Taney County Arrest Records

Taney County arrest records are official documentations of arrests made by officers of the law in the county. These law officers may represent local law enforcement agencies, like the Taney County Sheriff’s Office and police departments in the county, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, or federal agencies. When law enforcement agencies conduct arrests, they book arrestees and hold them in their detention facilities. For local law enforcement, arrestees are held at the Taney County Jail. When arrestees are charged to court, their arrest records help court officials prepare intake and charge documents included with their Taney County court records.

Are Arrest Records Public in Taney County?

Yes. Missouri’s Open Records Law, or Sunshine Law, mandates law enforcement agencies in the state to make arrest records available to the public. As custodians of those records, county and state law enforcement agencies must provide arrest records upon request. However, the law allows for some arrest records to be inaccessible to the public. Such confidential arrest records include:

• Juvenile arrest records
• Sealed and expunged arrest records
• Those that may endanger named persons if made available to the public
• Those containing essential details that may jeopardize ongoing trials or investigations

What Do Public Arrest Records Contain?

An arrest record must describe the person arrested, identify the arresting agency, and provide details about the circumstance of the arrest. Information provided by a Taney County arrest record include:

• Arrestee’s identity, include their name, age, and address
• Arrestee’s physical description, include their race, gender, bodily marks, and mugshot
• Name of the arresting officer and the agency they represent
• Arrest charge and class of offense
• Dates and times of arrest and booking
• Where the arrestee is being held

Taney County Arrest Statistics

While the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) publishes arrest data, through its Criminal Justice Information Services unit, it does not provide these statistics by county. However, it does present the state’s offense data by county. Its record shows that 2,024 offenses were reported in Taney County in 2023. Incarceration statistics for Taney County are unavailable. However, the Sheriff’s Office publishes a regularly updated jail roster on the county’s website. As of October 2024, there are 307 inmates in the Taney County jail.

Find Taney County Arrest Records

To locate a Taney County arrestee, you need to find the record providing their location. Multiple detention facilities where arrestees from the county could be held provide inmate lookup searches on their website. For example, to determine if an arrestee is locked up at the Taney County Sheriff’s Office, you can search the jail inmate list. Arrestees held by state law enforcement and correctional agencies can be found with the Offender Search tool provided by the Missouri Department of Corrections. Taney County arrestees that become inmates of federal prisons can be found with the inmate locator tool of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP).

Free Arrest Record Search in Taney County

Free Taney County arrest record lookups are available on official law enforcement and correctional agencies’ websites. With the locators provided by the county’s Sheriff’s Office, the state’s Department of Corrections, and the federal Bureau of Prisons, you can easily find inmates in the facilities under the control of these agencies. In addition to these official resources, there are also third-party arrest record lookup services offering free search tools for locating arrestees. These independent websites offer convenience by allowing users to search multiple databases. In this way, they can help you save time when looking for a Taney County arrestee. However, third-party records lookup websites offering free searches may yield incomplete results or have limited access to official databases.

Taney County Arrest Records Vs. Criminal Records

In Taney County, an arrest record only describes an arrest event while a criminal record provides a complete history of an individual’s contact with the criminal justice system. Therefore, a criminal record is a more comprehensive document and is the one provided upon requesting a background check. When seeking an arrest record, you only need to contact the law enforcement agency that conducted the arrest. For a complete Taney County criminal record, you should contact the Criminal Justice Information Services of the MSHP. You can request your criminal history through the agency’s Missouri Automated Criminal History System (MACHS).

How Long Do Arrests Stay on Your Record?

In Taney Court, as with the rest of the State of Missouri, an arrest stays on your record indefinitely. The only way to erase this record is to successfully get a court order to expunge it.

Expunge Taney County Arrest Records

Before applying to have your Taney County arrest record expunged, you should confirm that the record is eligible for expunction. The State of Missouri only allows the expungement of the arrest or criminal records of certain offenses. Section 610.122 of the Missouri Revised Statute allows for the expungement of a wrongful arrest if:

• There is no probable cause for the arrest
• No formal charge was brought or is likely to be brought
• The arrestee did not get a suspended sentence

Section 610.140 lists offenses for which Missouri does not offer expungement. If the arrest record meets these criteria, you would have to wait for a year or 3 years if the arrest charge is a misdemeanor or a felony respectively. After fulfilling all these requirements, you should then file a petition with the court of record in Taney County. If you were charged to court following the arrest, this court should be the one where the case was heard. In your petition, you should name all county and state agencies that may hold copies of the record in question.

Once the petition is filed, the clerk of the court will notify the prosecutor assigned to the case resulting from the arrest. The prosecutor has 30 days to reply in writing if they object to your petition. If they object, the court will set a hearing date to hear both parties before ruling on the petition. If the judge considering the matter grants your petition, they will sign a court order authorizing the expunction of the arrest record and send it to all the criminal justice agencies listed on the petition.

Taney County Arrest Warrants

In Taney County, an arrest warrant is a legal document approving the apprehension and detention of a named individual. When a law enforcement agency seeks an arrest warrant for a suspect or a person of interest in their investigation, they will approach a judge in a Taney County court for a warrant. Officers of this agency must present their argument for the warrant to the judge and demonstrate probable cause for the arrest of the individual. If the judge is convinced by the evidence presented, they will sign the warrant.

The signed arrest warrant will:

• Name the individual to be arrested
• State the reason for the arrest
• Have the name and signature of the judge approving the warrant
• Mention the Taney County court where the arrestee must appear
• Have a date of issuance for the warrant

Do Taney County Arrest Warrants Expire?

No. A Taney County arrest warrant remains enforceable until the person named on the record is arrested, appears in court, or dies. The only other way to void an arrest warrant in Missouri is for the judge to recall it.