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Direct answer

What to use for arrested person search

Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator is a federal inmate locator, not a state or local arrest database. USA.gov provides navigation to state and local government offices that can help locate the responsible local agency.

Route

Match custody level to source

Need Official route Scope
Federal inmate Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator Federal custody source
Local arrest or county jail Responsible local law-enforcement/corrections agency Use the agency located through the relevant state/local government route
Steps

Find the right arrested person

  1. 01
    Identify where the arrest happened

    City/county/state determines the likely agency.

  2. 02
    Separate arrest from custody

    A person can move between arrest, jail and court stages.

  3. 03
    Use official identifiers

    Booking/case numbers are stronger than names alone.

  4. 04
    Timestamp the result

    Custody status can change quickly.

Check

Custody-search checks

Jurisdiction

Federal, state and local systems are separate.

Name variants

Check spelling and middle identifiers.

Status date

Record when the status was checked.

Facility

Use the named facility rather than inferring location.

Important

Federal locator is not local arrest search

BOP’s Inmate Locator covers federal custody, so a BOP no-match does not answer a county-jail question.

Related Record Guides

Sources

Authoritative next stops

Official federal navigation source

USA.gov - Local Governments

Use this official source as a next stop for arrested person search.

United States