How to Find Texas Arrest Records in Each County
The best way to undertake a criminal background check in Texas is to turn to the county's sheriff office. Each and every county office maintains either online or offline databases that contain criminal information regarding the county under its jurisdiction. Each of the following counties list leads to an articles that demonstrates how to perform an arrest records and warrant search in each of TX counties.
- Anderson County
- Andrews County
- Angelina County
- Aransas County
- Archer County
- Armstrong County
- Atascosa County
- Austin County
- Bailey County
- Bandera County
- Bastrop County
- Baylor County
- Bee County
- Bell County
- Bexar County
- Blanco County
- Borden County
- Bosque County
- Bowie County
- Brazoria County
- Brazos County
- Brewster County
- Briscoe County
- Brooks County
- Brown County
- Burleson County
- Burnet County
- Caldwell County
- Calhoun County
- Callahan County
- Cameron County
- Camp County
- Carson County
- Cass County
- Castro County
- Chambers County
- Cherokee County
- Childress County
- Clay County
- Cochran County
- Coke County
- Coleman County
- Collin County
- Collingsworth County
- Colorado County
- Comal County
- Comanche County
- Concho County
- Cooke County
- Coryell County
- Cottle County
- Crane County
- Crockett County
- Crosby County
- Culberson County
- Dallam County
- Dallas County
- Dawson County
- Deaf Smith County
- Delta County
- Denton County
- DeWitt County
- Dickens County
- Dimmit County
- Donley County
- Duval County
- Eastland County
- Ector County
- Edwards County
- El Paso County
- Ellis County
- Erath County
- Falls County
- Fannin County
- Fayette County
- Fisher County
- Floyd County
- Foard County
- Fort Bend County
- Franklin County
- Freestone County
- Frio County
- Gaines County
- Galveston County
- Garza County
- Gillespie County
- Glasscock County
- Goliad County
- Gonzales County
- Gray County
- Grayson County
- Gregg County
- Grimes County
- Guadalupe County
- Hale County
- Hall County
- Hamilton County
- Hansford County
- Hardeman County
- Hardin County
- Harris County
- Harrison County
- Hartley County
- Haskell County
- Hays County
- Hemphill County
- Henderson County
- Hidalgo County
- Hill County
- Hockley County
- Hood County
- Hopkins County
- Houston County
- Howard County
- Hudspeth County
- Hunt County
- Hutchinson County
- Irion County
- Jack County
- Jackson County
- Jasper County
- Jeff Davis County
- Jefferson County
- Jim Hogg County
- Jim Wells County
- Johnson County
- Jones County
- Karnes County
- Kaufman County
- Kendall County
- Kenedy County
- Kent County
- Kerr County
- Kimble County
- King County
- Kinney County
- Kleberg County
- Knox County
- La Salle County
- Lamar County
- Lamb County
- Lampasas County
- Lavaca County
- Lee County
- Leon County
- Liberty County
- Limestone County
- Lipscomb County
- Live Oak County
- Llano County
- Loving County
- Lubbock County
- Lynn County
- Madison County
- Marion County
- Martin County
- Mason County
- Matagorda County
- Maverick County
- McCulloch County
- McLennan County
- McMullen County
- Medina County
- Menard County
- Midland County
- Milam County
- Mills County
- Mitchell County
- Montague County
- Montgomery County
- Moore County
- Morris County
- Motley County
- Nacogdoches County
- Navarro County
- Newton County
- Nolan County
- Nueces County
- Ochiltree County
- Oldham County
- Orange County
- Palo Pinto County
- Panola County
- Parker County
- Parmer County
- Pecos County
- Polk County
- Potter County
- Presidio County
- Rains County
- Randall County
- Reagan County
- Real County
- Red River County
- Reeves County
- Refugio County
- Roberts County
- Robertson County
- Rockwall County
- Runnels County
- Rusk County
- Sabine County
- San Augustine County
- San Jacinto County
- San Patricio County
- San Saba County
- Schleicher County
- Scurry County
- Shackelford County
- Shelby County
- Sherman County
- Smith County
- Somervell County
- Starr County
- Stephens County
- Sterling County
- Stonewall County
- Sutton County
- Swisher County
- Tarrant County
- Taylor County
- Terrell County
- Terry County
- Throckmorton County
- Titus County
- Tom Green County
- Travis County
- Trinity County
- Tyler County
- Upshur County
- Upton County
- Uvalde County
- Val Verde County
- Van Zandt County
- Victoria County
- Walker County
- Waller County
- Ward County
- Washington County
- Webb County
- Wharton County
- Wheeler County
- Wichita County
- Wilbarger County
- Willacy County
- Williamson County
- Wilson County
- Winkler County
- Wise County
- Wood County
- Yoakum County
- Young County
- Zapata County
- Zavala County
How are Texas Arrest Warrants Issued?
Unless a suspect is caught while committing an offense, the police cannot incarcerate him/her without a formal arrest warrant. The process of issuing a Texas arrest warrant includes three major steps: 1) The police present a judge with evidence against a person. 2) The judge will examine the evidence and look for a probable cause that may legitimize an arrest. 3) If the judge believes, based on the evidence, that an arrest is justified, he will sign the warrant and make it active. You should bear in mind that if not served (i.e. the suspect has not been apprehended), a TX arrest warrant remains effective as an outstanding warrant. That means that as long as there is an outstanding warrant on your name, you can be apprehended at any given time and in any place. This is why it is highly recommended to check whether you are wanted by the police.
Performing a Texas Warrant Search
The state of Texas puts at your disposal a few online tools for finding wanted persons. TxDPS publishes a list of 10 most wanted persons. You can also find on their website another list of most wanted sex offenders and fugitives. Texas Department of Criminal Justice also publishes a fugitive list here. In addition, you can narrow your search to an individual county in which the person you are searching resides. For example you can undertake a Tarrant County warrant search by visiting the sheriff office at 200 Taylor, Fort Worth, TX 76102 or by calling their warrant division at 817-884-1320.
Finding Texas Arrest Records
The best online tool for an arrest search is the Computerized Criminal History System operated by the TxDPS. You will have to sign up for this service (by supplying an email and an address) and pay a fee. After doing that, you will be able to run a computerized search to view a person's history of arrests for violations greater than Class B misdemeanor . Alternatively you may choose the do one of the following:
- Sending a formal request to see a person's criminal history to Open Records, Box 4087, Austin, TX 78773-0140. You will be required to add to your request a 10 dollar check.
- Performing an inmate search using the TDCJ online offender information search.
Finding Texas Court Records
For a Texas court records search, you will have to go to the court house that is relevant to the case in question. For example, for inquiry on felony cases and civil cases of more than $200, you should go to the district court. There are 418 district courts all around the state. Most minor civil cases and Class A and Class B misdemeanor offenses are dealt by the county courts. It is advisable to consult your county clerk and district clerk for further information. Follow this link to read more about Texas Judicial Branch.
Crime Statistics
Based on statistics presented by the TxDPS, a total of 966,356 offenses were committed in the state throughout 2013. These included 1,151 murders; 7,438 rapes; 31,858 robbery cases and 65,268 aggravated assaults. The state's law enforcement agencies made a total of 936,358 arrests. 70,561 arrestees were juveniles. On average, 39.3 crimes occur per one square mile.