information Request" and together with the feet to the FDLE. The processing and delivery time depends on the amount of information requested and the volume of requests the office receives although processing can take five days. Please note that although the FDLE is the central depository of all criminal information, the information might not be factual. The truth factor still depends on whether the office has a copy of the person's fingerprints and that a comparison test is run.

For public criminal records that are restricted, researchers might want to check out online search engine sites that do offer this for free. Although some of the cases might be restricted, such as juvenile records, one can find other records that are not restricted to the public and they can start their information gathering there.




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