Individuals who have violated the state or national laws would be issued an arrest record. These are given by different branches of the government that enforces the law such as the highway patrol group, police department or the office of the sheriff. Florida Arrest records are considered as an open document which means that any resident of the state can request for a copy of their arrest record anytime.

The arrest records that are issued in Florida would contain information that is related to the arrest of an individual. The document highlights the date and the place where the person was arrested. How the person was placed in custody is also detailed on the report of the officer in charge of the arrest.

The residents of Florida use the arrest records for several reasons. Business owners would use it in checking out the criminal history of their people and applicants. This helps them in their decision whether to keep or hire an individual with a previous criminal record. Ordinary individuals request for such documents to check on the identity of the people they encounter daily. This helps them to feel that they are in a safe environment. Such document is also used as reference by authorities and investigators. It is used in their investigations and can often lead them to the resolution to their case.

Unfortunately, those with previous records would encounter a lot of problems. One of the biggest challenges they encounter is to find a company to hire them. Companies are no careful as to who they hire or welcome to their business. Because of this, business owners make sure that they only hire people with clean criminal history. Those who had previous records and wishes to live a better life would feel discriminated and left out. This is why the state of Florida allows individuals to expunge their criminal files. This is to seal their files making their files look clean to the public. Requesting to expunge ones record may be time consuming and can be costly.

There are several ways to obtain a copy of an arrest record in the state of Florida. One is to visit the office of the Criminal Justice Information Service where all of the state's criminal records are being kept. Another is to send a mail order to the said office and wait for the results to be sent back. The mail request should include all information needed to do the search as well as the payment for the request. It has to be in the form of a check or money order since the office does not accept mailed-in cash. One of the popular choices is to do the request using the Internet.

An arrest search can be done through the Internet. This method is the favorite choice of the residents of Florida because it is convenient and fast. It has eliminated the need to go to the state office and wait on queue since the request can be filed even without leaving one's home.