New Jersey's criminal history is kept by the State Police State Bureau of Identification, and the public reaches it through the state portal's three online forms rather than a public database. Form 212B is the name check for non criminal justice purposes: governments for any official purpose, any person or non governmental entity for employment, volunteer work or other performance of services, and private detectives licensed by the State Police for their statutory functions. It costs $20, or $12 for volunteer work, and it cannot be used for a personal background check.
The subject is part of the process. Every 212B application except a licensed private detective's needs the subject's approval: the subject receives an email with a link, validates their information, approves or declines, and pays the fee if the requester did not. Without that approval the bureau does not process the request and no fee is charged.
- Name check, 212B: the online 212B form, $20 per submission or $12 for volunteer work, by Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express credit or debit card; accounts optional for employers, required for private detective agencies.
- Licensing, 212A: the online 212A for local police departments and state agencies to obtain background information for employment, licensing and local ordinances, $20 by card, filed with the agency's ORI number after consulting that agency; the record goes to the agency, not the applicant.
- Your own record: the fingerprint based Personal Record Request through an IdentoGO appointment, with the letter downloadable from the State Police portal two business days after fingerprinting when no record is found, and mailed within 14 business days when one is.
- Help: the State Bureau of Identification at (609) 882-2000 ext. 2918 for the 212B, the e Government Services help desk at 609-586-2600 for technical and payment problems; New Jersey State Police, P.O. Box 7068, West Trenton, NJ 08628.
Written by SearchSystems.net from New Jersey's own systems: the New Jersey State Police Criminal History Record Request, Name Check (212B) page, the 212B frequently asked questions, the New Jersey State Police Personal Record Request page, the New Jersey State Police Criminal History Record Request (212A) page, the Department of Education Office of Student Protection criminal history page, the Office of Student Protection frequently asked questions, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The 212B name check: who may file and what it costs
The SBI 212B form lets the listed entities request criminal history record information by submitting a subject's name, date of birth, Social Security number and other descriptive information, for non criminal justice purposes only. Each submission costs $20, payable by Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express credit or debit card, and a submission for volunteer work costs $12. Private detective agencies must create an account with their license number and expiry date, with one account per license and several users allowed, and may store a card or bank account; governments and employers may file without an account or, since the portal added it, create one that stores payment, shortens the form to the subject's details, searches past applications and prints the Blue Form. Email addresses are required because every notification, the payment confirmation and status updates, goes to the requester by email, and the subject's approval request goes by email too.
Subject approval, step by step
The 212B FAQ describes the approval loop. After a requester other than a licensed private detective submits the form, the subject receives an email with a link to approve or decline, with reminders on the fourth and seventh day if nothing happens. To approve, the subject validates their information, sees what the requester entered and, if the requester did not pay, pays the fee; without approval and payment the bureau cannot process the application. A subject who cannot validate their information stops the application, with no charge to the requester's card and a fresh application needed once the details are right, and a declined application is likewise never processed or charged. The requester is emailed when the subject approves or declines and again when the bureau has processed the check; account holders see status in their transaction search, and since April 2018 the Blue Form and other records have been available for download and printing from the application details for up to 90 days. An application marked Contact SBI goes to the State Bureau of Identification at (609) 882-2000 ext. 2918.
The 212A for licensing agencies
The online 212A form is used exclusively by local police departments and state agencies to obtain background information for employment, licensing and local ordinances. An applicant uses it only after consulting the local police department or the state agency responsible for the license, and must first obtain that agency's Originating Agency Identifier, since a wrong or missing ORI rejects the form; the ORI depends on the area of residence. Each submission costs $20.00 by credit or debit card, the form cannot be used for a personal background check, and the criminal history is not sent to the applicant but used by the agency to complete the request. Firearms applicants use the online Firearms Application and Registration System instead, with only firearms dealer renewals and dealer employees still on the 212A.
Your own record: the Personal Record Request
A person's own New Jersey criminal history comes from a fingerprint based Personal Record Request scheduled with IdentoGO. Since July 1, 2021 an applicant who scheduled through IdentoGO can download the Personal Record Request letter from the State Police portal, two business days after fingerprinting, by entering the IdentoGO PCN or TCN, last name and date of birth as entered on the IdentoGO form; the letter is available for 90 days from the fingerprinting date. The download exists only when no record is found: when a criminal record exists, the information is mailed instead, within up to 14 business days of fingerprinting, and is not available through the service. Notarized letters are not handled by the service at all.
School employees: the Office of Student Protection
Anyone taking a job in a New Jersey public school, private school for students with disabilities, charter or nonpublic school, or with an authorized vendor or school bus contractor, is checked by the Department of Education's Office of Student Protection through the State Police and the FBI, under N.J.S.A. 18A:6-7.1 and its companion statutes. The applicant files the authorization and pays online, a $10.00 administrative fee plus a $1.00 card convenience fee, with the county, district, school, contractor or vendor codes supplied by the employer, then schedules fingerprinting with Idemia from the confirmation page; the office sorts applicants into new, archive and transfer applicants depending on when and for what they were last fingerprinted, answers at 609-376-3999 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on weekdays, and keeps the emergent hiring form for positions that cannot wait for the check. A separate employment history review of child abuse and sexual misconduct under P.L. 2018, c. 5 applies to anyone with regular contact with students.
Reading a New Jersey check
A 212B result is a name based record released to a requester the law allows, with the person's own approval in the chain and the Blue Form as the document; a 212A result never reaches the applicant at all. The fingerprint based personal record is the only way a person sees the file itself, and a letter that downloads in two days means no record was found. Nothing here is a public search: a check on a stranger without their email approval does not exist in New Jersey.
Questions about background checks in New Jersey
Related New Jersey records
The State Police record is one of the New Jersey records this site covers: the New Jersey court records guide explains the Judiciary's own public case searches, the arrest records guide covers what an arrest makes public and expungement, the sex offender registry guide covers the State Police registry, and the New Jersey county pages list each sheriff and county clerk.