Hillsborough County Arrest Records

Hillsborough arrest records are official documents documenting instances of a person being taken into custody by Hillsborough County law enforcement officers. They contain records generated from booking until the case closes, including court information if it progresses to trial. Arrest records are stored in the arresting law enforcement agency’s jail management system.

Arrest records serve public interest by documenting law enforcement activity against a citizen’s right to liberty in connection with their committing a crime. These records help to check the status of people in custody, know the repercussions of an offense, and ensure law enforcement accountability to citizens. Upon request, law enforcement agencies are mandated by law to provide the arrest record to the inquirer as soon as possible or let them know the reason for the denial. Law enforcement agencies are also not obligated to inquire why the record is requested.

Although arrest records are publicly available according to the Public Records Act, access to more encompassing statewide criminal history is governed by Fla. Stat. § 943.053. Under this law, criminal offender record information (CORI) is regulated, and restrictions are set on what information can be disclosed.

Are Arrest Records Public Information in Florida?

Yes. Under the Florida Public Records Act ( Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes ), arrest records are considered public records as they are created by a public agency while fulfilling their official business. This means that upon public request, their custodian is mandated to make them available for inspection or copying unless specifically exempted by law. Public records include both physical and electronic document formats.

To safeguard the integrity of ongoing cases and protect the privacy of parties involved in the case, there are exemptions to accessing arrest records as governed by Fla. Stat. § 119.071. Examples of information that is restricted from unauthorised public access are as follows:

• Arrest records of active investigations
• Juvenile or delinquent records
• Information on victims or witnesses
• Sealed or expunged records
• Medical information

Hillsborough County Arrest Search

State and federal resources for locating arrest information include the following:

• Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE): The FDLE serves as the official repository and custodian for criminal histories in Florida. Their statewide criminal history search tool gives online access to information on all arrests made by Florida law enforcement agencies, including Hillsborough. It costs $25 to perform a search using this tool. Juvenile records are not available using this resource. Certified copies or records can also be requested through the FDLE.
• Federal Bureau of Prisons: The Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator is a federal tool for obtaining arrest information of individuals incarcerated in federal prisons. Its database records information on inmates arrested from 1982 to the present. This tool can be searched by inmate number or by name.
• PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records): Arrest information of federal cases that progress to trial, which can be obtained through PACER, as they form part of criminal court records. Note that only arrest records from federal offenses are accessible using this tool. It costs $0.10 per page to perform a search with PACER.

Hillsborough County Inmate Locator

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office provides an online arrest inquiry tool for finding information on recently arrested individuals. The tool gives information on the arrestees’ charges, bond amount, and mugshots, but not sentencing information, as the arrestees have not yet been tried.

A search can be conducted using booking date, booking number, inmate name, release date, and date of birth. More exact results can be obtained by filtering results to show current inmates only or by sorting results by name, booking date, and booking number. The arrest inquiry tool does not give information on statewide criminal history. State criminal histories are available from the Records Department of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). Information on this site is up-to-date as it is updated every 30 minutes, and the data is pulled directly from the database of the HCSO Jail Management System.

Active Warrant Search in Hillsborough County

Arrest warrants are legal documents issued by a judge to authorize the detention of a person suspected of breaking state laws. In Hillsborough County, they are issued when law enforcement officers submit affidavits establishing probable cause to the 13th Judicial Circuit Court. They typically include:

• Offense and applicable statute
• Date the warrant was issued
• Name and signature of issuing judge
• Instructions for executing the arrest

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is the official executor of arrest warrants in the county. They provide a warrant inquiry tool through which individuals can look up warrants, whether active or not.

How to Find Arrest Records for Free in Hillsborough

Resources for finding arrest records for free in Arrest Records for Free in Hillsborough County include the following:

• HCSO Arrest Inquiry Portal: The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) provides this online database for individuals to access local arrest records for free. It displays the booking details and arrest information of individuals recently arrested in Hillsborough County.
• The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) and Police Departments: They provide in-person access to arrest records that occurred in the county. A phone or mail request can be made to the HCSO as long as the inquirer has details about the case, such as the full make of the case and arrest date. Individuals may need to submit documents proving their identity to ensure eligibility to access sensitive information, especially in person.

Although free tools provide instant accessibility to data, they are often limited to older records and summarized (without supporting documents). Under Florida law, redacted information is excluded from public arrest records.

Hillsborough County Arrest Report

Although arrest records and arrest reports are both law enforcement documents, they have different custodians and serve different purposes. An arrest record is a document that records information on all instances a person was taken into custody, while an arrest report is a written report about an arrest incident written by a law enforcement officer. The arrest report describes the narrative and justification of the arrest and typically contains the following information:

• Evidence recovered at the scene of the arrest
• A description of the incident and context leading to the arrest
• Witness statement
• Probable cause justifying the arrest
• Name and badge number of the arresting officer
• Additional investigative records (field notes, lab testing results)

Per Fla. Stat. § 119.071(2)(c), arrest reports are restricted if investigations are still ongoing.

How to Get an Arrest Record Expunged in Hillsborough

Before an arrest record can be expunged, the charges must have been dismissed, dropped, or the arrestee must have been found not guilty. The arrestee must also not have been convicted or tried to seal or expunge a record. If the charge qualifies with these under Fla. Stat. § 943.0585, the steps for getting a record expunged in Hillsborough County are as follows:

• Fill out and submit a certificate of eligibility application form from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and a fingerprint card from any law enforcement agency. Pay the $75 applicable fee to the FDLE through a money order.
• Receive the certificate of eligibility from the FDLE.
• File a petition to expunge along with an affidavit, a copy of the FDLE petition, and the certificate of eligibility to the Clerk of Court’s office.
• If the request is successful, serve copies of the petition to required stakeholders, including the arresting agency and FDLE, and monitor their databases to ensure compliance.

How Do You Remove Arrest Records From the Internet?

Arrest records already available over the internet can be removed from official government sources by sealing or by expunction. Fla. Stat. § 943.059 allows cases to be sealed if closed without a conviction, while Fla. Stat. § 943.0585 allows the expungement of arrest records with dismissed or dropped charges. Suppose the arrest record meets the eligibility criteria specified, and the record gets sealed or expunged. In that case, the arrestee will be granted a court order mandating the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) to remove the record from its online database.

Individuals may also contact the HCSO if their arrest record has a factual error that needs to be removed. To do this, they fill out and submit the Error Correction Form on their website. Although it is difficult to get a record expunged from a third-party website (governmental removal obligations do not restrict them), it is possible. The arrestee may contact the website with their expunction order, asking for the record to be expunged, and if met with a refusal, they can take the matter to court.

What Do Public Arrest Records Contain?

A public-facing arrest record in Hillsborough County will typically include the following information:

• Arrestee information (full name, demographics)
• Booking details (booking number)
• date and time of the arrest
• Arresting agency and facility
• Charge (with statute and description of the offenses)
• Bail and Bond information
• Mugshot
• Court information (charges, hearing date, case disposition)