The Minnesota Criminal History System at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension holds data on people arrested for felonies, gross misdemeanors and targeted misdemeanors, the categories every law enforcement agency in the state must report, plus some other misdemeanors that agencies choose to send. Each arrest reaches the bureau as an electronic fingerprint, and courts and corrections add convictions, dispositions, probation and custody actions. The bureau's criminal history information page draws the public line at convictions: the offense, its date, the court and date of conviction, the sentence, the level of the offense and the probation agency or place of confinement, all public for 15 years after the sentence is completed.
Everything else is private data under state law. Arrest information, court information from cases that did not result in a conviction, convictions whose sentences ended more than 15 years ago, and all juvenile history are withheld from the public search and released only as the data practices statutes allow. Juvenile records go out only as Minnesota Statutes 299C.095 permits. The bureau adds that what is not public may still reach an employer through a background check that a statute mandates, which the Minnesota background check guide explains. For the sheriffs and jail rosters where a fresh arrest first appears, use the Minnesota county pages.
- Free, by name and birth date: the public criminal history search costs nothing and runs on first name, last name and date of birth on the bureau's website or a lobby terminal at its St. Paul headquarters.
- 15 years, convictions only: conviction data is public for 15 years after the sentence is completed; arrest history, non conviction court data, older convictions and juvenile records are private.
- A notarized consent opens the file: private data can be viewed by the record subject, criminal justice agencies, mandated background checkers, and anyone holding an informed consent form signed by the adult subject before a notary.
- Sealed without a petition: under section 609A.015 the bureau identifies eligible records within 30 days after the waiting period ends and seals them 60 days after notifying the judicial branch.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Minnesota's own systems: the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension criminal history information page, the Minnesota public criminal history search frequently asked questions, the bureau's Methamphetamine Offender Registry page, the Department of Corrections page for searching individuals and fugitives, Minnesota Statutes section 609A.015 on automatic expungement, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Running the search and what a no record answer means
The public search on the bureau's site needs a first name, last name and date of birth, and the same public records can be viewed on a terminal in the lobby at 1430 Maryland Avenue East in St. Paul, at the corner of Maryland Avenue and Phalen Boulevard, open weekdays from 8:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. The search questions page lists why a no records found answer may be wrong: the record may be private, the name may have been typed wrongly or as a nickname, the record may sit under a former or maiden name, the arresting agency may never have sent the data, or the bureau may lack what a local police department, a court or the FBI holds.
Fingerprints are not required to search, though the bureau sometimes asks for the subject's prints to be sure the right record is released, because every entry in the system rests on a fingerprint and prints are the only guarantee that a record belongs to a particular person. Records from other states are not held, and a federal record comes only from the FBI.
Who may see the private record
A full record, public and private together, is released to the subject, to criminal justice agencies for criminal justice purposes, to individuals and organizations that a statute requires to run background checks, and to anyone who presents an informed consent form signed by the adult subject before a notary. That last route is how a landlord or a private employer without statutory authority can see arrests, dismissed cases and old convictions: the applicant signs.
The request itself is made as a data request to the bureau, and a person asking for his own record for immigration or use abroad should say so in the request. The bureau's phone line is 651-793-2400 on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the mailing address is the Minnesota Justice Information Services CHA Unit at 1430 Maryland Ave E, St. Paul, MN 55106.
Challenging a record that is wrong or not yours
A person who believes the file is inaccurate or incomplete signs a Questioned Identity Initial Report. The bureau searches by name and date of birth; if nothing is found there is nothing to review, and if a record is found the person's fingerprints are taken and compared with the prints behind it. Prints that do not match end the review, and the questioned identity sheet explains how to deal with a record that belongs to someone else using the same name.
Prints that match put the record in front of the subject, who may challenge any part of it in writing under Minnesota Statutes 13.04, subdivision 4. The bureau flags the record at once, and while the challenge is open the disputed data goes out only with the subject's statement of disagreement attached. Within 30 days bureau staff trace the entry to the source documents and agencies; an error is corrected immediately, and a record found accurate brings a notice of the right to appeal under the contested case procedures of chapter 14, or to take the dispute to the agency that reported it.
Cannabis records and the Clean Slate Act
Expungement in Minnesota means sealing: the record still exists but may not be disclosed without a court order or statutory authority, and it disappears from the public criminal history search. Two laws now do this without a petition. The Adult Use Cannabis Act, Minnesota Statutes 609A.055, took effect August 1, 2023, eliminated certain cannabis offenses and required automatic expungement of qualifying prior cannabis records from the bureau's system, with potentially eligible felony level convictions reviewed by a Cannabis Expungement Board for expungement or resentencing.
The Clean Slate Act, section 609A.015, covers the rest. A case in which every charge was dismissed after filing or every proceeding was resolved in the person's favor qualifies at once. A completed diversion or stay of adjudication for a non felony qualifies a year later if no new offense beyond a petty misdemeanor follows. Convictions qualify after a clean waiting period measured from discharge of the sentence: two years for a petty misdemeanor or misdemeanor, three for a gross misdemeanor, four for a felony under section 152.025, and five for other eligible felonies, with long lists of excluded offenses in each category.
The bureau does the work. Within 30 days after a waiting period ends it makes an initial eligibility determination, repeats the review each year for records that do not yet qualify, and 60 days after notifying the judicial branch grants relief and seals its own records unless a court order prohibits it or new information shows the person is ineligible, then notifies the courts and law enforcement and marks its nonpublic copy with a notation of the relief.
The statute applies retroactively to offenses that met the criteria before January 1, 2025 and were in the system on that date. Courts, prosecutors, defense counsel and supervising agents must tell people at set hearings that they may become eligible, and must explain that expunged records can still be opened for certain background studies and that a separate petition under section 609A.03 reaches records held by other state agencies.
The Minnesota criminal records guide covers the petition route for records the automatic process skips.
The methamphetamine registry
Beside the public criminal history the bureau keeps a Methamphetamine Offender Registry, a subset of the Criminal History System limited to people with felony convictions for manufacturing or intending to manufacture methamphetamine under sections 152.0262 and 152.021. It is searchable by first name or initial, last name and county, and it exists for both law enforcement and public use, which makes it one of the few places a Minnesota felony appears by county rather than by exact identity.
Corrections searches and the sheriff's roster
The Department of Corrections search page offers a locator for people committed to the Commissioner of Corrections who remain under its jurisdiction, in prison or released and still supervised. Victims and the public can ask for custody status notices through Minnesota Haven. A separate public registrant search lists people required to register under sections 243.166 or 243.167 who are also subject to community notification, with the disclosing law enforcement agency deciding case by case what to post and the department posting within 48 hours of authorization.
A fugitive list covers people on supervised release, the last third of a sentence, who have absconded, with a 24 hour tip line at 651-603-0026, and a non compliant predatory offender search queries the bureau's registration database by name, age and location, showing only those whose registration has lapsed. None of these lists holds a person booked into a county jail and awaiting a first appearance; that record belongs to the sheriff, which the Minnesota inmate search guide covers county by county, and the court case itself is reached through the judicial branch's own records, covered in the Minnesota court records guide.
Questions about Minnesota arrest records
Related Minnesota records
Minnesota readers can continue with the Minnesota criminal records guide for conviction data and petitions, the Minnesota court records guide for the district court clerks, the Minnesota background check guide for mandated checks, the Minnesota sex offender registry guide for the predatory offender registration rules, the Minnesota public records law guide for the Data Practices Act, and the Minnesota county pages for every sheriff.