Conducting a Broward Sheriff Arrest Search
You might be interested in checking whether a person you know and interact with on a day to day basis (for instance – an employee, the one you date or your kids' nanny) has ever been incarcerated by the police. A Broward Sheriff arrest search is, therefore, a necessary precautionary measure to guarantee your (and your family) safety.
The Sheriff Office is where relevant criminal data is processed and stored. For this reason, we strongly advise starting your Broward arrest search by paying a visit to their head office located at 2601 W. Broward Blvd. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33312. You may try to acquire the information on the phone (954-831-8900), but they will probably demand that you show up in person.
To avoid going to the Sheriff Office, you can use the online inmate locator on their website (https://www.sheriff.org/DOD/PAGES/ARRESTSEARCH.ASPX). All that is required to trace a detainee in one of the county's jails is fill out a person's name. The results you will get include the arresstee's personal details (plus a mugshot) and the facility where he/she is held, incarceration date, arrersting agency, expected release date, vistation schedule, charge information and bond. This search tool has one major limitation; it will display only inmates that are currently incarcerated.
Other Options for a More Extensive Broward Arrest Search
As effective as a Broward Sheriff arrest search may be, there are other resorces you can utilize to find out if a person that matters to you has ever spent time behind bars.
A recommended course of action will be turning to the Clerk of the Courts to conduct a criminal background check. They are responsible for maintaining Broward County public records, so they can help you with recovering court records. These records are of great importance as they unfold a person's history of convictions and consequent jail and/or prison sentences.
The Clerk's website has a case search tool (https://www.browardclerk.org/web2) which will show you traffic, misdemeanor and felony records. You also have two other options for obtaining copies of court dockets:
- You can purchase documents from the Clerk's Archive Division. This archive contains felony cases from 1915 to the present and misdemeanor cases from 1973 onwards.
- You can submit a request form (https://www.browardclerk.org/PDF/Request_for_Court_Records.pdf) by email (redactarchives@browardclerk.org), by fax (954-831-5550) or by visiting the Clerk's Arcive Division in person at 201 SE 6 th Street, East Wing, Room: 03-305, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301. They are open from Monday-Friday, 8:00 am – 3:30 pm. The process time of your request may take up to two week.
For more details refer to https://www.browardclerk.org/GeneralInformation/RecordsRequest#Overview. Whatever you choose, you will have to pay a $2.00 search fee ans $1.00 per document page.
Undertaking a Broward County warrant search
In order to apprehend a person, any police officer must be equipped with an arrest warrant authorized by a judge (this rule does not apply to cases in which the suspect is caught while committing an offense). To trace Broward County outstanding warrants, we advise turning to the Sheriff's Record Division.They will enable you to submit a record request online at https://browardcountysheriff.govqa.us/WEBAPP/_rs/(S(tubdlneen1sjoxslqiirvgqi))/SupportHome.aspx.
Using the State's Databases for an Arrest and Warrant Search
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) operates an electronic criminal search tool (https://cchinet.fdle.state.fl.us/search/app/default?2) which displays a person's arrest history in all of the state's counties. This database is constantly updated with information that comes from FL law enforcement agencies. However, using it may turn out to be quite expensive. Each inquiry will cost you $24.00 (plus $1.00 credit card fee).
The Florida Crime information Center has a wanted persons inquiry tool that shows all of FL warrants that were authorized for public view. It receives its data from police stations all around the state, but since it is a large data bank, it may be less accurate than the Sheriff's criminal archives.
Inmate statistics
Based on the 2022 incarceration data published by the Florida Department of Corrections, the average daily population in Broward County jails is approximately 3,355 which is 6.27% of the entire daily population of inmates all over the states. According to the FDLE, in 2020, 29,685 people were taken into custody in Broward County. Arrest rate was 1,536.3 per 100,000 people.
The Bottom Line
A Broward Sheriff arrest search is the first thing you should do to find out if a person in your local area has ever been apprehended. Yet this is not the only search you can perform. Criminal court dockeckts stored by the Clerk of Courts can also help you in your inquiry. And if you want to cover the entire state and not only your county, the FDLE has highly effective databases the public can utilize for a background check.