Grant County Arrest Records

In Grant County, Indiana, “arrest records” is a general term for public documents that contain information about an individual’s incarceration in a county detention facility. Law enforcement agents create these records when booking an arrestee into custody and are responsible for keeping, maintaining, and disseminating them in accordance with extant laws.

It is worth noting that arrests do not always lead to a criminal conviction, even though arrest records may be used to facilitate criminal prosecutions (a process that makes them part of the broader Indiana or Grant County court records). For this reason, arrest records may be included in detailed criminal history information, but they do not prove the subject's guilt. However, individuals and institutions may search a subject's arrest records as part of a comprehensive criminal background check during pre-employment screening, academic admissions, professional licensing, etc. Arrest records are also helpful for numerous purposes, including:

• Policy making
• Enhancing public safety
• Accountability
• General research, especially in criminology

Are Arrest Records Public in Grant County?

Yes, by virtue of Indiana Code 5-14-3, also known as the Indiana Access to Public Records Act (APRA). According to this law, members of the public can request to examine and copy Grant County arrest records because they are government documents. The record custodians have the responsibility of disseminating these records on request, except they are marked “non-confidential” or access to them is prohibited by any extant law.

For example, the law forbids public officials from disclosing arrest records to the public if they are part of an ongoing criminal investigation. However, record custodians are expected to provide a statutory basis for refusing to disclose an undisclosed record to a requester. Public officials must also separate disclosable information from undisclosed information and make it available to requesters whenever disclosable and undisclosed information are contained in a record.

What Do Public Arrest Records Contain?

Grant County arrest records contain the following public information:

• Suspect's personal identifying information (full name, age, sex, date of birth, gender, height, weight, race, hair, and eyes)
• Inmate ID
• Suspect’s mugshot
• Subject’s address
• Arrest information (date and time)
• Arrest agency
• Charge details
• Court information
• Bond details

Grant County Arrest Statistics

According to the FBI’s (Federal Bureau of Investigation) Crime Data Explorer, Grant County Sheriff's Office recorded 245 arrests in 2023. Of that number, 137 were made for drug/narcotic offenses, 45 for Driving Under the Influence (DUI), 36 for simple assault, and 17 for “all other offenses”. On the other hand, the Fairmount Police Department recorded 4 arrests for aggravated assault while arrests made by Marion Police Department for the same year is 497. Members of the public can query the Indiana State Police, Grant County Sheriff's Office, and local police departments for comprehensive statistics of arrests

Find Grant County Arrest Records

The processes for finding Grant County arrest records are pretty straightforward once the requester determines the appropriate record custodian, which can be broken down into local, state and federal.

Local Resources

Local resources for locating Grant County arrest records refer to the Grant County Sheriff's Office and the various police departments within the county. Individuals can send a public records request to the above establishments. Specifically, they can visit the relevant agency in person within administrative hours or put a call through to verify the agency's preferred method of receiving public requests.

Furthermore, some agency's may provide online platforms for interested parties to access arrest records in their custody. For example, the Grant County Sheriff's jail division operates a publicly accessible online current inmates database for individuals to verify information regarding persons held at the Grant County jail.

State Resources

Individuals can expand their search of Grant County arrest records to state frontiers by sending a public records request to the Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC). The guidelines highlighted in the state’s Request a Public Record page is useful for this purpose. Alternatively, interested parties can leverage the Department’s online Incarcerated Search platform to find records of individuals serving jail terms in state-administered jail facilities in Grant County. Searches on this platform can be done by name (first and last) or DOC number.

Federal Resources

The US government has the power to apprehend persons suspected of flaunting federal laws through its various federal law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Marshals Service (USMS). These agencies may conduct arrests throughout the country, including Grant County. Individuals arrested by federal agencies are often incarcerated in federal detention facilities which are overseen by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Individuals may query the BOP for information regarding such incarcerated persons through the Bureau’s Online Inmate Locator System.

Individual law enforcement agencies may also maintain a publicly searchable online database of arrestees. For example, ICE operates an Online Detainee Locator System that allows members of the public to find arrestees by biological information or A-number. Alternatively, requesters can send FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests to federal agencies responsible for maintaining records of their subject of interest.

Free Arrest Record Search in Grant County

Free arrest record searches are possible through the official channels highlighted above. However, to guarantee access to records at no cost, requesters must limit their requests to inspection of documents alone. Generally, searchers are made to bear the cost of reproducing and certifying public Grant County arrest records.

Apart from official resources, members of the public can leverage third-party databases to obtain Grant County arrest records without a fee. However, this offer, when it exists, is often limited to basic information or permissible for the first few searches as an incentive to subscribe to a paid plan.

How Long Do Arrests Stay on Your Record?

For life. Arrest information will typically remain on an individual’s criminal record until the subject of the record takes steps to have them expunged. Exceptions to this general rule include:

• Arrests made after June 30, 2022, which are subject to automatic expungement when there was no conviction
• Arrests that did not lead to a criminal charge (automatic expungement will take effect 180 days after the arrest)

Expunge Grant County Arrest Records

Expungement removes a person's arrest information from their criminal records, ensuring that they do not show up during criminal background checks. To expunge an arrest record, the subject of the record must meet the eligibility requirements, which depend on numerous factors. These include the nature of the offense and the amount of time that has elapsed since the arrest.

Generally, a court must grant a person's expungement request if their arrest did not lead to a conviction or the conviction was overturned on appeal and:

• At least one year has passed from the date of the arrest
• The subject is not an active participant in a pretrial diversion program
• They had no convictions the year before they begin the expungement process
• They have no pending criminal charges
• They have satisfied all the requirements for their diversion program

For misdemeanors or Class D/ Level 6 felonies that were reduced to misdemeanors, the court must grant the subject's expungement request if:

• At least 5 years have passed since their conviction date
• They have no conviction 5 years prior to their request for expungement
• They are not the subject of an ongoing criminal charge
• They have completely satisfied their sentencing terms such as fines, court costs, fees, and orders of restitution
• They have paid the requisite expungement fees

If the arrest led to a Class D or Level 6 felony conviction, the subject's request for expungement must be granted if they fulfill these conditions:

• At least 8 years have passed since their conviction
• They had no new criminal convictions during the above period
• They have no pending criminal charges
• They have fulfilled all their sentencing requirements and paid their expungement filing fee

For more serious felonies, individuals must meet higher requirements for their expungement requests to be considered. Regardless, this is no guarantee that their arrest records will be expunged as the court has complete discretion in granting expungement requests for major felonies.

A number of crimes cannot be expunged in Grant County, including:

• Murder
• Voluntary manslaughter
• Human trafficking
• Child sexual offenses including molestation, exploitation, trafficking and seduction
• Rape
• Sexual misconduct with a minor (a few exceptions exist)
• Possession of child pornography
• Vicarious sexual gratification
• Incest
• Kidnapping

Note: Arrest records of expunged convictions are automatically expunged also.

Eligible applicants will typically file a petition to expunge arrest records in the court where the charges were filed or in any court with jurisdiction within Grant County if no charges were proffered. The state's detailed expungement document provides information on the compulsory content of a valid petition.

Thereafter:

• The petition will be treated as a civil matter and assigned a new XP case number
• The court will serve a copy of the petition to the prosecuting attorney (in some cases, this is the petitioner's responsibility Indiana Code 35-38-9-8(e))
• The prosecuting attorney will respond to the petition within 30 days from the receipt or waive their right to object to the petition
• A hearing date is set for discretionary cases or if the court deems it fit
• Petition for expungement is granted, denied, or taken under advisement

Grant County Arrest Warrants

Grant County arrest warrants are documents that permit a law enforcement officer to detain an individual upon reasonable suspicion of their involvement in a crime. Arrest warrants are typically issued by a judge or magistrate after the prosecutor's office files a complaint with enough evidence to prove probable cause. Individuals will often find this information in a Grant County arrest warrant:

• The subject's name and description
• The alleged crime
• Judicial officer's signature
• Issuance date
• Specific instructions regarding the arrest

Members of the public can find Grant County arrest warrants by querying the Grant County Sheriff's Office or the local arresting agency in the jurisdiction of the issuing court.

Do Grant County Arrest Warrants Expire?

It depends. In Grant County, arrest warrants for felonies and rearrest warrants have no expiry date and remain executable for life except when they are recalled. However, if the arrest warrant is for a misdemeanor, it retains its active status for 180 days after issuance. When this time elapses, law enforcement agents can no longer act on it.