How Do I Know if There’s a Warrant Out for My Arrest?

You may find yourself in a situation where you’re concerned that there may be a warrant out for your arrest. Perhaps you were involved in an assault, a domestic situation, or believe someone may have reported you for committing a crime. Many people believe that if there’s a warrant, the police or sheriff are going to come looking for you. However, that’s not always the case. Perhaps they were unable to locate you immediately or do not have your current address.

If you think it’s likely that law enforcement may be looking for you, reach out to a criminal defense attorney first. Your attorney can look into the matter while ensuring all your legal and constitutional rights are protected, including whether or not any warrant against you was obtained properly.

You can find out if there are any outstanding warrants against you by checking with the sheriff’s office or court in the county where you live. However – and this is a big however – if there is an active warrant against you and you show up in person (or even call), you will likely be arrested immediately.

There are many online services that allow you to search for active warrants. Most of them allow you to search by state and county. You can search Bell County, TX outstanding warrants and Coryell County, TX warrants online, among many others.

Because these are public records, you might be alerted to the fact that there’s a warrant out for your arrest by – believe it or not – your junk mail and spam calls. Many unscrupulous companies will scrape arrest warrant names from online websites and use this information to sell overpriced bail services. If you suddenly begin receiving these types of solicitations, you might want to see if there’s a warrant out in your name.

An arrest warrant should contain the following information:

• Your legal name (including aliases) and age
• Your height, weight, gender and ethnicity
• Any identifying marks or tattoos
• The crime of which you’re accused
• The name and signature of the person issuing the warrant
• An affidavit of the time and place of the alleged offense, along with a description and a finding of probable cause that you committed the offense

If you believe there is a warrant out for your arrest, call an attorney first. Don’t fall for services who offer you a fee to “pay off your fine” and make it go away. In most cases this is tantamount to pleading guilty and can affect you for the rest of your life. Your attorney can handle your case from the beginning, working to have charges lessened or even dropped completely.

Talk to the criminal defense attorneys at the Mary Beth Harrell Criminal Defense and DWI Lawyers today for experienced representation. If there is an arrest warrant out in your name, we will protect your rights. To set up a consultation, call us today at 254-680-4655 or visit our contact page. We are here to serve you from our offices in Killeen and Copperas Cove.