Maryland keeps its criminal history at the Criminal Justice Information System Central Repository inside the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, and keeps it closed. The repository's own answer to whether you can request a background check on someone else is no: the Maryland Security and Privacy Act and COMAR prohibit checks on citizens without proper authorization, and nothing the repository holds is public without it.
Two doors exist. A person may order their own record, an individual review, by fingerprint. An employer or licensing agency that holds a CJIS authorization number may order a check on an applicant, who is fingerprinted with the employer's form and number; private employers approved through the Private Party Petition receive Maryland records only, while agencies in adult dependent care, child care, criminal justice, government employment and licensing and public housing can be authorized for the federal record as well.
- Your own record: CJIS form 015 with fingerprints, $18 by mail or $38 when fingerprinted in person, with the response mailed in most cases within ten working days; a Gold Seal version for visas and foreign adoptions is $19 or $39.
- Employers: the applicant uses the fingerprint cards or live scan registration supplied by the employer or licensing agency and that agency's authorization number; the agency receives the result.
- Fingerprints: walk in at the CJIS storefront, 6776 Reisterstown Road, Suite 101, Baltimore, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., by appointment at five MVA buildings, or at a private provider; live scan has been mandatory for in state employment and licensing prints since October 1, 2020.
- Payment: credit card (MasterCard, Visa, Discover) or check; the repository takes no cash or money orders, and a $20 fingerprint service fee applies per customer.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Maryland's own systems: the DPSCS Background Checks page, the DPSCS Fingerprint Services page and fee table, the Criminal Justice Information Service frequently asked questions, the DPSCS Network Livescan System page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
A closed repository
The CJIS questions and answers settle the first question anyone asks. Can I request a background check on someone else? No; the Maryland Security and Privacy Act and the Code of Maryland Regulations prohibit background checks on citizens without proper authorization. Is my background information public? No; everything the Central Repository gathers is kept secure and is unavailable without authorization. CJIS customer service, at 410-764-4501 or toll free 1-888-795-0011, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., can check the status of a request for the subject or the authorized requester with a reference number or Social Security number, take orders for fingerprint cards, explain the process and help pick the right request type, but cannot disclose any criminal history.
Your own record: the individual review
A check on yourself is a two part process: submit CJIS form 015 to the Central Repository with the fee for an individual review background check, and be fingerprinted. A Maryland resident goes to any authorized fingerprinting location. Someone outside Maryland requests a fingerprint card by writing to the Criminal Justice Information System Central Repository, P.O. Box 32708, Pikesville, Maryland 21282-2708, or by calling 410-764-4501 or 1-888-795-0011, then mails the card and fee to that box or sends it overnight to 6776 Reisterstown Road, Suite 217, Baltimore, Maryland 21215-2346, with a check made out to the CJIS Central Repository; fingerprint cards from other states or from the FBI are not accepted, and the response can be expected within 10 to 15 days. A copy of the FBI record is requested from the FBI directly. The questions page gives the mailed individual review fee as $18.00 by check or money order, while the fee table gives $18.00 by mail and $38.00 in person and the repository's payment rule excludes money orders; the figures are stated here as the department publishes them. The same review with a Gold Seal, the sealed letter used for visas and foreign adoptions, costs $19.00 by mail or $39.00 in person.
The fee table
The fingerprint services page lists each check by category, with in person prices including the $20.00 CJIS service fee: a full state and FBI background for authorized agencies only, $33.00 by mail and $53.00 in person; the same for child care volunteers, $31.00 and $51.00; a Maryland Mentor check for child care volunteers with a certification card, $15.00 in person; a state only check, $18.00 and $38.00; a state check with Gold Seal, $19.00 and $39.00; an attorney and client civil check, $18.00 and $38.00; and no fee for an attorney's pending criminal case or for criminal justice checks. Fees are paid by MasterCard, Visa or Discover, or by check at the CJIS storefront only; cash and money orders are refused, and checks are processed electronically. Private providers may add their own service fee on top.
A change is dated. Effective October 1, 2026 the FBI raises its fee for fingerprint based federal criminal history reports from $12 to $15, and the department says to add $3 to the existing fingerprinting fee schedule for any transaction that includes the national check, citing the FBI user fee notice in the Federal Register of June 8, 2026.
Checks for employment and licensing
An employer or licensing agency, not the applicant, must request the check. The applicant uses the fingerprint cards the employer or agency supplies, or carries its authorization number to the fingerprinting site; for a check going to a government agency a Z ORI number may also be needed, and a government issued photo ID is always required. Since October 1, 2020 every in state applicant fingerprint submitted for licensing or employment must be taken electronically on an approved live scan unit, with ink and rolled hard cards accepted only for a bona fide medical reason; the department's Network Livescan System moves demographic data, fingerprint images and mugshots to the state router for identification against the Maryland Automated Fingerprint Identification System and the FBI. In most cases the state result is mailed in under ten working days from receipt of an approved application. A state result discloses the crimes committed; an FBI result, the department notes, does not name specific crimes. Same day state checks are possible only in extreme, verifiable situations, in person at 6776 Reisterstown Road, Suite 102, with documentation.
A rejection letter coded D5 means the fingerprint quality was too low to use and another set must be sent. For a court disposition or a case number, the department sends people to the court that heard the case or to the Maryland Judiciary Case Search.
How an employer becomes authorized
There is no fee to become an authorized agency, but the employer must hold legal or regulatory authority to receive Maryland or federal criminal history. Since July 1, 2020 applications must be on the new forms. A private employer completes the Private Party Petition packet online, by fax to 410-653-6320, by mail to the Pikesville box or by delivery to Suite 217, naming one contact person, with a separate part 2 for each job title to be checked, and signs a non criminal justice agency user agreement; if approved, it is entitled to Maryland state records only. Agencies providing adult dependent care, child care, criminal justice services, Maryland government employment or licensing, or public housing complete the Application to Receive Criminal History Record Information for Employment or Licensing Purposes, one request type per application, to the same addresses. Maryland also participates in the FBI's Next Generation Identification Rap Back service, which lets authorized agencies learn of later arrests of people in positions of trust; enrollment uses the CJIS-CR authorization update form.
Where to be fingerprinted
Walk in fingerprinting is available at the CJIS storefront, 6776 Reisterstown Road, Suite 101, on the west side of Reisterstown Road Plaza in Baltimore, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., closed on state holidays and weather closings. Appointments are required at the CJIS offices inside Motor Vehicle Administration buildings in Bel Air (501 West MacPhail Road), Frederick (1601 Bowman's Farm Road), Glen Burnie (6601 Ritchie Highway N.E.), Salisbury (251 Tilghman Road) and Waldorf (11 Industrial Park Drive), booked through CJIS customer service, or through MVA customer service at 410-768-7000 for the commercial driver's license hazardous materials endorsement, which combines the TSA security screening with the fingerprints. Private providers authorized under COMAR 12.15.05 take prints and demographic data for non criminal justice purposes, never receive the criminal history, which is mailed to the applicant or the authorized agency, and set their own service fees; the department's page carries a provider locator. Applicants bring the live scan pre registration application, the agency name and authorization number, photo ID and card payment.
Reading a Maryland result
A Maryland record reaches only the person it belongs to and the agencies the law lets in. For everyone else, the public record of a Maryland criminal case is the court file, which the department itself points to through the Judiciary Case Search. A result is fingerprint based, so identity is settled; a state result names the crimes while the FBI's does not; and a Gold Seal letter is the form a consulate or foreign adoption agency expects.
Questions about background checks in Maryland
Related Maryland records
The repository record is the one Maryland keeps closed; the records it keeps open are covered on this site: the Maryland court records guide explains the Judiciary Case Search the department itself points to, the arrest records guide covers what a booking makes public, the inmate search guide finds people in state custody, and the Maryland county pages list each sheriff and clerk of the circuit court.