Miami Dade County Criminal Records Search Guide

Why Miami Dade Criminal Records Are Different From Other Counties

Miami-Dade is the most populous county in Florida - and its records infrastructure reflects that scale. Unlike smaller counties where one portal covers everything, Miami-Dade splits its public records across multiple separate systems. Search the wrong one and you'll walk away thinking no record exists when it actually does.

This guide walks you through every official source, how certified copies work, what things cost, where most people go wrong, and how to run a faster search when you need results that go beyond county lines.

Understanding What's Actually in Miami Dade Criminal Records

Before you search, it helps to know what you're looking for. Miami-Dade criminal records cover cases handled by both the circuit and county courts and are maintained by the Clerk of the Court and Comptroller. A typical criminal case file can include case dockets, charging documents, arrest records, affidavits for probable cause, arrest warrants, motions and court filings, exhibits, transcripts of proceedings, and sentencing information such as orders regarding probation, verdicts, and judgments.

The Miami-Dade County Courts form a crucial element of Florida's Eleventh Judicial Circuit - the largest judicial circuit in the state, serving over 2.7 million residents. The Circuit Court handles serious criminal cases, while the County Court manages misdemeanor criminal cases and lower-stakes civil disputes. This two-tier structure means criminal records can exist in either court system, depending on the severity of the offense charged.

The Central Records Bureau (CRB) at the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office maintains and distributes separate public records including arrest forms for Miami-Dade County, MDSO offense and incident reports, and Florida Traffic Crash reports. These are distinct from court records - a common source of confusion for anyone searching for the first time.

The Four Official Ways to Search Miami Dade Criminal Records

1. The Criminal Justice Online Case Search (CJIS) Portal

This is the primary free portal for searching felony and misdemeanor criminal cases filed in the 11th Judicial Circuit. You can search by defendant name, case number, or citation number. Critically, this portal is separate from the civil, family, and probate portal - one of the most common mistakes people make is searching the wrong system. If you search civil records looking for a criminal case, you will find nothing, even if a record exists.

The CJIS portal is available at www2.miamidadeclerk.gov/cjis/ and provides 24-hour online access to case information free of charge. You can also bookmark specific criminal cases and enable notifications for case updates by registering with your email address. This is particularly useful if you're monitoring an active case or need to track disposition updates over time.

2. Requesting Certified Copies (Official Background Check)

A free case search tells you what's on file, but it doesn't give you a legally certified document. If you need a certified criminal history check - for employment, licensing, legal proceedings, or immigration purposes - you'll need to request it separately. Certified copies cost $7, with an additional search fee of $2 per name for every year searched if the year or case number is unknown. Requests can be made online, by mail, or in person at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami.

Mail requests require a cashier's check or money order payable to the Clerk of the Court and Comptroller. Processing typically takes several business days. If you cannot locate records online, you can also submit a Public Records Request to Records Management, Miami-Dade County Clerk of Courts, P.O. Box 14695, Miami, FL 33101, or by email to [email protected]. If you have questions about where or how to obtain records, you can also contact the Clerk's office at (305) 593-1352.

3. The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office (MDSO) Central Records Bureau

The MDSO provides criminal background checks and Sheriff Clearance Letters, which are often required for professional licensing, volunteer work, or travel to certain countries. Sheriff Clearance Letters can be obtained in person at district stations throughout the county, by mail, or via the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office Public Records Center. You'll need to provide full name (including maiden name and aliases), and fingerprinting services are available at specific district stations for a $15 fee.

The Central Records Bureau is located at 9105 NW 25th Street, Doral, FL 33172, and can be reached at 305-471-2085. Mail requests for Sheriff Clearance Letters must include appropriate payment and reference numbers. For victims of criminal case identity theft, the MDSO Forensic Laboratory Fingerprint Identification Section can also issue Identity Letters to help resolve identity disputes connected to criminal record confusion.

4. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Statewide Search

If the person you're researching has lived in multiple Florida counties, a county-level search alone isn't enough. The FDLE maintains the central repository for all Florida criminal records, covering all 67 counties in the state. FDLE offers instant online searches for a fee of $24 plus a $1 credit card processing fee. Requestors may also request a Certified or Non-Certified Search, which is conducted by law enforcement staff. These certified results are returned by regular U.S. mail and typically take five to seven business days.

It's important to note that FDLE searches only show Florida records - meaning federal arrests or out-of-state convictions will not appear in those results. If someone has lived in multiple states or has a federal criminal matter, the FDLE search will miss it entirely. That's a critical limitation for anyone conducting due diligence on a person with a multi-state background.

How to Search Miami Dade Records In Person

For those who prefer in-person access, the Miami-Dade Clerk's office is open Monday through Friday during regular business hours. Staff can help locate specific cases when you bring identification and any case numbers you have. The Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami handles most criminal record requests and certified copy orders. In-person visits are typically the fastest way to resolve ambiguous searches or request records that aren't fully available through the online portals.

If you need fingerprinting services alongside a background check or Sheriff Clearance Letter, you must bring $15 to a participating district station. Fingerprinting cards are not provided by the office - they must be supplied by the organization requesting the fingerprinting.

The #1 Mistake People Make When Searching Miami Dade Records

Miami-Dade's Clerk splits its search into multiple portals - criminal, civil, traffic, and official records each have their own separate search page. Searching the wrong portal is the number one reason people can't find what they need. Before you assume a record doesn't exist, make sure you're actually on the Criminal Justice Online Case Search and not the civil or official records system. The portals look similar but pull from completely different databases.

A secondary mistake: confusing sealed and expunged records. When information about an arrest is removed from the public record, it is considered sealed. Expunging a criminal record involves destroying all information and paperwork associated with a particular arrest - expunged records are completely destroyed and are not available through any search. If a search returns no results for someone with a known arrest history, the record may have been sealed or expunged under Florida Statutes 943.0585 or 943.059.

A third mistake - and one that catches people off guard - is assuming an arrest record means a conviction. An arrest record shows that a person was taken into custody or issued a notice to appear, but it is not a finding of guilt. It may be followed by dismissal, diversion, or charges that were never filed. When you're evaluating someone based on records, make sure you're looking at the full case disposition, not just the arrest data.

What Florida's Public Records Law Means for Your Search

Florida has some of the most open public records laws in the country. Under Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes - commonly known as Florida's Public Records Law - it is the policy of the state that all state, county, and municipal records are open for personal inspection and copying by any person. Florida courts have broadly construed these laws in favor of openness and the public's right of access.

Importantly, you do not need to state a purpose or special interest to obtain access to a record, and you do not need to present identification when making a public records request. This means anyone - landlords, business owners, recruiters, or individuals - can access criminal court records without proving a legal stake in the matter.

Exceptions include juvenile cases, victim-related records, sealed records, active criminal investigations, and certain records containing sensitive personal information such as Social Security numbers and home addresses, which are redacted before disclosure. If you're not sure whether a record is public, the Clerk of Courts can be reached at (305) 593-1352 during business hours.

There is also a practical limitation worth knowing: while Florida's public records law is broad, it only governs Florida agencies and Florida courts. Records from other states - and all federal criminal records - fall entirely outside the scope of what Florida's official portals can surface.

Sealed vs. Expunged: Key Differences That Affect Your Search

These two terms come up constantly in criminal records searches, and they mean very different things. A sealed record is removed from public view but still exists. The record is accessible only to those with specific legal authority - including certain law enforcement agencies and courts in limited circumstances. A person whose record is sealed can legally deny that an arrest occurred in most situations.

An expunged record is physically destroyed. Once expunged, all information and paperwork associated with that arrest is eliminated. Expunged records are not available through any public search, and they are not visible even to most law enforcement inquiries. Under Florida law, individuals who were charged but not convicted may be eligible to have their records expunged if they meet specific criteria - including not having had a prior expungement, even in another state.

If your search comes back empty for someone you know had a prior arrest, sealed or expunged status under Florida Statutes 943.0585 or 943.059 is the most likely explanation.

When You Need More Than Just Miami Dade - Run a Nationwide Search

The official Miami-Dade portals are reliable for county-level court records, but they have real limitations: they only cover what was filed in Miami-Dade courts, they don't aggregate sex offender registries from other states, and they won't surface arrest records from other jurisdictions. For anyone doing due diligence on a business partner, verifying a contractor, screening a tenant, or researching someone with an out-of-state background, a broader search is essential.

That's exactly why we built Galadon's Criminal Records Search - a free tool that searches sex offender registries, corrections records, arrest records, and court records nationwide in one pass. Instead of navigating four different government portals, registering accounts, and piecing together results manually, you get a consolidated view that pulls from multiple official data sources at once.

It's particularly useful for:

• Landlords and property managers screening prospective tenants across Florida and beyond
• Small business owners vetting contractors, vendors, or new hires without paying for expensive third-party screening services
• Real estate investors researching individuals connected to a property transaction
• Recruiters and HR teams running initial background screens before engaging a formal verification provider
• Sales professionals conducting light due diligence on high-value prospects or partners
• Individuals verifying their own records before submitting a background check to a potential employer or landlord

What a Nationwide Criminal Records Search Covers

Our free Criminal Records Search tool is designed to surface the records that matter most, across multiple source types:

• Sex Offender Registries: Searches state and national registries, not just Florida's
• Corrections Records: Current and historical incarceration data from state departments of corrections
• Arrest Records: Booking and arrest data from county and municipal law enforcement
• Court Records: Case filings, dispositions, and charges from court systems nationwide

This is broader and faster than manually checking individual county portals - especially when you don't know exactly which county or state to search in. A person who grew up in Ohio, lived in Georgia, and moved to Miami-Dade would require separate searches in three different state systems to catch everything. A nationwide search handles all of that in one step.

Combining Criminal Records with Other Due Diligence Tools

Criminal records are one layer of a complete background picture. If you're screening someone for a business relationship, you may also want to verify their identity, check their professional history, or confirm contact details. Galadon's Background Checker runs comprehensive reports that include trust scores alongside personal history - useful when you want a single document that aggregates multiple data points rather than running separate searches.

For property-related research specifically - for example, if you're checking on a landlord, seller, or neighbor connected to a Miami-Dade address - our Property Search tool lets you find property owner names, phone numbers, emails, and address history for any U.S. address. Pairing a property search with a criminal records check gives you a much more complete picture than either tool alone.

If you're a recruiter or HR professional who needs to verify contact information before or after a background check, Galadon's Email Finder and Mobile Number Finder can help you reach candidates directly using just a name and company - no paid database subscriptions required.

Quick Reference: Miami Dade Criminal Records Sources

• Criminal case search (felonies and misdemeanors): www2.miamidadeclerk.gov/cjis/ - free, online 24/7
• Certified criminal history copies: $7 per copy + $2/year if no case number - via mail, in person, or online request
• Sheriff Clearance Letter: Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, 9105 NW 25th St, Doral - in person or by mail, 305-471-2085
• Florida statewide check: FDLE online - $24 + $1 processing fee; certified results by mail in 5-7 business days
• Fingerprint-based check: FDLE-approved LiveScan provider - typically $50 to $100; required for certain licensing and employment purposes
• Public Records Request: Records Management, Miami-Dade County Clerk of Courts, P.O. Box 14695, Miami, FL 33101 - or call (305) 593-1352
• Nationwide multi-source search: Galadon Criminal Records Search - free

Frequently Asked Questions

Can anyone search Miami Dade criminal records, or do I need a reason?

Anyone can search Miami-Dade criminal records through the public portals. Under Florida's Public Records Law, you do not need to state a purpose, prove a legal interest, or present identification. Florida courts construe these laws broadly in favor of public access.

How long does it take to get a certified criminal history from Miami Dade?

Processing time varies by method. In-person requests at the Gerstein Justice Building are typically the fastest. Mail requests generally take several business days. The FDLE certified search takes approximately five to seven business days and results are returned by regular U.S. mail.

Will a Miami Dade search show federal criminal records?

No. The CJIS portal and FDLE statewide search only cover Florida state records. Federal criminal matters - including federal court convictions, federal arrest records, and cases handled by the U.S. District Court - are not accessible through any Florida state portal. For a more complete picture, use a nationwide search tool that aggregates multiple data sources.

What if the person has records in multiple states?

Miami-Dade's official portals and Florida's FDLE database only cover what happened within Florida. If someone has a criminal history in another state, those records won't surface through any Florida search. This is the primary reason to use a nationwide search tool rather than relying on county-level or state-level searches alone.

How do I know if a record has been sealed or expunged?

You won't - and that's by design. Sealed and expunged records don't appear in public searches. If a search returns no results for someone with a known criminal history, the record may have been sealed or expunged. In Florida, sealed records can still be accessed by certain law enforcement agencies in specific circumstances, while expunged records are completely destroyed and are not accessible through any channel.

Bottom Line

If you specifically need a certified Miami Dade county criminal record for a legal, licensing, or immigration purpose, go directly to the Miami-Dade Clerk's CJIS portal and request a certified copy through the official process. It's the authoritative source for county court records and the only one that produces legally recognized documentation.

If you need a quick background check on someone - especially when you're not sure which county or state their record might be in - use Galadon's free Criminal Records Search to run a nationwide sweep first. It's faster, free, and broad enough to catch records that a county-only search would miss entirely.

And if you need to go deeper - verifying identity, finding contact details, or cross-referencing property ownership - Galadon's full suite of free tools has you covered at every step of the process.