Maryland Arrest Records and Warrant Search

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What are arrest records and arrest warrants?

Although Maryland arrest warrants are issued by the judiciary in Maryland, the request for these orders is either placed by a state attorney or a law enforcement agency. In rare cases when the police authorize a civilian to submit a complaint against an offender, the court will generally issue a criminal summons in lieu of an active warrant. One of the reasons for the cautious stance of the judiciary in reference to the issue of MD arrest warrants is because such orders have the capacity to infringe on the constitutional rights of a person.

The Fourth amendment allows all citizens of the US the protection from unlawful arrests and a custodial detention is only authorized when the police have probable cause to assume the involvement of a person in a criminal act or if the judiciary has established that there is reasonable cause to hold an individual culpable in a criminal case and hence has issued an active warrant against him/her.

Because discretionary powers are handed over to the magistrate when it comes to arrest orders, these directives are exceptionally potent tools of imparting criminal justice. Under the provisions of such a judicial decree, the police can enter any property whether owned by the accused or anybody else. They can detain the offender in a public place as well. In fact, Maryland arrests can also be made by officers of other states and the perpetrator can then be deported to the county where the crime occurred.

Maryland Arrest Records

Information on crime history is offered when a fingerprint inquiry request is filed with the Department of Public Safety. The results of the search will typically include details on Maryland outstanding warrants, arrests, charges brought against the perpetrator,case records, conviction, sentencing and incarceration. In accordance with the Code of Maryland Annotated Regulations (COMAR) and the Maryland Security and Privacy Act background checks on citizens is prohibited unless the applicant has a signed release form from the subject. Employers who can access crime history records in Maryland include public housing companies, state, federal and local government agencies, state racing commission, adult dependant and child care facilities, attorneys, state liquor board and any licensing entity in the state.

The charges for such inquiries can vary greatly depending on who is seeking the information and how much data is sought. Listed below is the pricing for warrant searches in MD:

  • State and Federal Background Check $37.25 (can only be done with agency authorization number)
  • State and Federal Volunteer Check $33.25 (can only be done with agency authorization number)
  • Gold seal background report: $19
  • Individual background check: $18
  • State mentor: $15.25
  • State background check : $18
  • Fingerprinting charges: $20

How to access crime history including arrest records in Maryland?

Maryland background checks are not currently being offered online. In order to place your request, you will have to fill and submit a general registration form if you are in a statutorily approved category or you will need to fill the private party petition packet which will ask you to furnish the purpose of the inquiry as well as the nature of your business if you are a non-authorized employer. Both the form and the packet are available at http://www.dpscs.state.md.us/publicservs/bgchecks.shtml.

It will generally take the department 10 to 15 working days to respond to a request. For fingerprinting you can approach a private service provider who will even forward your request to the department along with the print cards or you could go to state contracted facility. The locations of these sites can be found at http://www.dpscs.state.md.us/publicservs/fingerprint.shtml.

Send in your request by overnight to CJIS-Central Repository, 6776 Reisterstown Road, Suite 102, Baltimore, MD 21215 or mail it to CJIS-CR P.O. Box 32708, Pikesville, Maryland, 21282-2708. You can call the agency at the CJIS Customer Service Number 410-764-4501 or 1-888-795-0011 from 8 am to 5 pm, Monday thru Friday to find out about the status of your inquiry.

To find Maryland Court records, you can approach the office of the clerk of court in your county or you could use the court dockets search tool available on http://www.courts.state.md.us/courtrecords.html. Another way is to write to the AOOC (Administrative Office of Courts) at Maryland Judicial Center580 Taylor Avenue, Annapolis, MD 21401. You could also approach the district court in your area; a list of the judicial agencies in all 23 counties of the state can be found on http://guide.mdsa.net/viewer.cfm?page=criminal.

Maryland Crime Statistics

Of the nearly 2.5 million crimes that occurred in Maryland from 1999 to 2008, about 400,000 were violent incidents and included over 5000 homicides and nearly 13,500 rapes. Thefts were giving residents sleepless nights throughout the decade with almost 2 million complaints attributed to this crime category.

The yearly crime average stood at around 250,000 incidents and everyday police received approximately 120 complaints. The 9% reduction in the rates of violent and reported crime seems to have had little impact on the annual and daily averages.