How to Find Texas Arrest Records in Each County

The best way to undertake a criminal background check in Texas is to turn to the county's sheriff office. Each and every county office maintains either online or offline databases that contain criminal information regarding the county under its jurisdiction. Each of the following counties list leads to an articles that demonstrates how to perform an arrest records and warrant search in each of TX counties.

How are Texas Arrest Warrants Issued?

Unless a suspect is caught while committing an offense, the police cannot incarcerate him/her without a formal arrest warrant. The process of issuing a Texas arrest warrant includes three major steps: 1) The police present a judge with evidence against a person. 2) The judge will examine the evidence and look for a probable cause that may legitimize an arrest. 3) If the judge believes, based on the evidence, that an arrest is justified, he will sign the warrant and make it active. You should bear in mind that if not served (i.e. the suspect has not been apprehended), a TX arrest warrant remains effective as an outstanding warrant. That means that as long as there is an outstanding warrant on your name, you can be apprehended at any given time and in any place. This is why it is highly recommended to check whether you are wanted by the police.

Performing a Texas Warrant Search

The state of Texas puts at your disposal a few online tools for finding wanted persons.  TxDPS publishes a list of 10 most wanted persons. You can also find on their website another list of most wanted sex offenders and fugitives. Texas Department of Criminal Justice also publishes a fugitive list here. In addition, you can narrow your search to an individual county in which the person you are searching resides. For example you can undertake a Tarrant County warrant search by visiting the sheriff office at 200 Taylor, Fort Worth, TX 76102 or by calling their warrant division at 817-884-1320.

Finding Texas Arrest Records

The best online tool for an arrest search is the Computerized Criminal History System operated by the TxDPS. You will have to sign up for this service (by supplying an email and an address) and pay a fee. After doing that, you will be able to run a computerized search to view a person's history of arrests for violations greater than Class B misdemeanor . Alternatively you may choose the do one of the following:

• Sending a formal request to see a person's criminal history to Open Records, Box 4087, Austin, TX 78773-0140. You will be required to add to your request a 10 dollar check.
• Performing an inmate search using the TDCJ online offender information search.

Finding Texas Court Records

For a Texas court records search, you will have to go to the court house that is relevant to the case in question. For example, for inquiry on felony cases and civil cases of more than $200, you should go to the district court. There are 418 district courts all around the state. Most minor civil cases and Class A and Class B misdemeanor offenses are dealt by the county courts. It is advisable to consult your county clerk and district clerk for further information. Follow this link to read more about Texas Judicial Branch.

Crime Statistics

Based on statistics presented by the TxDPS, a total of 966,356 offenses were committed in the state throughout 2013. These included 1,151 murders; 7,438 rapes; 31,858 robbery cases and 65,268 aggravated assaults. The state's law enforcement agencies made a total of 936,358 arrests. 70,561 arrestees were juveniles. On average, 39.3 crimes occur per one square mile.