Free Ohio Warrant Search (Tips & Lookup Tools)

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Free Ohio Warrant Search

Find out if you or someone else has a warrant out for their arrest in Ohio, free of charge.

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Conduct a free Ohio warrant search to learn more about someone in your life (e.g., a friend, family member, or co-worker) or to ensure your safety from a dangerous person.

The no-cost search options provided throughout this resource can also be used to ensure you have no active warrants.

The right to inspect public records, such as warrant information, was granted by the Ohio Public Records Act. This article will guide you through accessing warrant details in Ohio, helping you understand what is required to conduct a search and what information is available for public view.

This resource was written by Attorney Robert Bailey Jr, who holds a Juris Doctorate from Widener University School of Law.

Can Anyone Access & View Warrants Issued in Ohio?

The Ohio Public Records Act allows citizens to check for warrants and related information.¹

This access includes several types of warrants authorized under Ohio law (details on the types of warrants will be discussed later). Depending on the record custodian, a person can access this information online, in person, or by other means.

While most warrant information is publicly available, there are exceptions. For instance, records containing information about juveniles and those that have sensitive information that would hinder an ongoing law enforcement investigation can be restricted.

A Brief Overview of Locating Warrants in Ohio

When planning an Ohio warrant roundup, it’s important to have the necessary information to perform an effective search. As a starting point, ensure you have the subject’s complete name you want to search.

Since there is no statewide search tool, in addition to knowing what state the subject is from, it would also be helpful to know the county where the warrant was issued. Any additional information, such as descriptive characteristics or date of birth, can also help your search.

In Ohio, several different county and city agencies may have available warrant information for free. The two best options for accessing warrant information at the County level are the Clerk of Court and the Sheriff’s Office. At the city level, you can reach out to their police department, and in some cities, they also have a municipal court that may have warrant information.

Note: Many government agencies have free online search tools, while others have online forms you can submit. You can also request records by mail, phone or in person for many of these agencies.

How To Perform an Ohio Warrant Search Online for Free

There is no available statewide warrant or unified case search tool to perform a free Ohio warrant search online; as a result, the broadest you can begin your search for Ohio arrest warrants and other types is at the county level.

Since there is no statewide search tool, you must know the county where the warrant was issued. If you do not know, the most efficient option is to start with the largest county and work down to the smaller ones until you find what you are looking for.

Warrant information can be found primarily with the county sheriff’s office or the court responsible for handling criminal matters. However, each county and government agency may provide access to warrant information through a different medium.

Some agencies will have online search tools or formal request forms for accessing warrant information. Other government agencies will allow you to request by phone, mail or in person. To give you a better understanding of how to access warrant information, below are steps, tools and resources for accessing this data in Ohio’s three largest counties.

In Ohio, its largest county by population is Franklin County.² If you want to look for warrant information, you can use the Municipal Courts Online Search Tool.

This tool allows you to search specifically through all criminal records in the county. Once you select “Criminal” for the case type, there is a variety of information you can input to narrow down your search results.

After typing in an offender’s name, you can include their date of birth, case year and case status. Once you get to the search results, you can view summary information about the person and their case.

Once on the complete criminal record, scroll down to the “Events” and “Docket” sections. Here, you will get a chronological listing of all court events and orders from the judge. If there is any warrant information, it will be located in these sections.

For additional questions on warrant information from criminal case records, you can contact the Franklin County Municipal Clerk at 614-645-8186 or by going to the address below:

Franklin County Municipal Court Clerk
375 S. High St.
Columbus, Ohio 43215

Another option for warrant information is by looking through the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Wanted Persons List.⁴ For additional warrant information from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, you can call them at 614-525-3360 or go to the following location:

Franklin County Sheriff’s Office
369 S. High St.
Columbus, Ohio 43215

The second largest county by population in Ohio is Cuyahoga County. For warrant information here, a citizen can perform an online search of criminal case records using the Cuyahoga County Clerk of Courts Public Access Tool.⁵

A citizen can search by case number or name. Additional information that can be entered to focus your search includes the offender’s date of birth, race and sex.

A record seeker can use the summary information on the search results page to select the subject they want to look up warrant information on. Once on a subject’s criminal record, click on the “Docket” tab at the top of the page. This section will contain details on any warrants issued in the case.

For additional assistance with accessing warrant information through these criminal cases, you can reach out to the Cuyahoga County Clerk of Courts. The Clerk’s Office is open from Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. You can call the office at 216-443-7950 or go to the address below:

Cuyahoga County Clerk of Court
Justice Center
1200 Ontario St.
Cleveland, Ohio 44113

A record seeker may also want to request records from the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department Warrant Unit. You can contact the Warrant Division at 216-443-6100. To talk to someone at their office, an individual can go to the following address:

Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department
1215 W. Third St.
Cleveland, Ohio 44113

Hamilton is the third largest county in Ohio.⁶ If a citizen is looking for information on warrants here, one option is to search with the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Online Search Tool.

Searches can be conducted by a subject’s name, with the option of including their date of birth. The search results will provide you with all available criminal cases that match your name search.

Once you click on a case number, you will have access to the complete criminal record. At the bottom right corner, there are icons for additional criminal information. Click on the icon for “case history” as well as the “documents” icon.

These two sections will provide any available warrant information. In the Case Documents section, you can view the actual warrant, although sensitive information may be redacted.

For additional information on warrant information in criminal case records, contact the Hamilton County Clerk of Court any time from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, Monday through Friday. You can email them at [email protected] or call them at 513-946-5656. You can also talk to someone at their office located at:

Hamilton County Clerk of Court
1000 Main Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

For additional information, you can submit a public record request to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office. You can also contact them at 513-946-6400 or by going to:

Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office
11021 Hamilton Ave.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45231

Turn to Municipal Agencies & Courts in Ohio for Warrant Information

Another option for conducting a warrant search in Ohio is to look for information available at the municipal or city level. Since these are smaller government agencies, you may find it easier to talk to someone about the specific steps for accessing warrants and any questions you may have.

Below is information you can utilize when searching for warrants in the three largest cities in Ohio:

The largest city in Ohio by population is Columbus. If you are looking to access warrant information through a local government agency in this city, start by contacting the Columbus Police Headquarters Public Records Unit.⁸

They are available Monday through Friday, from 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM and you can call them with any questions at 614-645-4925. To request warrant information, you can either submit a records request online or submit a form to the address below:

Columbus Police Headquarters
120 Marconi Boulevard
Columbus, Ohio 43215

Another option is to contact the Columbus City Attorney to ask them about any outstanding warrants. You can email them at [email protected] or call them at 614-645-7385. Alternatively, you can talk to someone at their office located at:

Columbus City Attorney
77 N. Front St.
Columbus, Ohio 43215

Cleveland is the second largest city in Ohio by population. For warrant information here, you can start by searching with the Cleveland Municipal Courts Public Access Online Tool.

This search tool allows you to focus your search on warrants specifically. To conduct a search for warrant information, you will have to first select the “Advanced Filtering Options.”

To begin your search, under search type, only select the “warrants” option. You could further filter your search results by case type to focus on misdemeanor, felony or DUI cases. You can also narrow your results by the type of warrant and the warrant status.

Once you perform your name search, you will be taken to the results page. Here, you can see matching parties’ names, current addresses and the number of warrants they have.

You can click on the warrant tab to see the status, issued date and location of all warrants. Lastly, you can click on a specific warrant to see additional information, including offense information related to it.

For additional information or questions, you can contact the Cleveland Municipal Court Clerk of Court by phone at 216-664-4790 or by going to the address below:

Cleveland Municipal Court
1200 Ontario St.
Cleveland, Ohio 44113

If you are still looking for information on warrants, consider contacting the Cleveland Police Department to make a public records request.¹¹ Requests can be made in person Monday through Friday between 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM (Monday, Wednesday and Friday for walk-in requests).

For additional questions, you can call the Cleveland Police Department at 216-623-5352. They are located at the address below:

Cleveland Police Department
1300 Ontario St.
Cleveland, Ohio 44113

The third largest city in Ohio is Cincinnati. If a citizen is looking for information on warrants in this city, you can request available information with the Cincinnati Police Department Records Section. You can also submit a record request online, or you can go in person to the address below:

Cincinnati Police Department
Police Records Section
310 Ezzard Rd.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45214

The Police Records Section is available Monday through Friday, from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. You can also ask for warrant information by emailing them at [email protected] or calling them at 513-352-3559.

Retrieve Federal Warrant Information for Ohio & All Other States

After exhausting all options for accessing state warrants, there is still more information available. You can also perform a federal warrant search.

Unlike an Ohio warrant search, there are no free online search tools at the federal level; however, if you are looking for a free online option, a starting point is to check out some of the Most Wanted Lists maintained by federal law enforcement agencies.

One of those is the Most Wanted List of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).¹² This list of their ten most wanted people provides their mugshot, descriptive characteristics and crimes they have been either charged or convicted of.

The Most Wanted Fugitives of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) contains detailed information on an offender’s alleged federal violations, along with a description of what they look like and their mugshot.¹³ Lastly, you can check the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive List. For their fifteen most wanted fugitives, you can view detailed information about them and the crimes they committed.

The U.S. Marshals Service is responsible for executing most warrants from federal agencies.¹⁴ Another option for getting warrant information is to submit a FOIA request with them. To increase your odds of getting the requested information, consider contacting an attorney who deals with federal criminal practice and is familiar with this process.

As mentioned, the only search tool for warrant information from federal law enforcement agencies is a paid service. Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) can be used to perform a name-based search to find federal criminal records.

You can look through a criminal record’s docket and history section to find information on any warrants issued for the person in that particular case. The cost for viewing these records is $0.10 per page.

Warrant Types in Ohio & What They Mean

In order to perform an Ohio warrant check, you want to know the various types and what they mean. In Ohio, there are different types of warrants that are issued for different reasons and can serve various purposes.

The following are the different types of warrants you may encounter when performing a search in Ohio.

Arrest Warrant: An arrest warrant is used to bring a person into custody when there is evidence they have committed a crime. Law enforcement is required to provide a judge with probable cause evidence that a particular person committed a crime to get an arrest warrant.

There are a variety of specific actions that can lead to an arrest warrant besides the commission of a crime. A person may have a warrant for a probation or parole violation or failing to pay child support.

Bench Warrant: A bench warrant in Ohio is also referred to as an alias capias warrant when it involves a felony. This warrant is issued by a judge when a subject fails to show up for a required court appearance. If you get brought in under this warrant for a felony, you are not allowed to post bond until after your next court hearing.

Peace Warrants: This is a unique warrant in which a person is served when someone else files a complaint that they are a threat to them or a piece of property. If a complaint for a peace warrant is approved, the person being served will be required to go to court to answer the allegations.

There are also warrants that do not have to do with people. A search warrant is used to inspect a particular location for property that was taken or used in a crime. There are also more unique types, such as a surveillance warrant, which allows law enforcement to monitor a specific person or location.

Note: The term “active” or “outstanding” warrant does not denote the type of warrant but rather means that the warrant has yet to be executed.

Actions To Consider if You or Someone Else Faces an Arrest Warrant in Ohio

Now that you know how to conduct an effective search, you have to plan for what to do when you discover active warrants for either yourself or someone you know. Warrants should be taken seriously and addressed appropriately.

If you find out that you have active arrest warrants in Ohio, you should address them immediately. You may need help with what you should do and what your rights are.

To alleviate any concerns, you should contact an Ohio criminal defense attorney. They will be able to advise you on what to do and answer any questions you may have about the process.

The warrant may be for a minor matter that can be easily resolved. In many cases, you can clear the warrant by paying a past-due fine or rescheduling a missed court date.

If you have an active arrest warrant, you will also want to make sure you let your family know. You don’t want them wondering about you if you are unable to contact them for a little while. Lastly, before you turn yourself in, you should contact a bail bond agent with the hopes of being released quicker.

If you discover that someone else has a warrant, you should carefully consider your options. If it’s a warrant for a serious offense, you should pass along any information you have with the law enforcement agency that is responsible for executing it.

You can also consider submitting a law enforcement tip with the Ohio Attorney General.¹⁵ If the warrant is for something less serious, you can let them know, or if you do not know them well, contact a friend or family member.

You should now have a better understanding of the warrant process in Ohio and the importance of this information. With the steps and tools provided in this article, you are equipped to perform an Ohio warrant search with various government agencies throughout the state.