Montana's central criminal history repository, run by the Department of Justice under the Montana Criminal Justice Information Act of 1979, collects felony, misdemeanor and other offenses that meet the criteria in MCA 44-5-202 from local law enforcement and the courts, and under MCA 44-5-301 anyone may receive the state's public criminal history information. The Criminal History Online Public Record Search, CHOPRS, exists to answer those requests, instantly in most cases.
The record is Montana only. The Department of Justice says the public record does not include protection orders, active warrants, federal or tribal offenses, intelligence or out of state records, though it notes whether a person is deceased or registered as a sexual or violent offender in Montana. For a positive identification, or for the records of the seven other states in the Western Identification Network, a fingerprint based check by mail is the route.
- Online: CHOPRS, as a public user without an account or as a registered user, with the subject's complete name and date of birth, the Social Security number optional, and up to four aliases at no extra cost; the requester's own name is mandatory under MCA 44-5-215.
- By mail: a name based request to Montana Criminal Records, 2225 11th Avenue, P.O. Box 201403, Helena, MT 59620-1403, with the name, date of birth and if available the Social Security number, a self addressed stamped envelope and $15.00.
- By fingerprints: the WIN Check, a $10.00 search of Montana plus Alaska, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming on an applicant fingerprint card, on site or by mail with a stamped envelope.
- Notarized copy: free, requested from the search summary once a CHOPRS record shows READY, mailed within two weeks.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Montana's own systems: the Montana Department of Justice Criminal History Online Public Record Search, the CHOPRS frequently asked questions, the CHOPRS instructions, the Department of Justice non conviction removal and sealing page, the Department of Justice conviction expungement process page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
What the Montana record is
Criminal history record information, defined in MCA 44-5-103(4)(a), is what criminal justice agencies collect on a person: identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, complaints, indictments or informations and their dispositions, sentences, correctional status and release, with fingerprint records and photographs unless taken for a non criminal justice purpose. Not all of it is public. Most of the information originates with local law enforcement and the courts, which forward qualifying records to the repository, and the repository passes qualifying information to the FBI for the national system. Arrest fingerprint cards go back to the 1950s at the Montana State Prison and the FBI, both transferred to the repository the Legislature created in 1979, and under MCA 44-5-212 nothing is purged merely because of age.
Running a CHOPRS search
The instructions require the individual's complete name and complete date of birth, encourage the Social Security number for a more thorough search, and allow up to four alias names, meaning any maiden, married, adopted or assumed name, without further cost. A public user must give their own name to comply with MCA 44-5-215, and is charged the fee even when the information entered is wrong, so the verify page matters. The search returns one of four outcomes: No Record; No Unique Candidate, where similar identifiers prevent a single match and fingerprints are needed for positive identification; Search Pending, where a manual review may take up to three business days, after which a No Record or Record Found answer follows, since under MCA 44-5-213(5) a record missing a final disposition must be checked with the court; and Record Found, with a link to the record available for 14 days. The result must be printed within those 14 days. Previous searches, pending or completed, are reviewed with the PIN from the receipt and confirmation email, and receipts can be reprinted. Technical trouble goes to Tyler Technologies Montana at (406) 449-3468 or mt-helpdesk@tylertech.com, which cannot interpret records; questions about record contents go to the Department of Justice.
Notarized copies, and why the official search differs from a private one
Once a search has run, a notarized copy of the public record is free: from the search summary, when the status reads READY, the requester opens the record and uses the Request Notarized Copy box at its end, and the copy is mailed within two weeks. The Department of Justice draws its own distinction from commercial checks: its search is the official state of Montana public criminal record, accurate as of the day it was run, since fingerprint cards and court documents arrive continually, while the federal and state searches sold by private companies are name based compilations bought from courts that are not necessarily the same as Montana's public record.
Name search versus fingerprint search
A name based search matches a name and a numeric identifier such as a date of birth or Social Security number, and the department names its two weaknesses: false positives, a record returned for a different person with the same identifiers, and false negatives, a miss because the record carries another name, as with a married, maiden, adopted or assumed name. A fingerprint based search is more reliable because the record rests on cards taken at arrest or by court order, scanned into the Automated Fingerprint Identification System and compared against known offenders for a positive biometric match. The fingerprint based Montana check is the WIN Check and reaches Alaska, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming as well as Montana. It can be done on site or mailed to Montana Criminal Records, 2225 11th Avenue, P.O. Box 201403, Helena, MT 59620-1403, with a completed applicant fingerprint card, a self addressed stamped envelope and $10.00; local law enforcement agencies help take the prints. A mailed name based request to the same address needs the complete name, date of birth, Social Security number if available, a stamped envelope and $15.00.
Non conviction removal and sealing
Since July 1, 2017, under MCA 44-5-202(8), fingerprints and photographs must be removed from the repository when the court reports that a charge did not result in a conviction or a conviction was later invalidated, and the Criminal Records and Identification Services Section, CRISS, removes non conviction arrest data automatically, so no removal form is required for those. The removal and sealing page still describes the request for charges dismissed, deferred and dismissed, acquitted, dropped or never filed: run a current CHOPRS or mailed check first, ask CRISS to remove the non convictions citing MCA 44-5-202(8) on its Record Removal Form, and expect a letter within up to 30 days; where the record is incomplete, CRISS asks the court, and the person must obtain court documentation if the court does not answer. Sealing is different: a record sealed under MCA 46-18-204, such as a deferred sentence that the court has dismissed, becomes confidential criminal justice information open to law enforcement, the military and Border Patrol, and to the public only by district court order on good cause shown. A removed record is deleted and its hard copies destroyed. CRISS answers at (406) 444-3625, fax (406) 444-0689.
Expunging a misdemeanor conviction
House Bill 168 of 2017, codified in Title 46, chapter 18, part 11, lets a person petition the district court to expunge misdemeanor convictions if they have had no other conviction in Montana, another state or federal court for five years since completing the sentence, including financial obligations and court ordered treatment, and are not detained, charged or facing pending charges for a new offense; the requirements may be waived for someone applying to a military academy, enlisting or serving and barred by the conviction. The process runs through the court: the petitioner's counsel notifies the prosecution, which tries to notify victims, the court decides, and if granted the petitioner is fingerprinted by law enforcement on a blue FD-258 card and sends the card, the department's expungement form and the order to CRISS at P.O. Box 201403, Helena, MT 59620. CRISS confirms the person has not used the law before, verifies identity from the prints and removes the arrest and conviction data from the computerized criminal history within about 30 days. The department cannot help prepare the petition.
Reading a Montana result
A CHOPRS result is the public Montana record on the day it was run: convictions and the entries the law leaves public, nothing from warrants, protection orders, other states or federal courts, and nothing that has been removed or sealed. A No Unique Candidate answer is not a hit; it is the system refusing to guess, and fingerprints settle it. The WIN Check is the only Montana product that reaches beyond the state, and even then only to the seven network states.
Questions about background checks in Montana
Related Montana records
The Department of Justice record is one of the Montana records this site covers: the Montana court records guide explains the courts' own case files behind each disposition, the arrest records guide covers what an arrest makes public, the sex offender registry guide covers the sexual or violent offender registry the record flags, and the Montana county pages list each sheriff and clerk of district court.