Criminal History Request

The Mythical Nationwide Criminal Records Check

There is no such thing as a national criminal records check. In reality, there are thousands of separate criminal indexes maintained at the federal, state, county, and city levels throughout the United States. To conduct a nationwide search would require accessing each individual index. There is one "nationwide" criminal database, the FBI’s Interstate Identification Index or “III” (triple i).

However, this FBI database is not public record and cannot be legally accessed by anyone other than criminal justice agencies. Even if III records were available as public record, they typically do not contain a complete list of arrests for a particular individual. This is because not all arrests at the local level involve fingerprinting, and without fingerprint cards the arrest record cannot be included in the III.

County/City Level Criminal Checks

A local criminal history check with the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office will include notations of adult arrests made by the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office for criminal offenses and local arrest warrant information. Requests for Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office local criminal history checks can be made by mail or in person M-F, 8 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. at the Hall of Justice by submitting a Criminal History Request Form (PDF) and a $10 fee. 

Submit requests to:
Lancaster County Sheriff's Office
Hall of Justice
575 S 10th Street
Lincoln, NE, 68508

Other Methods of Criminal Checks

Find information on statewide and national criminal checks.