Arizona’s public records are legally open to anyone — but actually finding the right one is a different story. Between 15 county Sheriff booking systems, 15 Clerk of Court offices, a statewide court portal, and a separate corrections database, the trail splits fast. Most people who sit down to check a record spend an hour clicking through dead-ends before giving up. We exist to cut that down to a few minutes: plain-language guidance, county by county, pointing you straight to the official source that holds what you need.
Why we built Arizona Arrests
The records you’re looking for are real, they’re public, and they’re out there. The problem is that Arizona’s public-records infrastructure was never designed with the average person in mind. Each of the state’s 15 counties runs its own booking and court systems, with their own websites, their own search quirks, and their own rules about what’s available online versus in person. On top of that, statewide systems like the Arizona Judicial Branch’s Public Access to Court Case Information and the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry handle entirely different slices of the picture.
That fragmentation is genuinely confusing — even for people who do this regularly. We did the legwork so you don’t have to. Whether you’re checking your own record before a job application, trying to find out if a family member is in custody tonight, looking up a warrant, or pulling court case information, we show you exactly which official source to go to, how to use it, and what it will and won’t tell you. The difference between an hour of frustration and a five-minute answer is usually just knowing where to start.
What you’ll find here
For all 15 Arizona counties — Maricopa, Pima, Pinal, Yavapai, Mohave, Yuma, Coconino, Navajo, Apache, Graham, Greenlee, Gila, La Paz, Santa Cruz, and Cochise — and for the state as a whole, we cover three core record types.
Arrest records come from county Sheriff booking systems and, for court outcomes, from the Arizona Judicial Branch’s Public Access to Court Case Information portal. We explain what each source shows, who can search it, and how far back it goes.
Warrant searches vary significantly by county. Some Sheriffs publish active warrant lists online; others require a call or an in-person visit. We tell you which is which.
Inmate and jail lookups split between county jails — each with its own inmate locator — and the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry for people in state custody. We link to the right tool for each situation.
Where it applies, we also explain the real process for sealing or expunging a record in Arizona — what the law allows, which court handles it, and what steps are involved. We don’t hold any records ourselves. Everything points to official government sources.
How we keep it accurate
Every piece of guidance on this site is sourced from official, primary government sources — agency websites, court portals, and published statutes. We date what we verify so you can see how current it is.
But accuracy here isn’t a one-time claim. Agency websites change. Booking systems get updated. Phone numbers move. A detail that was correct six months ago can quietly go stale. We review the site on a rolling basis, and we take reader-reported corrections seriously. When someone flags an error, we check it against the official source and apply confirmed corrections within 48 hours.
That’s why every page on this site carries a Report an Error link. If you find something out of date or wrong, please use it. You’re often closer to the source than we are, and a quick flag genuinely helps everyone who comes after you.
What Arizona Arrests is NOT
We want to be useful, and part of being useful is being honest about what we can’t do.
We are an informational resource, not a law firm. Nothing on this site is legal advice, and nothing here substitutes for talking to a qualified attorney. If you’re facing a legal decision — a criminal charge, an expungement petition, a background-check dispute — please consult a lawyer. We can point you toward the right court and explain the general process; we cannot tell you what to do in your specific situation.
We are not a government agency or court, and we are not affiliated with any. We point you to official sources; we don’t speak for them, and we have no authority over their records or processes.
We cannot access private data, and we cannot remove, seal, or change an official record. Only the court or agency that owns a record has that power. Our pages explain how Arizona’s sealing and expungement process works so you can pursue it through the right channels — but the work happens there, not here.
Finally, public records change constantly. Despite real effort, a detail on this site can be wrong or out of date. Always confirm anything important directly against the official source before you rely on it. And if you spot something off, the Report an Error link is right there — use it.
Our promise to you
We’ll give you clear, plain-language guidance — no jargon, no runaround. We’ll be honest about what we know and what we don’t. We’ll point you to official sources, not dead-ends. We’ll keep the information current and fix mistakes fast when you flag them. The goal is simple: help you find what you’re looking for, understand what it means, and get on with your day. That’s it.