A warrant is issued when a judge gives the police the authority to arrest a person, if they are found, and present them before the court. Once a judge formally signs the warrant, it will then be recorded in the local court or law enforcement website where it can be searched for.
If you are traveling to California and want to check whether you or someone else has a warrant out for them, you can carry out a California warrant search in this way. It will be completely anonymous for you, as the searcher, but you will need some relevant information.
Below, we look at 3 reasons why you might want to check online for a warrant before traveling to California.
To make sure you aren’t unaware of any for yourself
Although it may sound crazy, many people can be totally unaware that there is a warrant out for their arrest.
This is because it is not always due to the person in question committing a very sinister crime, but instead it could be due to something simple such as moving house and not receiving any notification.
In some states, this can be the case if you forgot to pay a fine or got a speeding ticket. So, if you have recently moved house, you may have unknowingly missed any documentation regarding this and be totally in the dark about your entire situation.
It could also be because you missed a court date, which could be for your own case or even because you have been called up for jury duty. Missing jury duty is considered a crime and you will be found in contempt of court with a warrant for your arrest if you do not appear.
If you are then planning to take a trip, you may find that the security protocols at an airport will include checking several databases for information on passengers. If your name is flagged up due to a warrant, it is likely you will be arrested there on the spot and be unable to travel.
Therefore, there are many simple ways you could be in the system for a warrant issued against you and not even know. So, searching for your own name is not a crazy idea if you are looking for a fail-safe trip in the not too distant future.
If you want to check out a business client
If the reason for your travel is due to a business trip to meet or even sign contracts with a new client or customer. If so, you might be looking to do your research on your new associates first of all.
Traveling a long way to enter into a legal contract with people you have never met before – or are meeting to get a better picture of – is a big step in any business process. So, it is understandable that you might want to check out their credentials first of all and just be sure that you are not getting involved with somebody on the wrong side of the law.
Whether you are just looking to do this as a matter of course or you have reservations about the client in general or an individual, you are perfectly within your rights to check things out.
If you are playing it safe in a new relationship
These days, with the new age of dating online, long-distance or via social media, there are more relationships being formed with people we have not met before. Or, it could be that you have met but only briefly as you were on vacation or one of you was visiting the hometown of the other fleetingly.
There are many success stories about relationships with partners living further afield, finding their greatest love and living happily ever after. So, it is incredibly tempting to jump on a plane for love, if you are a hopeless romantic!
However, with distance comes the unknown – no mutual friends, no familiar spots you both know, no assurances that the other person is who they say they are. So, for many, checking out their legal status is a good first step into checking out their potential new mate.
It is always best to be safe and protect yourself – particularly when traveling far from home is involved. So, you can never be too careful and with many risks and dangers associated with meeting a stranger, it is not unwise to check if they have a warrant against them.
So, if after reading all of this, you would like to carry out a California warrant search, there are several ways you can do this.
As mentioned earlier, you can check online for local court records or a law enforcement website. You could also be totally forthright and call up a police station – as long as you don’t mind running the risk of being questioned if you are checking for yourself and you are found to have a warrant against you.
However, you could also hire an attorney who has access to several databases.
Just be warned, if you are searching for a record of someone else, you will need to have certain information about them to hand, first of all. This will include their full name, DOB, last known address and any other useful information.
