How People are Doing Florida Warrant Searches

Florida is known for a lot of things. From the gorgeous Floridan coast to the cities that host a large number of spring breakers looking to get a much-needed rest period from their college classes. One thing that Florida is a little less well known for is its Sunshine Laws, which are its set of laws that govern public information. If you’re trying to do a Florida warrant search, you’ll probably want to know a bit about these laws and also how you can go about finding the information that you’re looking for. 

Florida’s Warrant Laws, a Brief Explanation

Every state is responsible for drafting its own laws when it comes to warrants. There’s no federal mandate that makes any given state shape its laws in any particular way. With that in mind, sometimes things can be a little interesting as far as the actual legislation goes. Some states allow more leeway as far as what’s required to appear on the warrant, and some are incredibly strict. In the stricter states, a whole case can sometimes be thrown out if a warrant isn’t filled out perfectly with every last thing that is required.

In the state of Florida, every warrant is required to include:

• The name of the defendant. A description can work in the place of the name is unknown, and a picture can be added if available.
• The crimes that are believed to be committed by the defendant. 
• The county where the warrant was issued or endorsed, as well as the counties that the warrant is executable in.
• The amount of bail set for the defendant, if bail was set for the warrant. 
• Name of the office where the warrant was issued.
• Date the warrant was issued.
• The signature of the issuing judge or magistrate. 

Florida is actually one of the states that is the most lenient about mistakes being made when a warrant is issued. No case will be dropped nor will any defendant be released because of a mistake on the warrant. Judges and magistrates are allowed to fix any mistakes on the warrant after the fact, so it’s a lot easier for these people of power to make sure their orders are put through correctly. They have their warrant system set up like this to be sure that a criminal isn’t allowed to walk free just because there was a clerical error on their warrant. 

Warrants, like in every state, can be executed anywhere at any time. Some warrants allow for police officers to enter the defendant’s home to either search the premises or seize the defendant. Florida law does require police to knock and make their presence known, even if they plan to knock the door down if there’s no response. So-called “no-knock warrants” have been illegal in this state since 1994, so if you have a warrant in the state of Florida you can at least expect a warning before your home is flooded with police officers.

Generally, warrants can only be executed in the county where it was issued and the surrounding counties. In most cases that’s enough, the vast majority of criminals don’t flee too incredibly far. If it’s believed that the defendant did flee to a further off county, a judge or magistrate from the new county is allowed to endorse the warrant and further the area where the warrant is executable. That makes it a lot easier to catch defendants that are trying to run away. If the defendant flees the state or even the country, they can be extradited back if caught by officials in that state or country, depending on how the laws in that state or country handle these types of matters. 

When can a Warrant be Issued in Florida? 

There are whens and whys a warrant can be issued in every single state, and generally, it’s up to the judge or magistrate that is overseeing the warrant. Typically, a warrant has to be issued after the criminal process has already been started. The judge can decide to issue a warrant after hearing a witness testify and also after reviewing a police case themself, usually after they’ve been requested to by the police that are handling the investigation. 

That being said, judges can deny requests for warrants on any grounds they like. Most judges realize how much responsibility comes with the power to issue warrants. The reason why warrants exist in the first place is because of the 4th amendment. This amendment was created because Britain would use general warrants to arrest or search people, so the 4th amendment made unreasonable search and seizure illegal unless a specific warrant is issued with probable cause to issue it. The founding fathers wanted to protect the citizens of the United States from unfair warrants that came from the crown quite frequently.

With that in mind, judges and magistrates need to be very careful when issuing warrants. They have the power to violate someone’s rights, and if they use that power incorrectly it can land them in some hot water. Judges aren’t above the law, and they are well aware of that. If a strong enough case can be brought up against the judge they can be sued or even removed from the bench. It’s rare that a judge’s mistake will result in anything so utterly catastrophic, but it has happened before. 

How to Find Warrant Information in Florida

Warrant information isn’t all too hard to find if you know the paths you need to take to make it a little easier. It’s actually not uncommon for people to look into warrant information. Some people do it because they have a troubled family member that they worry may be hanging out with a bad crowd. Others want to make sure that they aren’t wanted for a law that they accidentally broke. The third most common is likely checking into people that they have upcoming dates with to make sure that the person they’re going to see isn’t trouble. 

Looking into warrants is a simple thing, but even as such there are a couple of methods that are commonly used. If you want the least nonsense approach that will get you the most amount of information in the shortest amount of time possible, use a warrant search service or a personal background check service. These two types of services specialize in finding this kind of information quickly and from all over the country. Millions of people trust these services to find exactly the kind of information they’re looking for time and time again. 

The reason why these services are so popular is that they can provide information from anywhere and everywhere in the country. That means that you don’t need to know what county you’re looking for, just enter in the person in question’s first and last name and their system will scrub databases all over the United States to find the information that you need. It might sound like this method would be long and arduous, but you can actually expect to get detailed information on your screen instantly. They even provide all of the information on a single, easy-to-read page. 

The other method that is commonly used is a little trickier. You can check on your local law enforcement agency’s website, usually the county Sheriff’s Department. Some counties provide detailed records about warrants right on their website, so you can find everything you need for a specific county right there. If you just so happen to live in a county that both provide this kind of information and keeps their database regularly updated, your search could end right there. Especially if you only need information from that single county. In fact, this method is best suited for people that only need to check in one county. 

The reason for that is that none of these databases are linked. Each county’s database is independent of any other county, so if you need to check multiple counties you’ll need to manually compile information from each county you check. This gets trickier if you run into a county that doesn’t make this information easily available. Some counties require you to email them to get this information, and other counties don’t provide this information in an easily accessible way at all. On top of all of that, some counties have these kinds of databases but never update them, so if you check on their website you’ll find wildly outdated data that won’t help you at all with your search. 

Get the Warrant Information You Need When You Need It

Many people every single day have warrants issued for their arrest, and many other people want some way to locate that information. Fortunately, it’s as easy as doing a quick web search and you can find exactly what you need as quickly and efficiently as possible. The internet has provided many tools for finding information just like this, so you never have to worry about spending too much time using an inefficient method ever again.