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  1. Lake County Court
  2. Lake County Arrest Records

Lake County, Indiana Arrest Records

Lake County arrest records are documents created to record a person being legally taken into custody by law enforcement agencies. They are created by the arresting agency when the arrestee is booked into their database and the county's detention center and usually also show the booking information and the status of the arrest. Arrest records serve the public by ensuring transparency and facilitating court-process tracking (for cases that made it to trial). Arrest records are maintained by the Lake County Sheriff's Office and police departments in the city, including the Gary Police Department and Hammond Police Department.

Arrest records are maintained and disseminated according to the Indiana Access to Public Records Act (IC 5-14-3). This law mandates that arrest records, among other public records, be made available upon public inquiry unless specifically exempted by law. Access to criminal history information is separately governed by state criminal records statutes and Indiana State Police procedures. Anyone can make a record request regardless of whether or not they are a resident of Lake County, but depending on the agency asked, identification may be required for in-person searches. The agencies may also charge fees to copy or certify the record.

Are Arrest Records Public Information in Lake, Indiana?

Yes. Unless specifically exempted by court order or statutory exemptions, arrest records are public and available to the public in Lake County and across Indiana. The Indiana Access to Public Records Act (IC 5-14-3) treats arrest records as public records and grants access to them like other records developed by government agencies. Indiana criminal records statutes and Indiana State Police procedures oversee access to criminal records and how they can be requested from the holding law enforcement agencies. Arrest records can be requested online without an ID, but it may be required during an in-person search by the disseminating agency. Administrative fees apply for searching, copying, and certifying a record.

What Do Public Lake County Arrest Records Contain?

A public-facing Lake County arrest record can contain the following information:

  • Full legal name of the arrestee
  • Arrestee's date of birth
  • Date and time of booking
  • Name of the arresting agency
  • Description of the charge and its corresponding statute
  • Bond information (amount and conditions for release)
  • Mugshot
  • Case information (case number)
  • Court docket information

Information that is typically withheld from court records includes active investigation records, juvenile records, sealed records, expunged records, identifying information of victims, and financial and medical data.

Lake County, Indiana Arrest Search

There are several tools for finding arrest records at the state and federal levels. They include:

  • State Arrest Search:
    • Indiana State Police Limited Criminal History Search Tool: This is a statewide online criminal history search tool for finding criminal histories in Indiana. Only records of felonies and class A misdemeanor can be obtained as long as the record is not sealed or expunged. Fees apply for searching and obtaining records using this tool.
    • Indiana Department of Corrections: They have an online offender search tool for performing an online lookup of arrestees incarcerated in Indiana. They also provide resources for finding records of previously incarcerated individuals, including sex offenders.
  • Federal Arrest Search
    • The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) maintains the Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator, which is the federal repository for finding federal arrest records and criminal information by name or detention number.
    • ICE Detainee Locator: This is a federal tool for finding records of arrests or detentions related to immigration.

Lake County Inmate Locator

The Lake County Sheriff's Office is the primary custodian of arrest records and inmate information in Lake County. They contribute to the Indiana County Jail Public Portal, which can be used to look up information on inmates across the state. A search can be carried out using keywords like name, date of birth, the county of arrest, and case number.

The contact information of the sheriff's office is as follows:

Office of the Sheriff, Lake County

2293 North Main Street,

Crown Point, IN 46307

Phone: (352) 343-2101 or (219) 755-3500 for jail booking

Active Warrant Search in Lake County

An arrest warrant is a legal document that grants law enforcement officers and agencies the authority to detain or take a person into custody. Under Rule 5 of the Indiana Rules of Court, arrest warrants are public records. Valid arrest warrants are signed by a judge when probable cause has been established that, beyond a reasonable doubt, the person accused did commit the crime. A public arrest warrant typically contains the following:

  • Name of the subject to be arrested or an adequate description
  • Charge leading to the arrest and its corresponding statute
  • Signature of the issuing judge
  • Date the warrant is issued
  • Bail or bond amount

Arrest warrants are issued by the Lake County Clerk of Court and executed by the Sheriff's Office. The sheriff's office or courts can be contacted for access to warrant information. Indiana has a case search tool where individuals can find arrest records, including warrant information if the case is being tried in court. The Lake County Sheriff's Office also has an active warrant search tool on its website.

Agency / Resource

Purpose

Search Methods

Notes

Lake County Sheriff's Office

Executes warrants and keeps warrant records

Phone, online, in person

Publishes individuals with active warrants.

Lake County Clerk of Court

Issues arrest warrants

In person, by phone, and online

Online information on warrants part of other criminal records in court cases

How to Find Arrest Records for Free in Lake County

Free tools for finding basic arrest information online in Lake County include the following:

  • Indiana County Jail Public Portal: It is a free tool that provides free access to arrest records across Indiana counties, including Lake County.
  • Lake County Clerk of Court's Online Case Search tool: It provides free access to arrest records that proceeded to trial. Information obtainable includes court dockets and case records. A search can be executed using the arrestee's name or case ID number.

Free arrest records search tools are typically limited in the scope of results they can produce. They provide access to recent arrest records but not to records restricted by law, such as sealed, expunged, or redacted records. Older records have to be requested through the county's formal public records request form. Free tools do not often require an ID, as the search provides basic information only.

Lake County Arrest Report

Although they are sometimes used interchangeably and are related, arrest records differ from arrest reports. An arrest record is a summarized document entry detailing a person being taken into custody and booked into the county's jail system or jail roster. It is created by the arresting agency for their records, and it contributes to the arrested individual's total. criminal history. An arrest record will typically detail the charges, bond information, name, and date of birth.

Arrest reports, on the other hand, are narrative reports created by the arresting officer to document how the arrest was conducted and what led to the arrest. Contents of an arrest report include why the arrest happened, the officer's observation of the scene, recorded evidence, and the order of events.

The custodians of Lake County's arrest records are the sheriff's office, courts, and the county's jail system. The custodian of the arrest report is the arresting agency, which could be the sheriff's office or municipal police departments.

How to Get an Arrest Record Expunged in Lake County

Expunction is the legal removal of an arrest record from a person's criminal history. Sealing, on the other hand, is the removal of an arrest record from public access, but the record still exists. Arrest records can be removed from a person's criminal history following Indiana's law of expunction or sealing. Indiana's expunction framework (also called "Second Chance provisions") governs the process of deleting these records by setting eligibility criteria, prescribing the waiting period that the case has to satisfy, and outlining the procedure for deleting the record. The process for expunging a record in Lake County is as follows:

  • The individual confirms the eligibility of their case, then petitions the court for expunction or sealing
  • The court hears the case and if granted, issues an order for sealing or expunction
  • The court order is sent to the Indiana State Police and other governmental agencies with copies of the record to remove the record from public view or destroy it.

How Do You Remove Lake County Arrest Records From the Internet?

A record can be removed from the internet, but the outcome of this depends on whether the record has been expunged or sealed under Indiana's law and if it is on a public database. After an arrest record has been expunged or sealed, a court order is signed by a judge and issued to the petitioner. The order mandates record custodians (government) like the Lake County Sheriff's Office and Lake County Clerk of Court to remove the record from their online databases and storage. Indiana law does not legally mandate private sites to honor expunction or sealing orders. Individuals can, however, contact the site admins to remove the record from their database. Removing a record from the internet is not an immediate process.