Texas Background Check: The DPS Crime Records Division and Its Searches

Written by SearchSystems.net from Texas's own systems: the DPS Crime Records Services frequently asked questions, the DPS Crime Records Division Criminal History Name Search page, the DPS Personal Review procedure, form CR-63, the DPS security policy for non criminal justice agencies, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.

What the Texas repository holds

The DPS FAQ states the scope. The department's records are made up of information submitted by criminal justice agencies within Texas only; arrest information stays on a record indefinitely; a deferred case that ended in probation remains on file with the arrest and the probation even after the terms were satisfied; and a Class C arrest is retained when the arresting agency chooses to report it, which it is not required to do. An arrest that an employer finds on the DPS website but that is missing from the person's own record was either never reported or returned to the arresting agency for an error, and a missing disposition means the clerk of the court with jurisdiction never reported it or it came back for correction. Chapter 66 of the Code of Criminal Procedure governs what goes into the Computerized Criminal History System.

The public name search and the $10 offline check

For a check on someone else, the FAQ sends the public to the Criminal History Conviction Name Search for an online name based search, repeating that deferred adjudication and conviction records are public information under Texas law. A name based record check done offline through DPS costs $10.00; the online search carries its own fees shown on the public site. The FAQ also explains why the two kinds of search differ: a fingerprint based search returns records by matching prints, while a name based search compares similar sounding names, or exactly matching names if requested, and can return records that are not the person's or miss the one that is. A person who disputes a name based result requests a personal review by fingerprints.

The fingerprint check: $15 plus $10 at FAST

A fingerprint based criminal history record check costs $15.00, plus an additional $10 fingerprinting fee when the prints are taken through FAST, the DPS contracted fingerprinting service that gives authorized entities electronic fingerprint checks on job applicants, licensees and volunteers across the state. An applicant sent by a licensing agency or employer brings the agency's service code and any agency identification number, a driver's license or other valid identification from the DPS list, and the payment chosen when the appointment was made. Appointments are made on the IdentoGO website or by calling 1-888-467-2080 between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Central. Once DPS receives the information, results may take approximately 10 business days, not counting the postal service; an open record check can be certified on request at no additional charge. Fingerprint cards older than six months are not accepted, simply being printed on two hard cards through FAST costs $20.00, and law enforcement agencies may charge up to $10.00 per card. The status of submitted prints is checked at (512) 424-2365, option 6, or fingerprint.service@dps.texas.gov.

The Secure Site for authorized entities

Entities authorized by Chapter 411, Subchapter F of the Government Code or another state or federal law may hold an account on the Crime Records Division Secure Site under a signed user agreement, with each named user cleared by a DPS name check. Eligibility runs in two lists: legislatively authorized private entities, meaning private schools and colleges, residential dwellings including housing authorities for employment, volunteer centers, safe houses, in home residential service and delivery companies, volunteer children's activity providers and private health providers such as nursing homes and home health; and government entities and criminal justice agencies, meaning cities and counties for employment and licensing, school districts and charter schools, public colleges and universities, public and nonprofit hospitals and hospital districts, housing authorities for tenants, public transportation, fire departments, regional tollway authorities, state agencies, county and district clerks and juvenile probation. Anyone else uses the public website. Each initial search costs one credit, $1.00, and the search now starts narrow and widens on its own, trying last, first and middle name, then last and first, then a name match with a matching birth month and day, without charging for the extra passes or for opening several rap sheets; a full date of birth narrows it. Batch results stay in the search history for seven days and in the message center for 30, and the history of what was searched, not what came back, is kept for three years. The Secure Site returns Texas records only; fingerprints submitted under a statute approved for FBI access come back through the FACT Clearinghouse. The Access and Dissemination Bureau answers at 512-424-2474, with options for secure site accounts, personal fingerprint results and open records, audits and training, billing, FAST appointments and the FACT and Rap Back programs.

Your own record: the Personal Review

Under Government Code section 552.023 an individual or their authorized representative may receive a copy of their criminal history record information, and the CR-63 procedure runs it through FAST. The applicant schedules at IdentoGO with service code 11FT12, online or at 1-888-467-2080, chooses a delivery option and designated recipient, and arrives with photo identification, a valid Texas driver license or another document from the DPS list, and payment by Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express, business check, money order or an employer coupon code, never cash or a personal check. The cost is $10.00 for the service plus $15.00 for the record; the Social Security number is optional and printed on the result only if given at fingerprinting; no printed card is handed over, and the IdentoGO receipt with its UE ID number is the key to checking status. Results are mailed or emailed to the address provided, DPS will not send results for prints more than 30 days old, and it asks anyone without results within 14 days of printing to call. Someone outside Texas completes a DPS approved fingerprint card with every name, sex, race and date of birth, pre enrolls online or by phone for a hard card submission under the same service code, pays by card or coupon code, and mails the signed authorization letter with the card to the vendor, since prints cannot be submitted electronically from outside the state. An FBI personal review is requested through the FBI's electronic departmental order site.

Removing arrests: expunction and nondisclosure

Arrest information remains on a Texas record indefinitely, and the FAQ sends people interested in having arrest or court information removed to the department's material on expunction and orders of nondisclosure, the two Texas procedures by which a court erases an arrest record or seals a case from public view while leaving it with criminal justice agencies. Those rules are covered in detail on the Texas arrest records page.

Reading a Texas result

A Texas public result is a conviction and deferred adjudication record matched by name, which DPS itself describes as prone to false matches and misses; a disputed hit is answered by the fingerprint based personal review. An arrest without a reported disposition stays an arrest on the record until the clerk reports it, a probated deferred case never leaves, and the FBI record enters only through entities with an approved statute. The Secure Site's widening search exists to catch what a narrow name search misses, and its $1.00 credits are for the entities the law names.

Questions about background checks in Texas

Related Texas records

The DPS record is one of the Texas records this site covers: the Texas arrest records page explains expunction under chapter 55A and orders of nondisclosure, the court records guide covers the county and district clerks' case files, the sex offender registry guide covers the DPS registry the Secure Site also searches, and the Texas county pages list each sheriff and clerk.