Pennsylvania Warrant Details

In Pennsylvania the crime prosecution is delegated to the local government offices. There are 67 counties in the state of Pennsylvania. The counties have a district attorney and a court of common pleas. The chief law enforcement officer for a county is the district attorney. The jurisdiction of a crime that has been committed in a county falls under the supervision of the court of common pleas.

Warrant Division of the Counties and Tracking the Records

The Pennsylvania Warrant Division of the counties primary function is to follow the leads which are provided by the local residents and local law enforcement divisions and to perform a door to door enforcement and to serve Bench Warrants. For instance the recent statistics given by the Erie County Sheriff’s Department shows that at the end of the year 2008, the Sheriff’s department had successfully disposed off around 2693 warrant files out of which around 383 involved warrants for criminal activities, 181 Non Omitas, 1240 non-support and about 879 for Probation costs.

The Division is responsible for processing Justice and Fugitive warrants, these are for persons who have been arrested in a county but they are also wanted fugitives by other state judiciaries. For instance you can visit the official websitehttp://eriecountygov.org/ for warrant division and warrant related information.

If you want to get information about warrant records, you can visit the local police department or the Sheriff’s office. You can also visit the local courthouses for information about Pennsylvania warrants. Visit the official website http:// www.superior.court.state.pa.us/ of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania for addresses and official websites of the county or the local courthouses.

Information on Warrants

Warrants are basically issued for probable cause. Search warrants are issued by the court which includes the details like the search of a specific area for extracting evidences to prove one is guilty. Arrest warrants contain details of the evidences found against the offender and the reason for arrest; it also contains the details of the offender’s appearance, name, address, social number and others.

Types of Pennsylvania Warrants

There are three major types of Pennsylvania warrants that are issued by the courts in the state.

Search Warrants

The Pennsylvania courts issue a search warrant to give authorization to the law enforcement to conduct a specific search of a place like your home or apartment. It is necessary to have a probable cause for an issuance of a search warrant by a Judge.

The probable cause for search means that:

•    In a search warrant it is more likely that the specific item that needs to be searched are invariably connected with criminal activities.
•    It is also mentioned on a search warrant the specific place to be searched and the items will be found in that place.

Searches without a Warrant

The Pennsylvania general rule for search warrants requires searches to find evidences against persons whom the law enforcement division believes is guilty of crime. The search warrants are not required for the following:

•    Searches in respect to arrest: The law enforcement officers are authorized to search your body or clothing for contraband or weapons while taking a person into custody.
•    Vehicular searches: If one is arrested in a motor vehicle, the police have the power to search inside the vehicle. A probable cause is necessary to perform a complete search of the vehicle.
•    Severe circumstances: In certain circumstances which require immediate action a search can be conducted to avoid destruction of evidence.

Pennsylvania Arrest

There should be a probable cause for an individual to get arrested in Pennsylvania. There should be a reasonable belief that a crime has been committed and the suspect has committed the crime. An arrest warrant is not mandatory.

Once an individual has been arrested, he is protected by the constitutional rights. The constitutional rights which are provided by the government are right to have an attorney and right to remain silent. After you have been arrested, you are not required to say to the investigators or the police anything until and unless there is an attorney present at the spot of interrogation. The law gives the subject an opportunity to contact an attorney.

Bench Warrants

If a person is deemed to be in contempt of court then a bench warrant is issued by a District Magistrate or Judge. If he or she intentionally violates a condition or an order given to them by a District Magistrate or a Judge of the court, then it is considered to be a contempt of court. For both civil and criminal matters a Bench warrant can be issued. Pennsylvania bench warrant has the power for an immediate on-site arrest of the individual who is a subject of the bench warrant.

Expungement of a Pennsylvania Record

In Pennsylvania, one may be able to expunge his or her criminal record under certain circumstances; this means that information can be removed from the record.

There are some criteria’s for expungement of criminal records:

- If one is at least 70 years old and have not been taken into custody for 10 years following a release from prison, or
- If one is seeking to expunge a juvenile records and sufficient time has passed since discharge.
- In addition to this, if a person has been dead for three years or more then that person's records can be expunged.
- If the subject or the defendant is placed under the ARD or the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition, which is an alternative program for sentencing in Pennsylvania, for a felony offense like sexual abuse of a minor, expungement is not available.
- If you think that you qualify or eligible to get your records expunged or erased, you can submit a petition to the court for expungement.

A Pennsylvania arrest record can be expunged or erased after the offender has successfully completed the ARD requirement. When charges are dismissed the court will immediately order for the expungement of the records.