How to Check for Arrest Warrants in Massachusetts
- 1). Avoid asking law enforcement officials in person if you are checking about an arrest warrant against you. Law enforcement databases allow any officer throughout the United States to look up and determine whether a Massachusetts court has issued an arrest warrant against a person. However, an arrest warrant also enables any law enforcement officer throughout the country to arrest and extradite the person named in the arrest warrant to the Massachusetts court named in the warrant. Asking a law enforcement officer about an arrest warrant issued in your name will result in your arrest, even if the underlying criminal conduct is a speeding ticket.
- 2). Determine what Massachusetts counties may have issued an arrest warrant. If the person potentially named in a search warrant lives in a city (such as Boston), it would be prudent to search for a search warrant in both the county where the person lives as well as any adjacent county. However, if the potential arrest warrant concerns an unpaid traffic ticket, it would be prudent to search in the county where the ticket was issued.
- 3). Determine if calling law enforcement is appropriate. If the Massachusetts search warrant concerns a person other than yourself, contacting law enforcement is risk free. However, you may be risking arrest by contacting law enforcement if the search warrant concerns yourself and the underlying criminal activity is a serious felony. If you potentially have an outstanding search warrant against you concerning a serious crime, it would be prudent to contact a Massachusetts defense attorney to conduct the search on your behalf because a defense attorney cannot disclose incriminating information to law enforcement.
- 4). Look up the phone number of the individual sheriff's offices you are contacting. The Massachusetts Sheriff's Association maintains a website listing the contact information for the sheriff's office in every Massachusetts county.
- 5). Call during normal business hours and provide identifying information. To determine whether there is an outstanding arrest warrant against a person, law enforcement will need a person's name, gender, race and driver's license number.
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