The District has no state style repository selling name searches. Its background check is the police clearance issued by the Metropolitan Police Department's Arrest and Criminal History Section, which the department says serves the public for employment, licensing, adoption, apartment rentals, taxicab hacker licenses and the FL-20 letter used for overseas or domestic travel. At least 95 percent of the people at its public counters are there for a clearance.
The clearance is about you. MPD's rule is that you can only get information about yourself, and you must be 18 to retrieve one; the one opening for an employer or landlord is Option B, which lets the subject authorize another person to request the record for any other purpose. Everything else about another person comes from the courts.
- Option A: your own arrest record for sealing or expungement under Chapter 8 of Title 16 or a similar statute, listing every adult arrest regardless of disposition or date; $7, up to 10 business days.
- Option B: your own record, or one you authorize another person to request, for any other purpose, listing only adult convictions whose sentence ended within the last 10 years and forfeitures of collateral within 10 years; $7, up to 10 business days.
- In person: by appointment at the Arrest and Criminal History Section, 441 4th Street NW, Room 550 South, most requests processed in about 24 hours; a drop off service without an appointment takes about two weeks.
- By mail: a notarized letter with a copy of your ID, a self addressed stamped envelope and a $7 money order payable to the DC Treasurer, allow six weeks.
Written by SearchSystems.net from District of Columbia's own systems: the Metropolitan Police Department police clearances page, the MPD accident and incident report request page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The Arrest and Criminal History Section
The section sits in Police Headquarters at 441 4th Street NW, Room 550 South, Washington, DC 20001, telephone (202) 727-4245, with the records manager at (202) 715-7539 and the main records line at (202) 727-4429, TTY 711. The Records Division keeps counter hours of 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and extended hours to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday, and MPD says walk in appointments are available Monday through Friday; individuals must schedule an appointment through the page's link to request records in person. If you have an arrest record, MPD warns, your wait may be longer than other people's.
The request itself is PD Form 70, the Criminal History Request, handed out at the section on the first floor of headquarters. Most requests take approximately 24 hours to process. The fee is $7, paid in cash or by credit card at the counter; money orders and personal checks are not taken in person.
Option A and Option B: two different records
The form asks which type of arrest history you want, and the two options return different documents. Under Option A, an individual requests production of their own arrest record to determine eligibility for sealing or expunging it under Chapter 8 of Title 16 of the DC Code or a similar sealing statute in the District or elsewhere, or to file a sealing or expungement motion. That document lists all adult arrests, regardless of how each one ended and regardless of when the arrest, conviction or sentence occurred. It costs $7 and takes up to 10 business days.
Under Option B, an individual requests their own arrest record, or authorizes another person to request it, for any other purpose. That document lists only adult convictions for which the sentence was completed not more than 10 years before the request, and forfeitures of collateral in a court proceeding within the same 10 years. It also costs $7 and takes up to 10 business days. The difference matters: an employer or landlord who receives an Option B clearance sees recent convictions, not arrests, and nothing older than ten years from the end of the sentence.
What to bring, and the rules at the counter
A request needs one of three forms of identification: a driver's license, a non driver ID, or an original birth certificate together with a Social Security card. MPD's reminders are plain: you must be 18 years of age to retrieve a police clearance, you can only get information about yourself, you should read over the information on your record before leaving the service counter, and you should note the name of the clerk who served you.
The drop off service and the mail route
A drop off service runs without an appointment, with processing of approximately two weeks. The request must be dropped off in person with a driver's license or non driver ID, an original birth certificate and Social Security card, an email address, a callback telephone number and a self addressed stamped envelope, and the requester says at drop off whether they will return for pick up or want the report mailed back. Questions go to (202) 727-4429.
People living outside the District, or otherwise unable to come in, mail a notarized letter requesting a background check with a copy of their ID to the Metropolitan Police Department, Criminal History Section, 441 4th Street NW, Room 550 South, Washington, DC 20001. The letter must carry the full name, date of birth, Social Security number, phone number and email address, with the ID copy, a self addressed stamped envelope and a $7 money order payable to the DC Treasurer; checks are not accepted and the letter must be notarized before mailing. MPD asks for six weeks from the date of the request, and takes questions at (202) 727-4245.
Police reports: incident and accident records
A background check sometimes needs the underlying report rather than the clearance, and those come from MPD's Public Documents Section at the same Room 550 South address, (202) 727-4357, Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with the same Tuesday and Thursday extension. An Incident or Offense Report, PD-251, has been provided to the public by email, in person and by mail since January 1, 2016, and the fees for producing one are temporarily waived; a request gives the full name, date, location and time of the incident and the six digit CCN report number, by email to the unit, by mail with a self addressed stamped envelope, allowing six weeks, or in person by appointment with either the name, date, location and time or the CCN.
An Accident Report, PD-10, is released only to a first party, meaning an involved party or that party's attorney, staff or investigator; a third party goes through MPD's FOIA office. First party requests are free, and insurance companies pay $3 per report for claims. A mailed or emailed PD-10 request adds a copy of a valid government photo ID and the completed PD Form 10B application, which an attorney or agent supports with a signed retainer or a notarized authorization from the applicant; in person requests are by appointment at (202) 671-6705. The report number, when unknown, comes from the station of the police district that responded.
Reading a DC police clearance
Three features of the MPD clearance decide what it proves. It is a District record, issued by the police department from its own arrest files, not a national one. It is self only, with Option B as the one route for an employer or landlord, and under Option B it is a conviction list with a ten year window measured from the end of the sentence, so a clean Option B clearance does not mean no arrests. And it is slow by mail and fast in person: about 24 hours at the counter, two weeks by drop off, six weeks by notarized letter.
Questions about background checks in District of Columbia
Related District of Columbia records
The clearance covers MPD's own arrest files; the District's other records are covered on this site: the DC court records guide explains the Superior Court case files, the arrest records guide covers what a booking makes public, the inmate search guide finds people in Department of Corrections custody, and the District of Columbia page lists the official agencies.