Washington County Arrest Records and Warrant Search

You are going to hire a new employee or a nanny for your kids; you have just started seeing a new guy. These are all situations which may necessitate a background check on the person with whom you are about to interact on a daily basis. Here are the steps you should take to perform a Washington County, FL, arrest records and warrant search.

Steps to undertake an arrest search

The sheriff office stores the information you may need on the county's inmate population. It is advisable to make use of their resources to inquire about a specific person. Their address is 1293 Jackson Avenue Bldg 400 Chipley, Florida 32428. They can be reached by dialing 850-638-6111. There are two additional sources that cover the whole state:

1. a) The Florida Department of Law Enforcement operates a search tool which shows a person's criminal background (including arrest records). They will ask you to pay $24 to use this public service.
2. b) The Florida department of Corrections puts on its website two helpful inmate locator tools for inmates that populate the state's correctional facilities at present (http://www.dc.state.fl.us/ActiveInmates/search.asp) and for past inmates (http://www.dc.state.fl.us/ActiveInmates/search.asp).

Steps to carry out a warrant query

As in the case of an arrest check, the sheriff office is also a good stating place for a Washington County warrant search. However, a trip to that office may turn up to be quite dangerous if you are a wanted person. You will probably be taken into custody (if you still insist on showing up at the sheriff office, make sure you are accompanied by a lawyer). The public access system, managed by the Florida Crime Information Center, can show you a lengthy list of persons with FL outstanding warrants. This system gets its information from the state's police stations, so it is updated and comprehensive. Another recommended online search system includes the form above. You just have to fill in the details to run a background check on any person in Florida. Confidentiality is promised and the results you will get will be highly accurate.

What you need to do to find Washington County public records

One of the duties of the clerk of courts is to keep and maintain the county's official documents, and so this is the place to obtain public records. What is more, their website enables users to trace court records online. With the help of these records, it will be possible to check whether a person has ever been convicted in court.

Crime Data

2013 was relatively a good year for the county's residents. Rate of violence was lower by 15.5% compared to 2012. The number of arrests was 1,225 – which is 11.5% higher than the previous year.  It means that the police are doing a good job arresting offenders. The number of violent crime reported to the sheriff office was 58 in comparison to 69 in 2012.