Saturday, 5 April 2014

Florida Public Criminal Records

By Ben Kingsley


In Florida, all vital records created and kept by the public entities should be made available to any member of the public in need and this is pursuant to the state's Public Records law. Vital records such as those of birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce decrees, and death certificates are maintained by the Sunshine State's Vital Statistics Division, Department of Health. On the other hand, criminal and arrest records in Florida are housed in the Department of Law Enforcement in the state.

The primary repository for all criminal information in the State of Florida is the Department of Law Enforcement. Such agency operates under the Division of Criminal Justice Information Services. In order to sustain and achieve the highest level of service, and to better cater the needs of people who are doing criminal background checks, Florida's legislature has imposed a public request fee of $24. To maintain criminal history record, such agency assists the public and provides them access to criminal records when they need it.

You can request for criminal records personally by going to their office, doing it online through the Department's website, or file a request vial mail. When you go to their office, you have to fill out a request form, and bring with you the appropriate payment. Their website also offers online searches for criminal records in the state. Such search is descriptive and is based only on the information you provide. Only through a fingerprint comparison can the positive identification be confirmed. Thus, it is important that you submit more accurate information as much as possible on the person you want searched. You can also mail a request by filling out an application form available at their website and send it to such Department.

The cost for criminal history information is $24.00 per request and is non-refundable. Make check or money order payable to Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Please include in your request a return address and the individual's name, any known aliases, date of birth or approximate age, race, sex and if available, social security number and last known address. Your check or money order for $24.00 per individual should accompany your request. This process takes approximately five business days excluding postal delivery time.

Criminal history information is a record of serious arrests in Florida. When you request for the criminal record of an individual, your results will indicate whether the subject has or does not have a criminal record. If there is a record found for such person, a copy of the criminal history record along with your request will be forwarded to you. Bear in mind that unless a fingerprint card is submitted and a fingerprint comparison performed, it is impossible for such office to be sure if the record belongs to the individual you requested or if another individual has a similar name and identifiers. If no possible record is found in their repository, your request will be stamped in red ink, "Florida Department of Law Enforcement found no Florida criminal history based on the information provided. No criminal record check was conducted for other states or for the FBI."

If you want to get a copy of arrest or criminal record fast, then do it online. Florida's Department of Law Enforcement offers online search for criminal records for a fee of $24. Free public arrest records, on the other hand, are available through other independent online record providers. There's nothing to fret about as these online service providers also have their own database which may contain the arrest or criminal history information you need about an individual you are investigating. Such records providers range from free to fee based. However, if you're after the quality, then you're better off with the one that charges a minimal fee but yields comprehensive and accurate results in an expedient and practical way.




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