Texas Criminal Search Records

Use the Texas DPS public criminal-history product

Texas Department of Public Safety is the state criminal-history repository. For a public name-based check, follow its Criminal History Conviction Name Search to the Public Website, or use public request Form CR-42 by mail. The Secure Website is restricted to legislatively authorized entities; an ordinary public search does not gain the Secure Site’s broader access simply by creating an account. A DPS response also does not replace the underlying court file.

Choose the product before entering identifiers or paying. If an employer or licensing body needs a fingerprint-based check, obtain that organization’s instructions and service code instead of purchasing an ordinary public name report and assuming it qualifies. DPS’s general-information page separates public requests, personal review and purpose-specific fingerprint procedures.

Understand what the public response actually covers

CR-42 describes releasable repository information about convictions and grants of deferred adjudication, including associated arrest information. The response depends on what agencies submitted and what is publicly releasable on the request date. It is not a complete list of every arrest, every pending allegation, another state’s records or a federal history. Deferred adjudication should remain labeled as such rather than being rewritten as a conviction.

A name result can belong to a different person, and a no-record result can miss a record held under different identifiers. DPS explains that fingerprint comparison is more reliable than a name-based match. Treat an online candidate as something to corroborate, not an automatic identity finding. Keep the identifiers used so a later search with a different name or birth date is not mistaken for the same inquiry.

Check the public online terms before buying search credits

Use the Public Website linked by DPS and review its current account, search-credit and payment instructions before submission. The current public online price and credit-use terms could not be independently confirmed for this guide. Do not apply the Secure Site’s published $1 credit price to the public service; the two products have different eligibility and may have different charging rules. The verified mail alternative costs $10 per search.

Before paying, confirm what one public search purchases, whether viewing additional candidate records consumes more credits, and what happens after a no-match result. Save the receipt and result while they are available. If the site fails after payment, use its order or search history and support route before paying again; a technical failure does not establish a negative record.

Send CR-42 when you need the documented public mail route

CR-42 asks for last, first and middle names, sex, race, date of birth, and the address for the mailed response. It includes a Certified Copy Needed yes/no field. Mail the completed request with $10 by check or U.S. money order payable to Texas Department of Public Safety to Crime Records Division, P.O. Box 15999, Austin, TX 78761. The form lists 512-424-2474, option 2, for questions.

The DPS FAQ gives approximately 10 business days after receipt for a criminal-history request, with postal transit additional and not guaranteed. If timing or a particular certification matters, confirm the product with the Inquiry Unit before mailing. Do not promise an instant result from the paper route or confuse the CR-42 certification choice with a certified judgment issued by a court.

Save a search note that distinguishes candidate from conclusion

• ✓
  Retain the exact names and identifying information entered, the search date, and the agency’s response. Store this securely because a criminal-history document can contain sensitive identifiers.
• ✓
  Compare the returned identifying details before associating a record with a person. Preserve the offense, court reference and disposition wording separately; do not convert every listed event into a conviction.
• ✓
  For your own disputed name match, use DPS’s personal criminal-history review instructions and fingerprint process. Do not try to resolve a potential identity-theft match by repeatedly buying similar name searches.

Go to the court for the filed disposition

If the question is what happened in a particular prosecution, use the court and case information in the response to locate the judgment, dismissal, deferred-adjudication order or other relevant filing. Ask the court of jurisdiction for the exact document and the necessary type of copy. The court determines access and its copying charges; a repository search is not a purchase of every document in that case.

DPS specifically requires an appropriate certified court disposition to update missing disposition information. A private company’s printout is not a substitute. Before submitting a correction, compare the court’s person and case identifiers with the DPS record; if they differ, describe the mismatch rather than combining them into one history.

Correct source data and third-party data separately

DPS’s Error Resolution Unit evaluates potential criminal-history errors and requires certified supporting documents for updates or corrections. Contact [email protected] for the official process. The agency distinguishes ordinary record errors from misuse of identity, which has a separate resolution process. Follow that distinction if another person supplied your identifying details at arrest.

A correction at DPS does not automatically repair every commercial website: DPS says it cannot require third-party criminal-history sites to correct their entries. Keep evidence of the official correction and use each publisher’s dispute process where necessary. Retain the original response and subsequent correspondence so the corrected record can be traced to the same event.