[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1562089238270{border-top-width: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”][vc_column_text]

Options for a warrant search, arrest inquiry, case lookup and criminal background check in Colorado!

If you are keen on accessing criminal court records, you sure won’t have a lot of trouble in Colorado. In my experience, most law enforcement agencies in the state do offer some amount of crime related data on their websites.

 

Now, I can’t tell you exactly what you will find on the website of each of the 64 Sheriffs’ Departments. But, I know for a fact that most agencies at the least offer details on recent arrests in their geographical jurisdiction. That said, I know that in some of the larger and more populated counties, you can also get information on arrest warrants from the website of the law enforcement agency.

Before I start discussing how to access a criminal court docket, the arrest log or the warrant list for your county, I have to clear a popular misconception. The sheriff’s department is not your only option for a criminal background search.

 

In fact, going to the cops for warrant lookup may not always work in your favor. More on this and other topics related to criminal court records ahead. For now, I am going to start by talking about arrests records, simply because these are the easiest to find and often the only information that people are looking for.

 

 

 

Arrest records from Colorado

 

 

For starters, let me clarify that you cannot get access to a statewide arrest log for Colorado. Yes, it’s true that all the law enforcement agencies in the state do send information pertaining to the arrests made in their county to a state level agency that maintains the repository of criminal records.

 

However, as a civilian, you can only get access to this information if you formally initiate a statewide criminal background search. What I am trying to say here is that although the local police have access to this criminal repository, approaching them for arrest records or any other public criminal records will only get you county-specific data. I am sure at this point you are wondering-

 

 

So, what information can I expect from the police if I file a request for arrests records?

 

Before answering this question, I am going to let you in on a little trade secret, one that separates the amateurs from seasoned investigators, and is pretty much the secret to the success of professional sleuths.  We make it a point to clearly understand the purpose of the arrest inquiry or the criminal check before we start snooping and digging around for information. Let me make this more pertinent for you.

 

Suppose you want to know about recent arrests in your county. Before you start looking for likely sources of information, ask yourself why you are seeking this data. Consider these two scenarios.

 

• Case 1: Assume that your inquiry pertains to several different individuals. In other words, you want to know who the police just busted. This information can be found in the arrest log as well as the police blotter if it is available online. I will tell you what a police blotter in a bit.

 

• Case 2: Assume that you only want to know about all the arrests in the name of one specific individual. Now, this data, you may not always find online, quite simply because it is not time-specific. When the sheriff’s office offers an arrests log on the agency website, it is limited to arrest booking data for last 5 days-30 days. Some agencies may provide the arrest list for the preceding 3 months. But, that’s about it.

 

If you are initiating an arrest search in the name of one subject, surely you want to know about all the instances in which he was taken into custody, including those that date back several years. In such a scenario, your only option is to approach the local law enforcement agency or sometimes the judiciary for the arrest inquiry.

 

Now, about the police blotter. This is basically a diary of the precinct that has information on everything that the officers did on a particular day. So, all the arrests and cases handled by the police are listed in the police blotter. But as you may have expected, this information is almost impossible to come by.

 

Is an arrest log the same as jail records?

 

It’s obvious that there will be some amount of information overlap; after all, in both instances, the information is about individuals who have been taken into custody and are currently being held or were held in a police-run detention facility. But whether you will get more information out of the arrest list or the jail records will depend on the agency furnishing the data. For example:

 

• An arrest list usually has the name and the specifics of the person who was detained and possibly details on the charges against him/her.

 

• The jail records have information on individuals who are currently being held in the county detention facility.

 

The first thing to know here is that the county jail is very different from the state penitentiary. Usually, those lodged in county jails are individuals who are currently being tried and convicts serving time for Class C and D misdemeanors.

 

Now, depending on the county law enforcement authorities, the jail records may/may not have details on individuals who have been released from the facility. As far as arrest mugshots are concerned, these may/may not be included in the arrest log or the jail records. Ditto for details on the charges against a person.

 

 

How do I find arrest records online?

 

Jefferson County arrest records: The Office of the Sheriff of Jefferson County does not offer its arrest records online. However, you can call on them at 200 Jefferson County Parkway, Golden, CO 80419 for an arrest report pertaining to instances of your subject’s detention at the Jefferson County Detentions Center. You can find information on current inmates by using the app at https://inmatelookup.jeffco.us/.

 

Information on arrests from Weld County: The Sheriff’s Department of Weld County offers the facility for an online arrest inquiry at https://www.weldsheriff.com/apps1/dailyarrests/.  This is a name based search that throws up information on the charges against the subject as well as details pertaining to bail. The system offers access to information on both active and released suspects.

 

Denver arrest report: If you are interested in an inmate lookup, use the facility at https://denvergov.org/inmatesearch. The app will pull up information about inmates held in both the Denver County jail as well as the Downtown Detention Facility. This is a name based inquiry that will get you details on active and released inmates as well as on the charges against them.

 

Douglas County arrest log: The Sheriff’s Office of Douglas County does not post the arrest list online, but you can access information on inmates by using the search tool at https://apps.douglas.co.us/NewWorld.InmateInquiry/DouglasCounty. You can initiate the arrest inquiry by using the name of a person, the arrest booking date as well as the subject number and the booking number.

 

El Paso County arrests: The police blotter is available online at https://www.epcsheriffsoffice.com/blotter. But it cannot be used for an arrest inquiry in El Paso County because it only has information on the criminal incident and how it was resolved. Simply put, you cannot find the name of the alleged offender involved in the crime. The local police also do not provide the facility for a warrant search. However, you can initiate a search for arrests records through the app at https://www.epcsheriffsoffice.com/inmate-search#!/search.

 

 

 

Colorado warrant search

 

Here is what I can tell you about a warrant search in Colorado at the very outset- You will have a very easy time finding information on arrest warrants in most cases. So, I am going to start this section with a little background information on warrants that will help you to better understand and utilize the results of your warrant lookup.

 

 

What exactly are Colorado arrest warrants?

I am going to put this in the simplest way possible- A warrant is an order for arrest issued by a judicial entity. Usually, the local magistrate’s court issues these orders, which come into existence at the behest of the police or at the volition of the court.

 

Arrest warrants can also be issued by other trial courts and often come into being after an indictment. The police need an arrest warrant when:

 

• They have little information about the suspect.

 

• The accused cannot be found/arrested.

 

• The suspect could not be caught while he was committing the crime or from the scene of the crime.

 

 

I will give you a very common example here- Think of a case in which a woman is found murdered. The partner of the victim files the police complaint that eventually leads to the gruesome discovery. Through the course of the investigation, the police find evidence that points to the possible involvement of the partner.

 

However, they haven’t actually seen him committing the crime nor has he confessed to committing the act. In this case, the police cannot just walk into this individual’s home and haul him to jail. They will have to go to the court and explain to the magistrate why they feel that this person may have committed the crime.

 

This process is called “establishing probable cause”. If the magistrate is convinced that there is enough evidence/cause for any reasonable person to believe that the partner may have indeed been involved in the crime, he will issue the arrest warrant. The orders/instructions for detention thus issued are known as active warrants.

 

Over a period of several months/years, these warrants come to be known as outstanding warrants. This is simply a term used for old warrants that are yet to be served.

 

 

How do I perform a Colorado warrant check online?

 

Colorado is one of the few states in which people are allowed to conduct a state-level warrant lookup. The service is offered on the Colorado Courts website at https://www.cocourts.com/cocourts/. This is a paid service, and you will be charged $7 for each inquiry.

 

You will have to sign up for the service and you will have to pay for each search, whether you get multiple results or no results for your warrant inquiry. The search can be initiated by using the name of the subject and you will get information on bench warrants as well as arrest warrants.

 

 

What if I need a local warrant list?

 

Because the Colorado Courts Network is offering this facility, most local law enforcement agencies do not offer this information on their website, at least not in the form of warrants search feature. The few that do provide details on warrants, do so in the form of a most wanted list.

As you may have expected, a most wanted list is far from being the complete warrant database. Think of it as a compilation of data pertaining to the more serious criminal cases and suspects who have evaded arrest for long. Here are a few areas in which this facility is currently offered:

 

Pueblo County warrants: You will find the wanted list of Pueblo County at http://police.pueblo.us/p2c/wantedlist.aspx. Although, at any given time, the list has information about 100 or more warrants, we are only taking about bench warrants and failure to appear warrants here. The information in the list includes the name of the accused, address and details on charges. The most wanted list is posted at http://police.pueblo.us/p2c/mostwanted.aspx. This is a considerably smaller list that also includes the photograph of the accused. You will also find details on charges and identifier data.

 

Larimer County warrants search: The most wanted list for Larimer County is available at https://www.larimer.org/sheriff/most-wanted. You can find information on a specific suspect by using the search feature. The information includes the photograph of the accused along with details on the criminal act/acts that he/she is being accused of.

 

Weld County warrants: The Sheriff’s Office of Weld County is one of the few law enforcement agencies in the state that offers, what can only be called, a “true” warrant search facility. You get to access warrant information that goes back to more than 15 years. You will find the warrant lookup app at https://www.weldsheriff.com/apps1/warrants/.

The warrant inquiry can be performed by using the name of the subject, the warrant date, the bond amount, crime level, charges against the accused and geographical and jurisdictional criteria. The results include the full name of the accused, date of birth, address, warrant charge and crime type along with other information.

 

Adams County arrest warrants: The Warrant Division of Adam’s County Sheriff’s Department offers information on the detention orders they hold at http://search.adamscountysheriff.org/warrantsearch.php. This, again, is a “proper” search tool that allows you to look through their warrant database and not just a list of bench warrants. However, you can only search the warrant list by using the name of the subject as the query criteria. The results include the full name of the accused, date of birth and physical identifiers along with the warrant number, type and date and details on the original charge/charges against the accused.

 

 

What if I want information on a warrant roundup?

 

No law enforcement agency in Colorado or in any other part of the country will release information on a warrant roundup, until after the procedure is completed. Let me clarify here that a warrant roundup involves the serving of multiple outstanding warrants and is often a multi-agency operation. The element of surprise plays a huge role in the success of such an operation. So, I can guarantee that you will not get information on a warrant roundup till the completion of the operation.

 

 

 

Colorado court records

 

So, why are we even talking about criminal court records when we have already discussed the process for accessing information on arrests and warrants? Simple, because a criminal case search will get you way more details on your subject, if he/she was ever involved in a criminal act.

 

For example, if I get you details on an arrest warrant, what exactly does this information tell you? That your subject was accused of a criminal act. Remember folks; an accusation is not the same as conviction. In fact, the legal system of the United States and every country in the world considers a person innocent until proven guilty.

 

Along the same lines, if I were to tell you that your subject was arrested on a particular date by a certain agency. This again is simply a piece of the puzzle. In contrast, criminal court records provide the whole picture. So, a case lookup will tell you about:

 

• The existence of warrants

 

• Whether they were served or not

 

• What happened after arrest

 

• Release on bail

 

 

• What transpired during trial

 

• If the person was convicted or acquitted

 

• Sentencing

 

• Time spent in a correctional facility

 

• Release or the possibility of release on parole

 

 

As you can see, we are talking about a whole lot of information here. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the only other type of inquiry/data that is more elaborate than a court records search is a formal criminal background check.

 

 

Where do I go to access criminal courts records in Colorado?

 

The Office of the Clerk of Courts is where you should start your inquiry for court records. The thing to remember is that some counties only have one court clerk, who handles court case information for all the branches of the judiciary. However, larger counties in which the courts have more cases to handle may have two clerks handling the workload.

 

Usually, one court clerk will be entrusted the task of handling case records for the municipal courts while the other will have the responsibility of maintaining public court records for the higher level/trial courts. In both cases, a trip to the court clerk’s office will get you the information you need.

 

In Colorado, it is also possible to find this information online. However, if you want to take a trip down to the courthouse, you will find public service terminals which are connected to the court repository. These systems can be used for a case search. But, this is a paid service in most counties although the case lookup fee is nominal at less than $10/inquiry.

 

 

How do I access the Lexis Courts Open Access System of Colorado?

 

The service is available at https://www.cocourts.com/cocourts/ and it is a paid facility although they seldom charge more than a few dollars for the service. I will tell you more about this in a bit.

 

The registration:  Once you are at the site, you will be asked to create a profile, and this is the part where you will end up offering personal information. You will be asked to provide your full name, address as well as credit card details. Once you have registered with the website, you will be allowed to conduct the inquiry for court cases. Is this an official Colorado Judiciary website? No!

 

The facility is provided by a vendor that has been awarded the rights to offer this service, by the State Judiciary. So, I really can’t say if the personal information you offer will make it into the hand of any law enforcement agency. For those of you who are wondering how and why that should be a problem. It’s simple, if you do have an arrest warrant in your name, it would make more sense to get a lawyer to sort the matter out instead of having the police know about your whereabouts.

 

The search: After the registration is completed, you will be asked to provide the full last name of the subject along with at least the first few characters of the first name. This person can be the defendant, plaintiff or respondent in a criminal or civil matter.

 

The payment: Every case search will cost you $2 for data from the City and County of Denver and $5 for criminal court records from the other areas of the state. So, a state-wide case lookup will set you back by $7/inquiry. This fee is non-refundable even if the case search does not yield any results (meaning that no records are found on the subject).

 

The criminal courts records: The report will include information on the status of the case, the name of the court handling the matter, the case type and number, case file and close dates, presiding magistrate or judge, agency that investigated the matter, sentence, date of sentencing, parties connected with the case, charges against the defendant, disposition, plea and concise information on scheduled events through the trial.

 

 

What court cases are covered by the Court Connect System of CO?

 

The results of the criminal search will include information on cases handled by district court and the county courts. The case types that the system covers include:

 

• Small claims

 

• Misdemeanors

 

• Civil claims

 

• Domestic relations

 

• Traffic offenses

 

• Criminal (felonies)

 

You will not get information on probate matters and cases that involve juveniles. Also, information on sealed cases is not provided through the system. Moreover, details that are not considered to be public criminal records will not be a part of the results. For instance, you won’t get financial details, social security number, medical reports, victim and witness information and juror and police officer details.

 

 

Can I do a case lookup locally?

 

No, you cannot; most courts do not offer this service. However, you can find the criminal docket for all the courts in your county. For Circuit and County Courts, you can do a docket search by using the tool on the website of the Colorado Judicial System at https://www.courts.state.co.us/dockets/index.cfm#results.

 

If you are looking for municipal court dockets, often, these can be found on the website of the county judiciary. How much and what information you get will often depend on the agency that you approach for your judicial records. For instance:

 

• The court docket for the City of Pueblo Municipal Court can be found at https://www.pueblo.us/99/Municipal-Court. Although you can access the judicial calendar, they don’t offer case information.

 

• The Municipal court of Lakewood Colorado offers the facility to do a case search for all the matters handled by them. They charge $6 per case report and you have to visit the clerk’s office to avail the service. You can get in touch with them at 445 South Allison Parkway, Lakewood, CO 80226. However, this agency does not provide their court docket online.

 

 

 

 

Colorado Criminal records

 

And finally, we have arrived at the section for Colorado criminal background search. I’ve already discussed this briefly in the above section. Think of this as the grand total of all inquiries that you can possibly initiate for criminal records.

 

So, we are talking about details on all arrest warrants, arrests, criminal court records, convictions, acquittal, sentencing, incarceration, release and more. Basically, every stitch of information about any criminal act that the subject was involved in or was suspected of being involved in! A criminal history report is so much more than just public criminal records, which is what you get in all the 3 sections listed above.

 

But I am sure by now you are asking, why bother with a criminal check when you already have a ton of information. A criminal background check is an official inquiry. What this means is that the report can be used for non-personal reasons as well, such as employment, adoption, immigration and more.

 

 

So, how do I get a criminal background search done in Colorado?

 

You can find criminal records online and offline by getting in touch with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The agency offers personal and third party criminal checks.

 

Finding criminal records online: The online, name-based criminal search will cost you $6.85 and you will have to pay the fee by using your credit card. The results are delivered within a few minutes of launching the inquiry and the search app is available at https://www.cbirecordscheck.com/Index.aspx.

 

Filing a criminal search request through mail or in person: If you mail in your search request, you will have to pay $13 for the inquiry. Use the form at https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/CHRI%20Request%20-%20New_sm.pdf to file the request. You will have to mail the form with the money order to The Identification Unit, 690 Kipling Street, Suite 3000, Denver, CO 80215. You can also file the criminal search request manually by visiting the agency office at this address.

 

You have to provide the full name of the subject along with his/her date of birth to initiate the search. The social security number can also be furnished if you have access to this information. The CBI also offers fingerprint based criminal checks for employment purposes. This will cost you $38.50 and you can find more information on it at https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/instructions-obtaining-your-fingerprint-based-background-check.

 

 

Is there a way to initiate a local criminal check?

 

You can access public criminal records from your county by approaching the local sheriff’s office. Not all agencies offer this facility; some that do include:

 

Mesa County criminal court records: You can get a local criminal history report from the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office by visiting the agency at 215 Rice Street, Grand Junction, CO 81501. Print the form at https://sheriff.mesacounty.us/globalassets/divisions/support-services/records/criminal-justice-records-form-04-2015-auto-type-form.pdf. Fill it and take it along with a photo ID. You will be charged $2 for the criminal search and the results will be handed to you in a matter of minutes.

 

Adams County criminal check: The Sheriff’s Department charges a $10 fee for local criminal records. To file your request, use the form at https://www.adamssheriff.org/sites/default/files/2019-01/live%20doc%20records_request.pdf and visit the agency at the Records Section, 4201 E 72nd Ave Suite C, Commerce City, CO 80022. You can also mail the form to the agency.

 

Jefferson county criminal background search: In Jefferson County, you can get a local background search done by contacting the Sheriff’s Office. Write to the agency at Records Unit, 200 Jefferson County Parkway, Golden, CO 80401. You will find the criminal records request form at https://www.jeffco.us/442/Criminal-Justice-Records. You will be informed of the cost of the inquiry after you submit the form.

 

Broomfield County criminal case search: The Sheriff’s Office of Broomfield offers a local criminal background report for $10. You will have to visit the agency office to avail the service. They work out of 7 DesCombes Drive, Broomfield, CO  80020. Do not forget to carry a photo ID along and use the form at https://www.broomfield.org/DocumentCenter/View/26657/RecordsRequestForm to file your request.

 

 

What are my other options to find Colorado criminal records online?

 

You can also access criminal court records, or at least a part of these, from cases that resulted in a conviction by using the prisoner search facility offered by the Colorado Department of Corrections. Their offender lookup tool is available at http://www.doc.state.co.us/oss/. The criminal search can be performed by using the name of the offender or his/her DOC number.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row]