Laws Concerning Washington County Warrants

Washington county warrant laws adhere to the guidelines specified by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the dictates of the Supreme Court. As such, in Washington counties, a seizure or an arrest warrant will only be considered valid if it has been issued on the basis of probable cause. This "probable cause" is a reasonable belief that a crime has been or is being committed and that the suspect was or is involved in it; the belief should also be supported by evidence.

A warrant is issued for these reasons: a person may have violated a criminal law, may have violated the terms and conditions of a restraining order, or may have failed to appear before the court.

When a person has to be arrested, a judge writes and signs a “warrant” that has to be executed either by the sheriff or his deputies. Furthermore, arrest and detention orders that have been issued by a Probation Officer for a probationer have to be authorized by the sheriff’s office before being enforced. The deputies at the office's Fugitive Warrant Unit are entrusted with executing the warrant order. Apart from search and arrest warrants, they also take action on adult probation office warrants, bench warrants, domestic relations warrants, and juvenile warrants.

A warrant is considered invalid if it is based on questionable or untrue evidence. It is also considered invalid if it had been secured by making false or misleading statements to the judge. If a warrant is later proved to be invalid, then the person must be released. The evidence gathered during the arrest can also not be used at trial.

Exceptions to Warrant Requirements

There are some exceptions to the above warrant requirements. A law enforcement officer may carry out a search or make an arrest without a valid warrant if there exists a probable cause and the delay in obtaining a warrant might lead to risking a life or cause the perpetrator to flee the scene of crime.

There are certain other circumstances where searches or arrest may be carried out without warrants: a person may waive his Fourth Amendment rights and consent to a warrantless search or seizure, or a warrantless search may be carried out on an arrested person to look for hidden weapons or prevent him from destroying evidence.

Accessing Washington County Warrant Records

The sheriff documents and stores records of warrants and they can be accessed for a fee. The Criminal Records Section is responsible for maintaining and updating all arrest warrants. At any given point in time, the sheriff has to track as many 12,000 active warrants. The active warrants list is available at http://www.washingtoncountysheriff.org/onlinechecks/warrants/agree_http://www.peoplepublicrecords.org/activewarrantslist.html.

If you have any questions on a warrant, you may also call the Warrants Division at (651) 430-7998 or contact the Washington County District Court.

Information on warrant requirements will help you safeguard your constitutional rights. You should also know where to search for warrant records so that you may check the credibility of an individual.