Search criminal records by place

Search criminal records by place, without codes

Send a place in your own words (a county, a ZIP code and a radius, a city, or whole states) and the kinds of record you want. The server finds the sources that cover that area and searches only those, and the answer names every jurisdiction that stood behind it and every asked county that has no source of its own. All three keys are optional on POST /v1/criminal/search; a search without them answers exactly as before, and it is billed like any other search.

curl -X POST https://api.offendersearch.app/v1/criminal/search \
  -H "X-API-Key: $OFFENDERSEARCH_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
        "query": { "lastName": "Rivera", "firstName": "Jordan", "dob": "1988-04-12" },
        "geography": { "zip": "43215", "radiusMiles": 25 },
        "recordKinds": ["jail-roster", "court"]
      }'

What a criminal place search covers: local, state and federal

Every place search covers three layers of sources:

Ways to name a place in a criminal search

A place that matches no county is 422 unknown_geography; a malformed one is 422 invalid_geography. Both name the field.

Record kinds, years back and other criminal search keys

Every other filter still applies on top: see every way to narrow a criminal search.

Reading coverage.geography in a criminal search response

coverage.geography is present whenever the request sends geography, recordKinds or coverage:

Records from sources outside the area are counted in counts.filteredOut.sources, never dropped silently. Each source’s own geography is listed by GET /v1/criminal/sources.

Example criminal search: a ZIP code and 25 miles around it

You know the person lived in ZIP 43215 and want jail and court records from there and the counties around it, without looking up a single code.

curl -X POST https://api.offendersearch.app/v1/criminal/search \
  -H "X-API-Key: $OFFENDERSEARCH_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
        "query": { "lastName": "Rivera", "firstName": "Jordan", "dob": "1988-04-12" },
        "geography": { "zip": "43215", "radiusMiles": 25 },
        "recordKinds": ["jail-roster", "court"]
      }'

{
  "status": "complete",
  "counts": { "records": 1, "filteredOut": { "sources": 2 }, "unknownKept": {}, "quarantined": 0 },
  "records": [ { "externalId": "OH-FRANKLIN:booking:2024-00731", "...": "..." } ],
  "coverage": {
    "geography": {
      "asked": { "zip": "43215", "radiusMiles": 25 },
      "recordKinds": ["court", "jail-roster"],
      "sourcesSearched": 7,
      "jurisdictionsSearched": [
        { "code": "OH-FRANKLIN", "name": "Franklin County, OH", "kind": "county",
          "recordKinds": ["court", "jail-roster"], "counties": ["Franklin County, OH"] },
        { "code": "OH-DELAWARE", "name": "Delaware County, OH", "kind": "county",
          "recordKinds": ["jail-roster"], "counties": ["Delaware County, OH"] },
        { "code": "OH-COURT", "name": "Ohio — statewide court records", "kind": "statewide",
          "recordKinds": ["court"], "counties": [] }
      ],
      "counties": [
        { "fips": "39049", "name": "Franklin County", "state": "OH", "sources": ["OH-FRANKLIN", "OH-FRANKLIN-JAIL"] },
        { "fips": "39041", "name": "Delaware County", "state": "OH", "sources": ["OH-DELAWARE"] },
        { "fips": "39097", "name": "Madison County", "state": "OH", "sources": [] }
      ],
      "countiesWithoutSource": [ { "fips": "39097", "name": "Madison County", "state": "OH" } ]
    }
  }
}

• ZIP 43215 is in Franklin County; 25 miles from its center reaches Delaware, Madison and Pickaway counties.
• Madison County has no jail or court source of its own, so it is listed in countiesWithoutSource: only the Ohio statewide and federal sources stood behind the answer there.
• filteredOut.sources: 2 are records for the same name from sources outside the area, counted rather than hidden.

The SearchGeography object — search a place in your own words

A place, in the customer's words. Send at least one of county, zip, city with state, or states; they combine. A place that matches no county is 422 unknown_geography; a malformed one is 422 invalid_geography.

Returned or accepted by POST /v1/criminal/search.

The SearchCoverageRequest object — how far back

The request's coverage block.

Returned or accepted by POST /v1/criminal/search.

The GeographyCoverage object — what stood behind a place search

coverage.geography on a search that sends geography, recordKinds or coverage: what stood behind the answer, in names, and what did not.

Returned or accepted by POST /v1/criminal/search, GET /v1/criminal/searches/{searchId}, POST /v1/criminal/batch.