Orange County, California Criminal Records

A background check involves the process of using publically available records to find out personal and professional information about an individual, for the purpose of getting a glimpse into their character. Background checks can encompass a wide variety of relevant information from court and criminal records, to credit history, and military background. An extensive background check is especially important when a job applicant is applying for a position of trust, such as working in a day care or a nursing home. Most background checks in California are comprised public records gained from county sheriff departments or the superior court system. The California Department of Corrections (DOC) and the California Department of Justice (DOJ) also has resources available to assist county residents in performing background checks. Most of the DOC and DOJ services will involve a processing fee of some sort, however.

Court Records

Court records are a necessary and vital category of public records that are used when conducting a thorough, accurate, and extensive background check. Orange County, California residents who need court records will definitely have to petition the Orange County Superior Court. Currently the Orange County Superior Court has a total of eight branches, four of which handle criminal cases. These branches are displayed here:

Central Justice Center (CJC)

700 Civic Center Drive West, Santa Ana CA 92701

Telephone: 657-622-6878

Harbor Justice Center Newport Beach (HJC/NB)

4601 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach CA 92660

Telephone: 657-622-5400

Community Court

909 North Main Street, Santa Ana CA 92701

Telephone: 657-622-5800

West Justice Center (WJC)

8141 13th Street, Westminster CA 92683

Telephone: 657-622-5900

At each location, court is open to the public Mondays through Friday’s from 8:00am – 5:00pm, except holidays. The superior court has also created a full-service county webpage filled with court details and information, located here: http://www.occourts.org/.

Public Records

If you wish to make sure that a county individual has no active misdemeanor or felony warrants, you can check the arrest warrants records provided by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. If you are going to the sheriff’s office in person, the address is as follows:

Central Jail Complex

550 N. Flower Street, Santa Ana, CA 92703

The central jail complex contact telephone number is 714-647-4666, and the sheriff’s e-mail address is as follows: webmaster@ocsd.org. In addition to the listed contact information, the superior court system has a county webpage that you can use to find out more about the sheriff’s office, and is located here: http://egov.ocgov.com/ocgov/Sheriff-Coroner%20-%20Sandra%20Hutchens.

Online Resources

Finding information on parolees, past and present offenders, and parole absconders will mean searching the California Department of Corrections online offender database. In order to make use of the search tool, simply visit the DOC’s online webpage, which you find at this link: http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Reports_Research/Inmate_Locator.html.

If you want to use the California Department of Justice to run a background check on yourself, go to the following webpage, where more details are provided: http://ag.ca.gov/fingerprints/security.php

If you are ever required to do your own background check in an official capacity for another business entity, you can use the California DOJ’s fingerprint based background check, with information located at this link: http://ag.ca.gov/fingerprints/.

Finally, you can use the Megan’s Law sex offender archive to search California offenders by going to the webpage, located here: http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov/.