How To Check To See If You Have A Warrant For Your Arrest

Do you know how to check to see if you may have a warrant out for your arrest?

Do you know if you may have any outstanding warrants for your arrest? There are many different reasons ordinary law abiding citizens have outstanding warrants out for their arrest and don't even know it. If by chance you may have a warrant out for your arrest and don't take care of it by getting it quashed, the consequences can be very undesirable. By ignoring them, it could be quite costly when they eventually catch up to you because you will be placed under arrest, and if it is for a failure to appear in court, the Judge may not release you on your own recognizance, but instead require you post a bond in a high amount. So, what are some of the most common reasons people can get a warrant for their arrest?

It may be that you accidentally forget to appear in court for a traffic ticket. You may have forgot to pay a fine on a traffic ticket you received. Perhaps there was a simple clerical error at the courthouse, in which it shows you did not pay a fine or show up in court when you actually did. You could even be a suspect for a crime and
even if you are innocent, police have suspects they want to question and if they cannot find you at your last known address, they will issue a warrant for your arrest in hopes of finding you during a routine traffic stop.


To find out whether or not you have a warrant for your arrest, here are some suggeations:

Call the police department in the city of which you may suspect you have a warrant.
Tell the dispatcher that you want to come and turn yourself in on a warrant, and need to know what the amount of the bond is so that you can bring this money with you and post it once you turn yourself in. They will ask your full name and date of birth and if you don't have a warrant they will say, "I'm sorry, I don't show you have any warrants, are you sure the warrant is out of this city?" Or something to that effect. Now you know you don't have a warrant, but if you do, they will say something like, "yes, the warrant is active and the bond amount is $XXX" (it would be a good idea to get that money together asap and go turn yourself in to clear it up, rather than wait until an inconvenient time when the police happen to cross paths with you whether during a routine traffic stop or otherwise, and just pluck you off of the street and take you to jail) However, just because you told the dispatcher you were going to turn yourself in, doesn't mean you have to go in and do it that day. I don't advise flagging down a cop and asking him, because if a warrant comes back confirmed, he will definitly arrest you on the spot and take you into custody.

Call The City/County Courthouse you suspect you have a warrant out of

If you suspect there is a warrant out for your arrest and you know what city it was issued out of, then call the city/county courthouse and ask the clerk of the court. They will be able to tell if a warrant has been issued and how to go about taking care of it and getting it quashed. Usually they will tell you to come into the court and be seen by the Judge on a walk-in self surrender calendar, and because you have initiated taking care of it, they won't take you into custody. The Judge will quash the warrant and reset a new court date for you to come in and take care of the original matter that got you the warrant in the first place. Be sure and keep this new court date, otherwise another warrant will be issued, and this time the judge may not be so understanding.

Check Online

You can check most courthouses online. They usually have access to public court cases and will sometimes provide this information. If not, then you can now find out if you have a warrant through some background checking agencies. Just do a simple google search with the keywords "Background check online"

If you ignore the possibility that you may have a warrant out for your arrest, and it turns out that you do, it will eventually catch up to you, don't take the risk, find out if you have a warrant and get it taken care of. If it's a serious charge, consider contacting a criminal defense attorney to consult with before turning yourself in or going to court.