The Idaho State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification, BCI, keeps the state's central repository of criminal history, an automated database of fingerprint arrest records reported by Idaho criminal justice agencies, searchable by name or by fingerprints. It opens that repository to non criminal justice agencies and individuals for employment screening, licensing and personal inquiries, and it is the only agency that can: a local police department may check only its own records.
Idaho law does not require the subject's consent for a check. It does limit what comes back without one: an arrest more than 12 months old with no disposition cannot be released to a non criminal justice requester unless the subject signs BCI's waiver, dated within 180 days of the request. BCI also warns that offenders use aliases and false birth dates, which is why it offers the fingerprint check as the positive identification.
- Name based check: $20.00 on the Name Based Criminal Background Check Form with the payment authorization form; results are mailed, never notarized, phoned, faxed or emailed.
- Fingerprint based check: $25.00 with a complete set of inked, rolled prints on an applicant fingerprint card taken within 180 days; notarized on request.
- Fingerprinting: at the Meridian headquarters only, 700 S. Stratford Dr., Suite 120, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., no appointment, $10.00 for the first card and $5.00 for each additional card.
- Not in an Idaho record: juvenile cases unless adjudicated as an adult, other states' arrests, FBI records and federal court convictions; arrests whose fingerprint card was never submitted.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Idaho's own systems: the Idaho State Police Fingerprinting and Background Checks page, the Idaho State Police Criminal History page, the BCI Name Based Criminal Background Check Form, the BCI Fingerprint Based Criminal Background Check Form, the Bureau of Criminal Identification home page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
What the Idaho repository holds
BCI's records are based on the felony and serious misdemeanor arrests reported to it by other Idaho criminal justice agencies, each supported by a fingerprint arrest card; if an arrest fingerprint card is not submitted, the arrest will not appear in the Idaho criminal history, and BCI says an arrest may sometimes be found at the local level but not in the state record. The database contains Idaho arrests only, with no other state's records, no FBI records and no federal court convictions, and no juvenile records unless the juvenile was adjudicated as an adult. A dismissed charge continues to show with the dismissal noted, and information stays in a record indefinitely unless a court orders its removal. BCI's applicant program processes about 94,000 fingerprint cards and 30,000 name based checks a year.
The name based check: $20
The name based criminal background check searches the Idaho Central Repository of Criminal History Records on the identifiers supplied: last, first and middle names, alias, maiden and prior married names, date of birth, sex, race and address, with the Social Security number optional. The requester submits the Name Based Criminal Background Check Form, one per request, with the payment authorization form and the $20.00 fee, by hand delivery, fax or mail to BCI at 700 S. Stratford Dr., Suite 120, Meridian, ID 83642, fax (208) 884-7193; emailed requests are not processed for security reasons. Cash, check or card is accepted, with $1.00 plus 2.5 percent of the total added for a credit or debit card; checks and money orders are payable to the Idaho State Police, a personal check only from the requester or requesting agency, and a returned check costs $20.00. Forms with missing data or wrong payment come back unprocessed, and a requester who wants a middle name in the results says so when submitting.
BCI does not notarize name based results, does not share results by telephone, fax or email, and mails them to the requester's address on the form, processing requests first come, first served. The form carries the state's dissemination rule, Idaho Code 67-3008(6): no person or private or public agency other than the department may pass criminal history record information obtained from the department to anyone who is not a criminal justice agency or a court without a signed release of the subject, unless the law provides otherwise.
The waiver and the 12 month rule
The form says it twice: Idaho law does not require a waiver, but without a signed waiver from the subject, any arrest more than 12 months old without a disposition cannot be given to a non criminal justice agency. The waiver is the one printed on the form, no other is accepted, and the subject's signature must be dated within 180 days of the name check submission. With it, the subject permits the named requester to receive any information BCI holds about them.
The fingerprint based check: $25, notarized on request
A fingerprint based check rests on positive identification, and BCI notarizes its results on request, which the name check cannot be. The requester submits a complete set of inked, rolled fingerprints on an applicant fingerprint card, the Fingerprint Based Criminal Background Check Form with the payment authorization form, and the $25.00 fee, hand delivered or mailed. The card must carry the subject's printed name, aliases including maiden and previous married names, current address, citizenship, descriptive data, date and place of birth, the reason for fingerprinting and the subject's signature, and the official taking the prints must sign and date it within 180 days of submission. The same payment rules and the same no telephone, email or fax policy apply, and results go to the requester's address on the form.
Fingerprinting at the Meridian headquarters
Fingerprinting is available only at the headquarters office at 700 S. Stratford Dr., Suite 120, Meridian, ID 83642, not at district offices. The lobby is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., closed on government observed holidays, with no appointment required; large groups may be asked to wait outside for lack of space. The first fingerprint card costs $10.00 and each additional card $5.00, payable in cash, by check or by card with the $1.00 plus 2.5 percent surcharge, and a current, valid state or government photo ID is required. Outside the Treasure Valley, BCI sends people to their local law enforcement agency for prints. The Applicant Unit answers at 208-884-7130, option 1, and the Criminal History Unit at 208-884-7134.
Expunging an arrest that went nowhere
Idaho Code 67-3004(10) lets a person who was arrested or served a criminal summons and then not charged by indictment or information within one year, or who was acquitted of every offense arising from the arrest or summons, or who had all charges dismissed, have the fingerprint and criminal history record from that incident expunged on written request to the department. BCI says the person need only provide the arresting agency or court records showing compliance with the statute, and publishes an expungement application and flow chart on its Criminal History page; other expungement questions go to an attorney. A dismissed charge otherwise remains on the record with the dismissal noted until expungement is approved.
Challenging a record, and the NICS appeal
Every arrest event in the Idaho database is supported by fingerprints. A person who disputes the accuracy of information from a background check requests a certified copy of their record through the fingerprint based check, which BCI processes free of charge when it is a challenge; after reviewing the record, the person may supply supplemental information from the arresting agency or court, which BCI reviews and enters where needed. A firearm denial based on a record in the national instant check system is a different matter, appealed in writing to the FBI NICS Section Appeal Services Team at P.O. Box 4278, Clarksburg, WV 26302-9922, 1-877-324-6427.
Checks for employers, licensing boards and child care
Criminal history is provided for non criminal justice purposes such as employment screening and licensure as the law authorizes, and the fee supported applicant program keeps growing as Congress and the Legislature add check requirements. Under the National Child Protection Act, BCI runs a program that lets qualified entities providing care, treatment, education, training, instruction, supervision or recreation to children, the elderly or people with disabilities submit fingerprint cards for employees and volunteers and receive state and federal criminal history; its qualifications, waiver agreement and applicant guidelines are among the BCI forms. The fingerprint check is also the route to a notarized Idaho record for another state or country.
Reading an Idaho result
An Idaho record is felony and serious misdemeanor arrests reported by Idaho agencies on fingerprint cards, nothing from elsewhere, and a name based result is only as good as the identifiers matched against aliases and false dates of birth. A result that lacks a waiver may be missing an undisposed arrest older than a year; a result that needs to be relied on is the $25 fingerprint check with the notary added; and the record of a case that was dropped stays visible, dismissal noted, until the person uses the expungement statute.
Questions about background checks in Idaho
Related Idaho records
BCI's record is one of the Idaho records this site covers: the Idaho court records guide explains the judiciary's own case files, the arrest records guide covers what a booking makes public, the sex offender registry guide covers the registry BCI also runs, and the Idaho county pages list each sheriff and clerk of the district court.