Public records in Florida are housed in the Sunshine State’s Vital Statistics Office which operates under the Department of Health. These include records of births, marriages, divorces, and deaths. Criminal and arrest records in Florida, on the other hand, are maintained, updated, and kept by the State’s Department of Law Enforcement.
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.
Each copy of a criminal record is worth $24 per request. Such payment is non-refundable regardless if a record is found or not. A payment check or money order should be made payable to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Include in your request the individual’s name, any known sobriquets, date of birth, social security number if available, and the last known address. The usual turnaround time for such requests takes five business days.
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 criminal records in a fast and practical way, then do it online. For the public’s convenience, the State’s Department of Law Enforcement provides online searches. But if you wish to cut costs, you can resort to other online record providers which proffer the same service but for free to a minimal fee only. Such online sources can actually provide you with free public arrest records in Florida. Others may charge you with a minimal fee. Instead of the usual five days processing, such service providers can give you the results in just a matter of minutes. However, doing a quick background check on the record provider you’re eyeing for is vital to ensure accurate and comprehensive results. Compared to the usual way of obtaining criminal and arrest records in Florida, doing it online will save you time, effort, and money.
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