Arizona Public Records

There are restrictions to obtaining official police reports from the arresting department. Whichever county the arrest took place is where the report can be found. With crime mapping, any of which you can easily find online, can help with locating where arrests have occurred and which department made the arrest. Crime mapping does not cover all areas and departments, but since it's an open free search, it's worth a quick try. Finding public records is about looking them up where they are, as they are scattered all over the net. Public records are generally provided by government agencies which do not have strong incentives to incur business, they tend to offer services to satisfy the law and public requests, not marketed to attract new customers. Fortunately, many government sites see the value in having online services which saves them time and staff. There may be few departments, or in some cases, just one public entity which has the official report you are looking for. However, if you are solely seeking information for personal use, you can look to unofficial or government sites such as reports in periodicals.

You can look up different sources on your own, depending on the amount of work you are willing to do. You can begin by looking up the statistics of a certain area to get an idea of how many you are looking for, as there are various categories of homicides and severity. Another issue is the time span of the arrests or convictions, is the information for the past year, six months? Ten years? The Arizona department of corrections has a free public database which reveals active and inactive inmates. The data also shows supervised or paroled individuals and absconders (escapees). Periodicals/newspapers publish to the public daily or weekly arrests, crimes severe as homicide are often reported by local news.

Are you requesting an official police/arrest report? The police agency which has the report most likely has a webpage about steps on how to get a report and its exceptions/guidelines. You can check that first to see whether they're outside of their own policies.

Sheriffs departments have records division to help with public document requests. In this case, you can look up the Maricopa county sheriffs page under SIMS division or check the instructions on how to request an incident report on their site to see how far back they go. Copies are free under some circumstances.

Having your record redacted and having it removed from public view are two different issues that are addressed separately. How to redact your current record has a process which is sometimes spelled out on various judicial websites based on the location. The process depends on the court, so for one to know specifically, you'd have to look into that particular court's rules. Removing that information from public view is not automatic after the record is redacted. Your record may have circulated and is already in the "internet world". Since people looking for records don't care if it's old, they are still interested in retrieving the information. This poses a serious challenge for many that have expunged records to clear their past. There are private services which look to find your information and try to correct it. Or you can do it yourself. Many sites which provide public records with have instructions and even the form to remove you from their data. You may have to show proof or go through a process in order to remove yourself from their data in efforts to curtail fraudulent attempts in removing legitimate information. Your record may have a life of it's own. Public record providers which you find may not be the only place which your information may appear. New sites pop up without notice which can also have the information from an older database. You may need to be pro-active in looking and removing your information for a long time to come. The amount of work, time and expense it will take to remove personal data and its success depends on each individual case. Fortunately, a lot of the looking and work can be done online at home. The purpose is important also, for employment screening, background checks are a main concern, while reputation of an independent contractor can be based on information found outside a typical background search.

Courts have a calendar of their events/appearances which are updated regularly. These are released by the court directly, usually from the clerk's office. Many of the court dates can be found readily available online. Which court was hearing the case? Arizona's judicial branch's website can help in finding which court with a venue locator query listing each county. Within each county, there will a breakdown of the various courts that you can view, criminal, civil, family and probation, juvenile and others. If you are not able to locate the particular court's calendar, simply put the county and the keyword 'calendar', you will see a list on serps. Fortunately, there are only fifteen counties in Arizona, so checking each one will not take as long as many other states, so if you don't know the county, you may have to spend some time checking them. If the keyword 'court calendar' is not working on your serps, try the terms 'docket' or 'court docket' along with the county name.

Certificates are available from local county health department Office of Vital Records or online. The website for birth certificates are the same. The certified copies are available to parents listed on the record or an individual authorized by the parent, either one or both. Copies are around 20 dollars.

A large number of the warrants are from county courts/judges, which means county levels. There are only fifteen counties in Arizona, therefore checking each individually will not take long. The county sheriff websites have a free public view of their inmates and warrants. Maricopa county has their warrants and inmates on separate pages with open searches. There are warrants which can be from courts other than county level.

You can look up the arresting law enforcement's site, whether police or sheriffs departments. Many law enforcement sites will have an inmate search or jail/custody list of persons recently arrested. Some jail lists also known as booking information can go back a week or more. Law enforcement departments also have procedures in which the public can request official arrest reports. Their website will show how to make the request as well as provide the forms online and where to submit them. These records are considered public information, there are exceptions, but many individuals, attorneys and others request this type of record. Much of the data found online inmate searches would not show the same as requesting an arrest report. The information with an online query may suffice and the full arrest report may not be necessary. Using online inmate query can show arrest date, place, charges, custody status, photo in some instances and more.

The city or county in which the accident occurred may have a law enforcement website. Within that website, look for the press releases tab or links. Depending on where you are looking, the city police or county sheriffs office can have this information readily available or not at all. Thereafter, look for a news organization that is local to the area of the occurrence. Statistics can be found also under annual reports from certain agencies also.