Sunday, September 15, 2013

Texas Public Arrest Records

By Ben Kingsley


To access public records such as prosecutions and other cases that have received a conviction or were charged with a Class B violation and higher as arrests in Texas, one can do so by visiting the Department of Public Safety of Texas website. Under the site, one can click on the Computerized Criminal History System that houses the conviction database for all of Texas. The arresting agencies, prosecutors and counties update all files in the database regularly as required by the State under Chapter 60 of the State's code.

For a person to access the database, he or she must already have an account in the site. For those who are new, they can register a new account. Once the account is activated, the person who wants to make a research needs to purchase credits. These credits are used to pay for the search and retrieval of the searches done by the researcher. Each credit is equivalent to $3. Other statutory fees are charged to the researcher depending on the payment method that they make use of.

Those who avail of checking method will have to pay an additional 1.25USD to the total fee. The fee is charged as convenience fee and the credits are available once the department clears the checks. For those who avail of the credit card services, 2.25% plus a transaction fee of .50USD is added to the flat rate so one has to pay total of 3.07USD per search. The use of the credits is deducted automatically from the card and the researcher can readily use the credits to do search queries.

Each search is equivalent to one credit regardless of whether there are no matches or results retrieved by the site. As credits are not refundable, it is best to include all the needed information or pertinent info one has of the person. Do include the person's whole name and date of birth to narrow down the searches. No-matches can occur if (a) the record is already sealed and expunged, (b) inaccurate or wrong information is given, (c) the case is juvenile by nature and (d) the local agencies were not able to submit the records.

In some cases, search queries might return with several search matches with the records on top having the closest match to the search query. As opening the full reports can debit a credit from one's account, one should use the preview option to check if the record is what they are looking for. As with other public records, records obtained from the CCH needs to be checked for accuracy. Records that do not have a fingerprint signature card need to be verified from the local enforcement agency or any other arresting agencies under Chapter 60 of Criminal Procedure Code.

For those individuals who have questions or complaints with their records, they can call the office to request for other information or add to the existing information sheet. In addition, those that might want to search for public records such as arrest search, death and birth records can also do so by checking online search records. Online public search record is the fastest and most convenient way for one to get the information they need without having to pay an exorbitant fee.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment