The Indiana State Police is the central repository for criminal history in Indiana, and it sells the public a name based report called the Limited Criminal History: felony and misdemeanor arrests within Indiana, matched on name, date of birth, race and gender, with the Social Security number and place of birth where needed. The State Police say it is not the most comprehensive report, since it holds no other state's information and its completeness depends on county participation.
The fuller reports are fingerprint based and run through IDEMIA service centers: an Indiana Full Criminal History with every reported Indiana arrest, charge and disposition, used mainly to review and challenge your own record, and a National Full Criminal History from every state and federal jurisdiction, which the State Police call the most complete report available.
- Online: the Limited Criminal History Search, $15.00 per record for IN.gov subscribers, $15.70 by credit card, $16.32 for non subscribers and $7.00 for government agencies; the result is an official document shown on screen as a PDF that expires in 14 days.
- By mail: the Limited Criminal History request form with a $7.00 money order payable to the State of Indiana, to Indiana State Police, Criminal History Limited Check, P.O. Box 6188, Indianapolis, IN 46206-6188.
- Results: ON FILE, criminal record found; NOT ON FILE or INCONCLUSIVE RESULTS, for which the State Police recommend a fingerprint check; NO RECORDS FOUND.
- Fingerprints: scheduled with IDEMIA, ten minutes with a government photo ID; a Criminal Record Review Challenge result is mailed to the applicant's home address and nowhere else.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Indiana's own systems: the Indiana State Police Get Limited Criminal History page, the Indiana State Police Criminal History Services page, the ISP Limited Criminal History Search site, the ISP Get More Information questions and answers, the ISP Limited Criminal History request form, the ISP Challenge My Record page, the ISP Expunge Criminal History page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
What the Limited Criminal History shows
The online service returns findings where the person was charged with any misdemeanor or felony arrest less than one year old, and any misdemeanor or felony arrest over a year old that has a disposition from the courts. A result identifies the person and summarizes names, aliases, arrest dates, charges and dispositions. The State Police have kept records since the mid 1930s, and a criminal history stays in the database until the person dies or reaches 99 having had no criminal act in the previous 15 years. The search site itself describes the report as felonies and class A misdemeanor arrests within Indiana, while the service page says felonies and misdemeanor arrests; both are the State Police's words. The system was recently updated with additional data fields, and every search now ends in one of three results: ON FILE, criminal record found; INCONCLUSIVE RESULTS, also shown as NOT ON FILE, where a fingerprint based check is recommended; or NO RECORDS FOUND.
The online search and what it costs
The Limited Criminal History Search treats every search as a completed, billable request whether or not a detailed record is found; No Records Found is an official result. The State Police quote the fee three ways: $15.00 per record for subscribers and $15.70 per record by credit card on the search site, and $16.32 per search for non IN.gov subscribers, $15 for IN.gov subscribers and $7.00 for government agencies in its questions and answers, with schools and other qualifying not for profit entities fee exempt when they use their ISP number under a waiver from fee exemption. An Indiana Interactive subscription is set up on a signed application, never by telephone.
The result is considered and acknowledged by the State of Indiana as an official document, which is why the service lets no one save or send it: the record displays as a PDF for printing at the time of the search, nothing is mailed afterward, and the PDF expires 14 days after the search date. The site requires session cookies, no pop up blocker and a printer, and tells users to print or save at once.
The mailed request: $7 and a stated reason
The Limited Criminal History form costs $7.00, paid by certified check or money order when mailed, money order only for the mailed route by the service page's account, or in person. It takes the subject's name, Social Security number (voluntary, under IC 4-1-8-1), date of birth, sex, race and place of birth, and the requester must mark one statutory reason for the search: the subject has applied for employment with a non criminal justice organization, has applied for or holds a license, seeks government employment, is a candidate or public official, is being apprehended or arrested, claims repeated abuse of rights, is the subject of a bond, plea, sentencing or probation decision, volunteers with children placed by a social services agency, works for a school contractor with ongoing contact with children, volunteers at a school, is under welfare fraud investigation, is sought by the child support parent locator, is or was a registered sex or violent offender, has one of the listed child sex offense convictions, is a possible perpetrator in a child abuse assessment, or is a parent, guardian or household adult in a reunification case plan.
The form's fee exemption, under IC 10-13-3-36, covers organizations ten years old whose purpose is one to one adult volunteer relationships with children, licensed home health agencies, developmental disability centers, supervised group living facilities, area agencies on aging, community action agencies, licensed hospice programs, community mental health centers, the Department of Child Services, school corporations and nonpublic schools, and tax exempt churches checking volunteers in their nonprofit programs. The misuse warning quotes IC 10-13-3-27: using a limited criminal history for a purpose not stated in the request is a Class C infraction, and a Class A misdemeanor for a repeat within five years, and the requester affirms under penalty of perjury that the report will be used as specified. The form's help line is 317-233-5424.
Fingerprint checks through IDEMIA
The ISP Criminal Justice Information Services section partners with IDEMIA for electronic applicant fingerprinting at service centers across Indiana, and all criminal history processing stays with State Police personnel; IDEMIA sees no criminal history. Registration is online or by telephone, with payment by credit or debit card at scheduling, while the service centers take only cashier's checks, money orders, personal checks or business checks. The applicant brings a valid government photo ID, a driver's license, state ID, passport, military ID or visa, and fingerprinting takes about ten minutes. Fees depend on the search type and the agency requiring it, with a separate volunteer rate, and the applicant who picks the wrong reason at registration calls IDEMIA at 877-472-6917 before being printed. Because of state and FBI rules a new fingerprint check is needed for each agency that requires one; IDEMIA keeps no prints for later use and the State Police cannot supply a copy of a fingerprint card. A rejected print, for poor quality, fingers out of order or a bad roll, is rescheduled, with notice by mail for applicants without email, and a second set takes about five business days. Questions about whether an agency's prints were processed go to that agency, such as DCS, FSSA or the BMV, not to the State Police.
Your own record: the Criminal Record Review Challenge
The fingerprint based Indiana Full Criminal History holds all reported arrests, charges and dispositions within Indiana, no federal arrests and none from agencies outside Indiana, and is used principally for a Criminal Record Review Challenge: a fingerprint search listing the complete record as it appears in the Indiana Central Repository. The applicant registers through the IdentoGO online scheduling, choosing the Criminal Record Review Challenge as the reason, and the response is sent only to the address listed as the applicant's home; the State Police will not send it to a company. Qualify and not qualify notations on a result refer to the National Child Protection Act and the Indiana Code rules for school corporations (IC 20-26-5-11), home health care (IC 16-27-2-3) and adoption (IC 31-19-11-1).
Expungement and sealing
Records in a person's criminal history file may be expunged or sealed under Indiana law by a petition filed in the local court of jurisdiction, by the person or through counsel; the State Police cannot give legal advice on filing. Once a court grants the petition, it forwards the verified petition and order to the ISP Expungement Section, which processes, reviews and complies with the order, delayed if the paperwork is incomplete. The section answers at Expungement@isp.IN.gov and 317-234-4427.
Reading an Indiana result
A Limited Criminal History is a name and date of birth match of Indiana arrests whose completeness depends on county participation, and the State Police themselves recommend a fingerprint check whenever it comes back inconclusive. It shows arrests, including recent ones without a disposition, so an entry is read against the court record before it is treated as a conviction. The report is Indiana only; the National Full Criminal History, fingerprint based, is the one that reaches other states and the federal courts, and the organization requiring a check decides which one it wants.
Questions about background checks in Indiana
Related Indiana records
The State Police report is one of the Indiana records this site covers: the Indiana court records guide explains the courts' own case files behind each disposition, the arrest records guide covers what an arrest makes public, the inmate search guide finds people in Department of Correction custody, and the Indiana county pages list each sheriff and clerk of the circuit court.