All across the United States alone, there are millions of people that try to do warrant searches every single year. Are all of them successful? Absolutely not, and you might even be someone who’s tried and failed to do this kind of search.
Whether you run into dead ends in your search or you just ended up getting scammed, people give up on these searches before they’re really able to get the information that they’re looking for. Which can be understandable, this kind of search can be so time-consuming that if a rapper were to make a song about it, they’d say that it eats clocks.
Whether or not you appreciate that little joke of ours, you will appreciate the information that comes to follow in today’s article. By the time we’re done here, you’ll be able to quickly and easily find all of the warrant information you could possibly need in the blink of an eye.
Who knows, maybe by the time you’re done reading this article and you get a few searches in you’ll be a full-fledged independent detective, able to find anyone’s warrant information without ever breaking a sweat. At the very least, one can hope.
The Basic Functions of a Warrant Search
Before we get to the advanced stuff, we gotta start off with the basics. Do you think that John Coltrane, the greatest saxophone player of all time, was able to improvise for Giant Steps without first understanding how a basic major scale worked? Spoiler alert, the answer is absolutely not.
So, instead of starting off with jazz, let’s start off with pop-punk. Then we can be sure that there’s a basic foundation built beneath the more advanced knowledge and we can be sure that you really and truly understand how this kind of search works.
So, how do warrant searches work and why do they work? There’s actually a pretty simple process behind it, so let’s take a look at those steps so you can have a stronger understanding before you try this on your own:
- A crime is committed.
- It doesn’t matter what the crime is, where the crime occurred, or anything like that. Any type of crime from a felony to a misdemeanor can have a warrant sent out for it.
- Law enforcement investigate.
- Which law enforcement agency investigates can really depend on what and where the crime is committed. Usually, it’s city or county police or the FBI.
- Police find evidence of a suspect, but they don’t have enough cause to bring them in.
- Police request a warrant for said subject.
- A judge or magistrate reviews the request.
- If the request is deemed to be constitutional, the warrant will be approved.
- Once approved, law enforcement can start tracking down the suspect to take them in, whether for questioning or anything else.
If the warrant is not approved, the process ends there. Law enforcement can appeal a warrant rejection, but that doesn’t mean that the appeal will be approved It really depends on the circumstances surrounding the warrant in general.
There are also a few ways for a warrant to become non-executable, for example:
- If the suspect dies.
- If evidence comes out that makes it so the suspect is no longer a suspect.
- If the suspect turns themself in.
It’s not as common for warrants to be considered invalid for reasons other than the suspect being apprehended, but it does still happen occasionally, which is why these mechanisms are in place to make sure that the warrant doesn’t have to be executed if it’s no longer a legal order.
What Kind of Information Goes Into a Warrant
If you’ve read this far, you might be wondering exactly what kind of information can be found on a warrant. This question can be a little tricky because it’s really only half of the question, and without the other half of the question it’s hard to give the correct answer.
So, let’s look at both halves of the question so you can better understand exactly what kind of information goes into a warrant. The two sides that we’ll be looking at are the side that law enforcement gets to see and the side that the public gets to see.
The side that law enforcement has access to is a lot more in-depth than what is provided to the public, and that’s simply because the public doesn’t need access to a lot of the details that law enforcement does. After all, warrant information is typically provided to the public to help law enforcement catch suspects.
A lot of the information that law enforcement has access to is actually just pieces of information that legally have to appear on a warrant. Every state does this a little differently, so make sure to check into your state’s laws on this, but generally, every warrant must include:
- The first and last name of the suspect.
- A reasonable description of the suspect.
- This can be either in addition to or in place of the name of the suspect, depending on the availability of the suspect’s name.
- The crime that was committed.
- The county in which said crime was committed.
- The date that said crime was committed.
- Any specific terms, such as the amount of bail set.
- The date that the warrant was issued.
- Name of the authorizing party.
- Signature of the authorizing party.
- Name of the office where the authorizing party works.
- Counties where the warrant is executable.
That’s a good deal of information that has to appear on a single legal document, and if anything is out of place many states will throw the whole case out because of that. Now, before we continue, we did want to clarify something.
We said “authorizing party” and that could come across as if a lot more people have the ability to authorize a warrant than there actually are. The only people that can consistently authorize warrants are judges and magistrates. In some states, mayors also have this power to a limited degree.
So, what kind of information can one expect to find when they do a warrant search? Not quite as much, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t find any information at all. Typically, when you search for a warrant you’ll be able to see:
- The name of the suspect.
- A reasonable description of the suspect’s physical appearance.
- The crime or crimes that were committed.
- The county in which said crime or crimes were committed.
- The date that said crime or crimes were committed.
- The date that the warrant was issued.
The rest of the information is considered to be privileged information. You might be able to find more information depending on which state you live in but, generally, that’s about all you’ll be able to expect to get out of this search. There are ways to get more information but those methods can be complicated, to say the least.
Finding Outstanding Warrant Information the Easy Way
How does one go about getting warrant information without it being a whole thing? This is a question that plagues Americans all over the country every single day, and not everyone knows the answer, which can make things a little tricky.
The vast majority of people will start off by looking through law enforcement resources. This can manifest in a couple of ways. Some people will go to their county sheriff’s department’s website and search through the database, hoping that they can find the information there.
It’s also not uncommon for people to give their local law enforcement office a call to ask about warrant information and discuss that over the phone. Both of these methods can be a little hit or miss, and calling in could end up making you a part of a long conversation that you didn’t think you were signing up for.
Law enforcement provided resources can work out pretty well for a lot of people, especially for people that are only looking into a county or two. Things can get tricky this way when you start looking into a lot of counties.
If you need to cast a big net, we’d recommend looking into a good warrant lookup service. These services are able to pull warrant records from all over the country in a matter of seconds, making it incredibly useful for your warrant search while also saving you a great deal of time.
There are a lot of these services online, and finding a good one can be pretty easy if you know what you’re looking for. All you really need is an internet connection and an understanding of the fundamentals of searching the internet and before you know it you’ll have all the warrant information you need.
Finding Warrant Infromation Can Be Easy
Don’t stress yourself out if you need to find warrants. This task can be easily accomplished if you know what you’re doing and how to properly look online for outstanding warrants. A lot of people simply give up their search too soon because of the perceived difficulty, but if the search is too hard that probably means that you need to find another way.
Whether you’re vetting a potential lover, looking into your neighbor, or just want to make sure that your loved ones haven’t fallen in with a bad crowd, knowing how to find warrant information can help make your life that much easier.
