
For a variety of reasons, there are times when a person will want to know how to look up DUI arrests or records on someone, while reading recent DUI stories online and free whenever possible. For example, if a driver has been arrested for DUI, DWI charges August 2023 or in the past, and someone is curious to find out whether a person has this offense on their criminal record, there are a few things to know first before doing a Google search online.
If a driver is legally an adult over the age of 18 years old and has been convicted of a driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs charge, that individual will have a permanent criminal record that can be searchable and found in a background check.
It is also important to note, that even if a person has been found not guilty of the offense or the charges dropped or dismissed, a record of the arrest file is still kept by police. This fact also holds true in cases when a wrongful DUI that was undeserved happens, and there is still a record of the arrest that can be discovered in most online databases today.
This also can include newspaper police reports, blotter articles, or their social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter that will contain the basic DUI arrest details such as a driver’s name, age, date of the arrest, and sometimes even the person’s address of where they lived at the time. Typically the best option for people using search queries like “DUI arrests last night” or “recent DUI arrests near me,” the most recent records today are often first posted on local police social media platforms.
Since news sites and newspaper sources also keep these articles online, it is usually not too difficult for using them as a starting point first when finding out free ways how to look up a local DUI, DWI arrest record of a particular person.
- What Information Is In The DUI Arrest Record?
- What Are People Able To See In A DUI Arrest Criminal Record?
- Who Can See The Details Of A DUI Record Online?
- Who Can Lookup A Prior DUI Or DWI Arrest On Someone?
- How Is A Police Background Check Different?
- What Arrest Info Can A Police Background Check Show?
- What Can Be Done If There Is Wrong Arrest Information?
Also, if someone has ever had their fingerprints taken in the past by any police department, the fingerprints will be stored as a digital copy in a national database that links them to a person’s identity such as their birth date and name.
To look up a recent local DUI arrest record, you can try the following 3 steps:
- Contact the local police department or sheriff’s office: You can try contacting the police department or sheriff’s office where the arrest took place and request information about the arrest. Keep in mind that they may not be able to provide you with specific details unless you have a legal right to access the information, such as if you are the person who was arrested or if you have a court order.
- Search online local county court records: Depending on the jurisdiction, you may be able to find information about a recent DUI arrest online by searching the local court’s records. Many county courts have websites that allow you to search for cases by name or case number.
- Check with the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV): Some states maintain records of DUI arrests and convictions, and you may be able to find detailed information by contacting the DMV or searching online through their website.
It’s important to note that arrest records may not always be public information, and you may need to have a specific reason or legal right to access them. Additionally, keep in mind that the information you find may not always be complete or accurate. If you need to verify the accuracy of the information or if you need more detailed information, you should contact us so a trusted local DUI attorney can provide free legal assistance 24 hours daily.
What to Expect After Your DUI Arrest?

Most people don’t know what to do or expect after getting arrested for a DUI. Many drivers start a Google search, and often come up with wrong or outdated information not applicable under local 2023 DUI laws. Legal misinformation is often devastating for DUI, DWI case today. The first thing that happens after a DUI arrest is an automatic license suspension only days after getting charged with DUI. Every DUI defendant has the right an administrative DMV license hearing to fight the suspension, most often within 30 days after an arrest happens. However, waiting to get expert legal help or advice greatly increases the chances of a license being suspended at this first hearing after a DUI arrest August 31 2023.
As far as getting charged with drunk or intoxicated driving in your area goes, it is always smart to know ahead of time what local police will look for first in a DUI arrest scenario, such as slurred speech, glassy eyes, and an odor of what they “think” is alcohol.
Just as importantly is knowing your legal rights – which in your neighborhood like every jurisdiction of the USA, a driver can’t get charged with DUI, DWI except if the officer has a credible reasonable impression or probable cause to conduct further sobriety tests.
Reasonable suspicion is also legally defined as “probable cause” which means a police officer must have valid belief to decide on making an arrest for DUI due to alcohol or drug intoxication. That arresting officer’s reason to suspect DUI, DWI must also hold up against the local legal defense scrutiny in county court – and it often does not which results in a case getting dismissed.
What information is found in the DUI arrest record?
It is important to realize that a conviction or guilty plea to a DUI or DWI charge is a permanent criminal record, and not just an expensive traffic ticket. To determine if a DUI is a misdemeanor or felony offense, this will come down to the specifics and details of each driver’s own arrest specifics, along with information such as if this is for a second offender or more violation.
Many people are curious when looking up a DUI arrest file on someone, exactly what information is provided on a criminal record. This driving under the influence arrest record is basically a file on the person in question, that will show all prior offenses whether its for DUI, DWI, OWI, or other types of crimes, as well as past criminal convictions, arrests, and other legal related background information.
Since a guilty plea or conviction to a drunk or drugged driving related charge is an official criminal record, this file will be permanent unless it can be expunged later. For the very few states that allow for a person to expunge a DUI or DWI offense from their criminal record such as California for example, a driver will usually have to wait a minimum of 5 years to even begin the process of clearing the arrest and/or conviction from their criminal record.
Unfortunately for many drivers who have been arrested for DUI offenses, they falsely assume how it works on a criminal record, and think it will just go away or disappear from a background check after a certain amount of time elapses. While after around an average of 7 years the arrest may begin to not show up on some very basic and limited online background checks, it most certainly can and will be found by more detailed background searches, police, courts, and even most employment screening companies use today.
Far too many drivers today still believe that passing a field sobriety test will keep you from receiving a DUI. The fact is, it is totally up to a police officer’s discretion if a driver will be charged for DUI, even if they pass all the FSTs and breath test. This is how more drivers quickly end up being part of the DUI arrests statistics today. Since it is so easy for a person to have a DUI show up in their background today under such strict new laws, people are becoming aware to how common it is for someone to have a DUI, DWI arrest record show up online.
It is also relevant to mention that even minor arrests or offenses to something unrelated to a DUI or DWI violation will be part of a legal adult’s criminal record. When a people make the choice not to fight the charges for a full dismissal or get it reduced to a less serious offense that can be expunged later, many people find out much too late after the fact the consequences of what happens. This typically occurs when they apply for a new job or even a rent a new house or apartment, just to be blindsided by the information with a past DUI on their record had prevented them from moving forward with the new opportunity.
The only way to completely avoid this scenario from taking effect in the future, is to get proper DUI help now or as soon as possible after getting arrested, with a skilled and local attorney online with us who has the necessary experience with challenging the strict new laws passed this year.
What exactly are other people able to see in a DUI criminal record file?
How to find or view someones primary identifying and basic contact information for a DUI arrest file is fairly easy to do online today. Only when a person is specifically looking for criminal records like recent local DUI & DWI arrests for example, do things begin to get slightly more complex depending on what exactly the person searching is trying to see in the background search. Sometimes a person is simply searching online out of personal curiosity if someone has a past criminal record of any kind, or if they are perhaps a danger to the community based upon what information they can find out.
Most legitimate online background search sites let a person perform a basic criminal record history check on other people by their first and last name. From there, the next step is usually to select a city and state, in order to more accurately focus on specific search results for the designated target. The final details of the narrowed-down search results often can include a DUI offender’s address, date of birth (DOB) along with any other past crimes and convictions on their record. This is not just for minor crimes such as traffic tickets, but also for serious misdemeanor charges or felonies such as drugs, sex, assault, robbery or theft, and other serious offenses such as violent crimes.
With many of these online public information background check sites, it does cost money to see the more specific details, and it should be noted that most states will often typically include minor traffic offenses in their newspaper or online news police reports/blotter sections, so many of these people who may be listed are not actual criminals. Just because a DUI or DWI arrest took place and happened makes it a matter of public record, but it certainly does not automatically make a driver guilty to the charges or allegation that is listed.
Many drivers arrested for DUI who have chosen to seek expert legal help with a lawyer for the DUI arraignment hearing in enough time after getting charged with this offense, have been successful at winning their court case. Therefore in many circumstances when a person may find out if someone has a DUI or DWI file on their record, the information they may be seeing online of the arrest report may be outdated or simply irrelevant of the charges have been dismissed or won against in court.
This reason is why for anyone who chooses to seek ways how do a background search to look up a DUI arrest on another person, they should use the information responsibly in what they initially find, and not be too quick too assume everything they see is the full story, or even necessarily accurate.
Who can see the details when looking up a DUI arrest record online?
Since a conviction or plea of guilty to a DUI charge on a driver’s criminal record is typically posted online for all to immediately see, locating the arrest log itself however can usually be found online quite easily as mentioned previously. Additionally with the criminal record, police officers, judges, and many other types of government personnel could be able to view a person’s DUI and DWI arrests, convictions, and other offenses on the background file.
Someone having a drunk or drugged driving conviction on their record may prevent that person’s chances of traveling to other countries, applying for many types of new jobs such as driving positions, teacher, military, police officer, and even certain types of volunteer work positions. Taking a vacation or traveling to another country can also be problematic with any criminal record. This is due to the fact since border patrol and government officials will have access to lookup the criminal database containing DUI records, as they validate who is allowed to enter based upon what the current law is for someone with a record.
Who can lookup a prior DUI or DWI history on someone?
Any person who wants to know how they can lookup a prior DUI or DWI arrest information, can do so online and free for someone they decide to do a background search on of their prior criminal history. This happens today so easily, since all misdemeanor and felony arrests are a matter of public record.
However the police officers have mush more authority in what further information they can see about a persons past criminal history, and see the full records of arrests on a person for DUI or other crimes and offenses. How the police do this is, they will use a driver’s name and other information such as a driver’s license, fingerprints, or other details to scan their local database of records, as well as submit a person’s fingerprints to search through the national database as well.
In pre-employment criminal background searches that pretty much all companies will do today, they can often view this extensive content beyond just basic DUI and DWI arrests and see details such as whether a person was convicted or not. Additionally, they can even see and if an applicant completed all their hours of alcohol or drug classes/counseling, paid all their fines, had a suspended license, need to have an Ignition Interlock device installed to drive, etc.
It is important to realize, that being subjected to this kind of aggressive background check is not at all uncommon in many fields of jobs such such as education, childcare, government, security, insurance, and healthcare are just a few of the main types of careers for examples.
How is a police background check different?
The main difference in how a police background check is different than a standard background search, is the detailed information that is found beyond what is easily accessible public information, such as a recent DUI arrest report for example. During a police background check an officer conducts, they will search through the police databases which contains criminal records, arrests, and other relevant information such as police reports they have collected through previous criminal investigations or interviews of a specific person.
This extensive background check done by the police is also sometimes known as a police reference or information check on an individual. Therefore the police officer will always have the best accessible way how to lookup an arrest for a past DUI charge or other types of offenses in a person’s history, beyond what is publicly available online to the average citizen.
What information can a police background check show?
Besides the initial details about a driver’s DUI file in the official arrest report, the police will also collect various other kinds of information based upon the arrest itself and any other criminal matter they investigate. The police officers will generally gather and retain not only the arrest information, but other records such as:
- Whether a driver was arrested with a DUI or DWI offense and the charge was later dismissed.
- If a person was charged with driving under the influence and was found guilty or not to the charges.
- A person had their DUI reduced to a less serious offense such as reckless driving, or dropped altogether.
- For a first offense, if a driver enters a guilty plea for a DUI offense to get supervision.
- Someone reported a complaint against a particular person, but that individual was never arrested or charged.
- If a person having the background search is a subject in a current a criminal investigation in another matter.
- A police officer will be able to know of the person under surveillance.
- When a driver is searched through the police database, they can also see if they were a victim of a crime.
- The police can also view details such as if a person was a witness to another criminal offense.
- Information of whether an arrested driver had previous contact with police for a person’s mental issue situation.
- A driver’s name coming up during a police investigation of another person or crime.
It is becoming increasingly more common that full police background checks are being done by companies prescreening applicants they may hire. This is because the police file contains far more information on someone and their background than basic online DUI, DWI newspaper reports of new or past arrests will reveal.
Most potential employers who are more likely to have a full background check such as this done, are companies where a person would be handling money, administering secure or private information, working with children, and positions that require driving or using a company vehicle. Many government jobs also many times will require that a job applicant have a police background check done on them as part of the employment screening process before getting hired.
What can be done if there is wrong information on a background check?
When a person has been arrested for a DUI charge or any other type of criminal offense for that matter, and discovers there is false or inaccurate information that is coming up in a background check, there are certain options a person may have and courses of action they can take. Depending what the false information is and how serious, a skilled lawyer with us can help with specific answers based upon the person’s own unique situation or circumstances. For example, if the incorrect background information is coming up in a police background check, an experienced affordable DUI defense lawyer in the area can help a person to contact the local police department and request that they correct any wrong information about an individual.
In order how to get started in what to do, generally a person or their attorney should provide the police department with written reasons along with any legal documents that verify the information they have is not accurate. One common scenario is, if a current background check shows that a driver is still facing DUI or DWI misdemeanor for a previously resolved arrest or case that is over, an individual or their lawyer should give a copy of the appropriate court records that provide proof that the charges were dropped or the case had otherwise concluded. This situation of a lingering DUI file is common when there is a car accident injury claim involved with the court case.
Therefore when a person wants to know how to look up DUI arrests or records free on someone, there is high potential to find outdated or information that does not tell anywhere near the full story of what happened other than the initial arrest news publication or police report details. For those who have recently been charged with driving under the influence and feel the arrest was unfair or just want to know if they have a real chance to beat and get out of a DUI offense, it is crucial to realize the time to act is now in having the details reviewed online with us.
Recent DUI arrests last night near you or by state are often posted online within the same hour of a driver getting booked at the police station. The sooner a driver takes legal defense action with us after an arrest, the better the odds a lawyer will have at being able to dismiss the case. Utilizing free expert legal advice immediately after getting arrested for DUI is the best way how to avoid having problems that linger for years following a conviction with a DUI record which is easily found online today otherwise.

Taryn J. White is a legal research specialist and DUI law news reporter. Her current accomplishments include helping those facing any driving under the influence arrest charges, get free online assistance in learning how to fight a DUI case for the best possible outcome.