New York Arrest Records

New York’s justice system strives for transparency. One of the ways it does this is by maintaining New York arrest records. An arrest record is data or information collected and stored by police departments showing a person?s arrest history. This information is collected on a county and state level so that one is able to conduct an arrest record search on both county and state levels. For example, New York has five counties within it, combined arrest records of these five counties can be accessed from the state records. However, each county in New York has its own arrest records. These records can be accessed free of charge under the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act.

How to Obtain New York Arrest Records

Arrest records are normally recorded in a local police station. If an arrest is made in Brooklyn, the information on the arrest will be recorded at the Brooklyn Police Station. In the event of a search, therefore, it would be important to obtain the name of the person in question and the place they most likely were arrested. The easiest way to determine the place of arrest is by checking where a person has spent most of their lifetime as this is the most likely place where they would have committed a crime. With this information, it is easy to conduct a search from a local police station of choice.
With the Internet, however, comes an easier method of conducting an arrest record search. The Internet sets up links between counties and state arrest records. This means that with the click of a button, one can obtain their arrest records. All that is required to conduct a search are the name of the person in question, their address and their social security number. To obtain this information over the Internet, a small token of about $40 is required. This amount covers administration costs. Accessing the arrest record database will provide information such as the crime committed, if the arrest led to a conviction and the number of years in incarceration.

How New York Arrest Records Become Criminal Records

Most people believe arrest records and criminal records are the same. An arrest record is information about a person?s arrest before conviction. This means that if a court of law determines a defendant to be ?Not Guilty,? an arrest record cannot be converted to a criminal record. A criminal record is information about a person?s criminal history that is only determined after a person is found guilty of a crime. Criminal histories are kept by all law enforcement agencies, including state police, correctional agencies and troopers. Criminal records are used to conduct background checks before employment, adoption and visa issuance.

When doing background searches over the Internet, it is important to be careful in order to avoid being scammed by fake directories purporting to have public records. Apart from arrest and criminal records, a good directory will give information on property records, bankruptcies and addresses. In addition, to avoid lawsuits, it is crucial to use criminal records when doing background checks rather than arrest records.