What are Warrants?

Warrants are legal authorizations for officers or other government bodies to strip someone of his or her individual rights without the risk of facing legal damages. These are usually issued by a judge to force an individual to allow a search of his or her property, appear in court or even be arrested by the serving official. The main types of warrants include search, arrest, execution and bench warrants.

Types of Warrants and Their Uses

Search warrants are generally obtained by investigators when they suspect someone’s property may contain clues regarding a case, or other illegal paraphernalia. Bench warrants are served to someone who failed to appear in court or was held in contempt of court, and calls for their arrest. Arrest warrants allow an officer to arrest the subject, usually due to violations of probation, failure to appear or even escaping from prison or another institution unauthorized. Execution warrants authorize authorities to carry out a death sentence on an inmate. Outstanding warrants are those which have yet to be served or fulfilled.

Finding Warrants

You may be interested in searching for warrants to see if there is an outstanding warrant for your arrest in a particular case. Frequently, outstanding warrants exist simply because the individual is not aware of them. For this type of search, you’ll need to consult your local law enforcement agency’s website.

However, if you have recently traveled or moved from another location, you’ll need to search with every location you visited or resided in. To prevent this time-consuming process, you may want to utilize a private website which uses multiple private and public databases to search them all in one attempt.

 What are Active Warrants?

Active warrants are essentially unfulfilled arrest, bench, search or execution warrants. These may also be referred to as “outstanding warrants.” Warrants, by definition, are legal writs which allow law enforcement officials to take an individual into custody or search premises without the risk of future legal recourse. These warrants may be issued by a judge or magistrate of the court, and are typically served by the local police or sheriff.

Types of Warrants

The most common types of warrants are issued to allow the arrest of an individual due to failure to appear, violation of parole, or being suspect to a crime that has been committed. Search warrants allow officials to search a home or other private property in search of clues or evidence relevant to an ongoing criminal case.

Searching for Active Warrants

Each state provides a database of active warrants gathered from all local government agencies, and these are typically accessible online through the state’s Department of Corrections or police website. Searching by name, city, county and other identifiers will tell you if your search subject is currently wanted by law enforcement to fulfill an active warrant. However, these often do not account for aliases used by many criminals. Active warrants are also not to be carried out by citizens; you may alert authorities if you know of the whereabouts of an individual who is currently wanted.

Private websites offer the opportunity to search national private and public databases in search of currently active warrants against someone. These sites allow you to save time and effort by preventing the need to search every possible jurisdiction where an active warrant for you or your person of interest has visited or lived in.

 What are Arrest Warrants?

Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or magistrate, and give law enforcement officials the ability to arrest a wanted individual without the risk of future legal recourse from the person. These warrants are frequently issued because someone has failed to appear in court, violated his or her parole, or are suspect in an ongoing criminal case. They are maintained by and searchable through the local law enforcement agencies, and are considered “active” or “outstanding” until fulfilled.

Bounty Hunters and Arrest Warrants

Frequently, citizens mistakenly believe that bounty hunters have the legal power to carry out an arrest warrant. Bounty hunters are not deemed law enforcement officials, and may only capture fugitives on the basis of not honoring a bail bond contract. However, a police officer may arrest a fugitive on the basis of an arrest warrant.

Each state maintains its own laws regarding the powers of bounty hunters. A few states have outlawed the practice of bounty hunting, but most allow them to enter a fugitive’s private residence without a warrant and without permission to apprehend them. They are not required to read the fugitive his or her Miranda Rights, and may use force when apprehending the individual if necessary.

Searching for Arrest Warrants

If you know you have missed a court date, you may search your local sheriff or police website for arrest warrants that have been issued in your name. Unless you live in a state which has made the practice illegal, you may risk being captured by a bounty hunter if you are under contract with a local bail bondsman. Histories of arrest warrants are contained in criminal records, and may be found using a private source to search national and local databases simultaneously.

 What are Bench Warrants?

Bench warrants are issued by a judge or magistrate against an individual for contempt of court or failure to appear. These are a type of arrest warrant, as the law enforcement officer who serves one is able to bring the subject into custody and bring him or her before the issuing judge for an appearance.

Contempt of Court

When a judge issues a bench warrant charging a person with contempt of court, this generally means the person has in some way disregarded the instructions of the judge. This may apply in cases where someone fails to appear at his or her court date, fails to appear when subpoenaed to testify in court, or does not report for jury duty. Other reasons bench warrants are issued include failure to pay child support.

Fulfilling a Bench Warrant

One of the main differences between an arrest and bench warrant is that the subject of a bench warrant may be determined to be a flight risk and thus denied bail. This is generally true because the bench warrant originated after the individual failed to appear in the first place. When someone is served with an arrest warrant, he or she may generally be granted bail after an indictment hearing before the court.

Searching for Bench Warrants

If a bench warrant has been issued in your name, you will either be notified by mail or in person by a law enforcement officer to fulfill the warrant. You may search for bench warrants with the local county clerk’s office, or utilize a private search site if you want to search nationwide for warrants against you or anyone else of interest.

 What are Child Support Warrants?

Family courts across the country handle enforcement and regulation of child support payments within their jurisdictions. Child support warrants are frequently issued by the presiding judges in these courts in order to attempt to collect arrears in owed support payments. These warrants allow garnishment of paychecks and arrest of the individual named, and are a type of bench warrant.

Reasons Child Support Warrants Are Issued

Child support warrants may be issued if someone misses a court date regarding support payments, has missed child support payments and failed to contact the court, or was once having payments deducted from paychecks and has left that job for some reason. These warrants may also involve payments due for spousal support when payments are ordered simultaneously from the courts.

Local Laws Regarding Child Support Warrants

Each jurisdiction concerned with child support payments, be it city, county or state, maintains its own laws and rules of court. These are frequently found through the local court or child support program website. However, there are many laws which are the same or similar regardless of where the child support warrant exists.

Enforcement of Child Support Warrants

Often, child support warrants call for an individual to be brought before a judge to address the current situation. This may be that s/he has fallen behind on payments or lost his or her job. They are often arrested due to the warrant and must see the judge before being released. The judge may then suspend or order immediate payment, attach a collection on his or her credit report, or order garnishment of paychecks or withholding of state income tax returns. Records of current warrants are available through private search engines, which have the advantage of access to multiple databases across the country.

 What are County Warrants?

County warrants are issued by county judges or magistrates serving in the court which is petitioned or concerned with the capture of an individual. Types of county warrants include arrest, bench and search warrants, and these are frequently issued because someone is either considered a suspect, has violated court instructions or may have information regarding a case.

Storage of County Warrants

Each county sheriff’s office maintains and serves county warrants. Official local websites often offer either a daily listing of recently issued county warrants, or allow a public search for warrants in someone’s name. The amount of information provided for these searches and lists in public view vary according to local and state laws regarding the matter.

Warrants are considered active until they are fulfilled. For example, an arrest warrant becomes an arrest record when the law enforcement officer finds the subject, serves the warrant and arrests him or her. If you do not find active warrants on the list with the local sheriff, you may still check for past arrests held with the Department of Corrections of local county clerk’s office.

Transfer of County Warrants

County warrants are not searchable through other county or state databases to the public. Though law enforcement officers across the country can access these records, you cannot.  This means that you will need to search every state or county that someone has lived in to determine if there are any county warrants in his or her name. Private websites offer a much more user-friendly way to search, as multiple databases will return county warrant results from all over the country with one search.

 What are Court Warrants?

Municipal and other local government courts often issue court warrants in order to allow for someone’s arrest or appearance in court. The main types of court warrants include Notice to Appear, Uniform Criminal Complaint, Court Bench Warrant, Citation Warrant and Probation Violation.

Differences in Court Warrants

Notice to Appear Warrants may be served to an individual, but do not require them to be taken into custody and booked at the local jail. These are essentially a subpoena usually issued in the name of a witness.

Uniform Criminal Complaint Warrants require the person to be arrested and booked, and must either appear before the judge and/or be granted bail in order to be released.

A Court Bench Warrant is normally issued by a judge when someone is found to be in contempt of court or failed to appear at a court date. These bench warrants allow the serving officer to arrest the individual and take him or her into custody.

Citation warrants are non-criminal warrants that are frequently issued due to traffic infractions. Depending upon the offense and jurisdiction, these are the same as traffic tickets and may be fulfilled by paying a fine or appearing in traffic court to dispute them.

Probation Violation Warrants are issued when someone violates their probation by perhaps leaving the state without permission, committing repeat offenses or missing meetings with probation officers. These warrants often require a court appearance by the offender.

Finding Court Warrants

These warrants vary in type and name depending upon the jurisdiction issuing them. Your city or state may have different warrants that are outlined on the corresponding official websites. Private search engines allow you to simultaneously search multiple jurisdictions at once if you need to find court warrants in your name or someone else’s.

 What are Criminal Warrants?

Criminal warrants are issued according to orders by a judge. These warrants are more commonly known as “arrest warrants,” and allow law enforcement officials to take the subject into custody without risking future legal recourse from them. They are issued because the subject has committed a crime worthy of being arrested, and may be petitioned by police or even local citizens. Judges may also issue criminal warrants if someone misses a court date or violates his or her parole.

Reasons for Searching for Criminal Warrants

If you are an employer or landlord, you most likely want to conduct a background check on potential tenants and employees. Another reason to check for criminal warrants in someone’s name is if you meet someone who acts suspiciously or start dating an otherwise complete stranger.

Finding Criminal Warrants and Submitting Tips to Authorities

A criminal warrant search may be conducted through the local sheriff’s or police department’s website for your state or county. If you find that you have a criminal warrant in your name, perhaps turning yourself in or contacting an attorney is the best course of action. If you discover that someone else you know or have met has an outstanding and active warrant in his or her name, you can often submit a tip online to help the authorities find the individual and serve the warrant.

Unfortunately, public sources of criminal warrant information do not cross state lines, so you must conduct a warrant search in every county or state where the person has lived in the past. Private search services offer the ability to search multiple databases at once, saving you time and effort in the process.

 What are Federal Warrants?

The U.S. Marshals fulfilled nearly 40,000 federal warrants in the year 2008, and help state and local agencies to apprehend 73,000 felony fugitives. U.S. Marshals are federal agents which are charged with serving federal warrants and arresting fugitives, conducting federal drug investigations, finding parole and probation violators, and assisting state and local authorities in finding their fugitives and Most Wanted persons.

Federal Most Wanted Fugitives

The U.S. Marshals maintain a list of the top 15 Most Wanted federal fugitives considered to be a threat to society. These are most often career and/or violent criminals who have either escaped from prison, missed a court date or violated their probation and now have a federal warrant in their name.

Regional Task Force Services

Under the Presidential Threat Protection Act of 2000, the U.S. Marshals Service does much more than investigate and capture subjects of federal warrants. Several task forces established throughout the country aim to combine federal, state and local resources and investigators to help solve the most challenging cases and find fugitives throughout the country.

Issuance of Federal Warrants

Federal warrants are issued by federal judges in either one of the 94 federal district courts or the Supreme Court. They are frequently petitioned by the U.S. Marshals Service when a prisoner escapes from a federal penitentiary, or someone is a suspect in a federal case and will not voluntarily present himself to authorities for questioning.

Storing Federal Warrants

The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) maintains federal warrants electronically for state, federal and local agencies to access. 

 What are Outstanding Warrants?

Outstanding warrants may be warrants of any type and issuance that have not been served to the subject. Arrest and bench warrants are the most common types to be outstanding, and remain so until the person named in them appears before the issuing judge or is arrested and makes bail.

Reasons for Outstanding Warrants

Most likely, warrants are either outstanding because the person doesn’t know of their existence or they are purposely evading law enforcement. It is quite common for police to check a person’s driver’s license number during routine traffic stops for outstanding warrants. If there is a warrant in their name, the police may then detain and bring in the individual to fulfill the warrant.

Outstanding warrants not only risk sending the subject to jail during inopportune times, but also can prevent them from renewing licenses or applying for government identification. Employers may also run a warrant check on an individual before hiring him or her.

Finding Outstanding Warrants

Outstanding warrants are often found through the local Department of Corrections’ or state police website. The local county clerk may also retain records of currently outstanding warrants.

When searching for these warrants, you need to check with every jurisdiction that the person has traveled to or lived in for the past several years. This can take significant time and effort, and many jurisdictions may not even allow electronic searches to be performed by the public. However, private sources of information allow you to cross-check multiple government databases at once to provide you with more complete results in this process.

 What are Police Warrants?

Police warrants are generally considered the legal writs of action either requested by or served by the local state police department. Police warrants may include search warrants, bench warrants or citation warrants. You may usually find these warrants on file with the local police department or county clerk’s office.

Types of Police Warrants

Bench warrants are ordered by a judge when someone fails to appear or is otherwise found to be held in contempt of court. The law enforcement officers may use this warrant to arrest the subject. When a bench warrant is issued, a letter notifying the subject is sent to his or her address, and they may turn themselves in at that time. If they don’t, the warrant remains outstanding and active indefinitely.

Search warrants are also frequently served by the local police, and allow them to search someone’s personal property or residence without his or her consent. In order to obtain this type of warrant from the judge, the police need to show probable cause for suspecting the property may contain evidence or information related to an investigation. If the owner of the property consents to a search, such as in a routine traffic stop, a search warrant is not needed.

Citation warrants are issued by the police department in regard to traffic infractions. These may be given to the driver in person or mailed to his or her home. The driver may then either pay the citation or go to traffic court.

Finding Police Warrants

Most local police departments will offer the ability to search for warrants in an individual’s name through their official website. However, a more thorough search through departments across the country may be performed with a private service, saving time and allowing you to simultaneously find warrants existing in multiple databases.

 What are State Warrants?

State warrants are essentially government “IOUs” that are given to citizens when the funds are not available to pay them directly. This may be the case when there are income tax refunds or refunds of overpayment of property tax due to an individual. There are also two types of state warrants – regular and registered.

Regular vs. Registered Warrants

Both regular and registered state warrants are guaranteed by a financial institution which has agreed to honor the IOU amounts given to state citizens. The main difference is that registered warrants pay interest during the time you must wait for your money from the government; regular warrants do not pay interest, but are redeemable at the time they are received. California is one such state that uses registered state warrants.

Finding Records of State Warrants

Most states offer an “unclaimed property” link through their official government website that will provide information about outstanding regular or registered state warrants issued in someone’s name. You may be entitled to one of these if the state government owed you payment for any reason, and it was perhaps mailed to the wrong address or never deposited in the past.

Other Types of State Warrants

In addition to IOUs from the government, state warrants may include arrest, bench, execution and search warrants that are generally available through the state’s police department website. If you want to search several different state governments at a time or are conducting a background check on an individual, using a private search engine will save considerable time and effort by utilizing multiple databases at once.