Section 44-5-301 of the Montana Code makes the state's public criminal history information available to anyone, and the Department of Justice built the Criminal History Online Public Record Search, known as CHOPRS, to serve those requests. Its questions page traces the file: local agencies and courts forward qualifying felony, misdemeanor and other offenses that meet the criteria in section 44-5-202 to the central repository, created by the 1979 Legislature, which also absorbed arrest fingerprint cards kept by the Montana State Prison and the FBI since the 1950s. The Criminal Justice Information Act of 1979, Title 44, chapter 5, and the federal rules in 28 CFR part 20 govern what is stored and what goes out.
Public does not mean everything. The department's background checks page explains that the general public receives arrest and prosecutor or court information on felony and misdemeanor charges, limited by the state's privacy laws, and that a charge that was deferred and later dismissed cannot be released to the public at all. The record never includes protection orders, active warrants, federal or tribal offenses, intelligence or out of state entries, though it does note whether the person is deceased or registered as a sexual or violent offender in Montana. Police reports, warrants, transcripts and probation details come from the local agency or court, which the Montana county pages list.
- $10 to $30: the department's fee range for a public criminal records background check, set by the type and extent of the search on its fee sheet, with a mailed fingerprint based WIN check at $10.
- Removed on its own since July 1, 2017: under section 44-5-202(8) the repository takes fingerprints and photographs out of the file when a court reports that a charge ended without a conviction, and the records system removes non conviction arrest data without a form.
- Three business days, then 14 to print: a search missing a final disposition may stay pending while the repository queries the court, and a found record stays viewable for 14 days only.
- Eight states by fingerprint: the $10 fingerprint check runs the Western Identification Network, returning Alaska, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming records alongside Montana's.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Montana's own systems: the Montana Department of Justice Criminal History Online Public Record Search, the search service's frequently asked questions, the search service's instructions, the Department of Justice background checks page, the department's page on non conviction removal and sealing, the department's conviction expungement process page, the Montana Judicial Branch instructions for marijuana expungement petitions, the Montana Judicial Branch home page with the public access portals, the Department of Corrections Correctional Offender Network Search, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Running a CHOPRS search as a public user
The instructions page requires the subject's complete name and complete date of birth, with a Social Security number optional but encouraged, and allows up to four alias names, maiden, married, adopted or assumed, at no extra charge. The requester's own name is mandatory for a public user to satisfy section 44-5-215, and a typing error still costs the fee. Four outcomes are possible: no record, no unique candidate, which means similar identifiers point to more than one person and fingerprints are needed to be sure, search pending, and record found.
A pending result arises when the record lacks a final disposition, because section 44-5-213(5) obliges the repository to ask the court for current information, and it may stay pending for no more than three business days. A found record is reachable through a link for 14 days, after which it cannot be viewed or printed, and the PIN on the receipt lets the requester return to check a pending search or reprint a receipt. A notarized copy is free on request once the record shows as ready, mailed within two weeks.
Public users pay by card or electronic check each time; registered users, who pay a $100 annual fee for passwords for up to ten people and monthly statements, order the same searches on account.
Mail, fingerprints and the Western Identification Network
A mailed name request goes to Montana Criminal Records at 2225 11th Avenue, PO Box 201403, Helena, MT 59620-1403 with the full name, date of birth and if possible the Social Security number, a self addressed stamped envelope and the fee the division's fee sheet gives for that type of check. The same address takes an applicant fingerprint card with a stamped envelope and $10 for a fingerprint based check, which the department calls a WIN check because the prints are run through the Western Identification Network and come back with records from Alaska, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming as well as Montana; a local law enforcement agency can roll the prints, and the Helena office prints applicants by appointment between 9 a.m. and 4:20 p.m.
The questions page describes why prints beat names: a name search can return a false positive on someone with the same name and numbers, or a false negative when a maiden or assumed name was used at arrest, while a fingerprint comparison through AFIS gives a positive biometric match. The Montana background check guide covers which employers must use the fingerprint route.
What the state record says about private background sites
The department draws a sharp line between its own search and the commercial checks sold online. Its result is the official Montana public criminal record, current to the day it was run and notarized on request, and when an entry is expunged or sealed it disappears from that record. Private companies, the questions page says, buy data files from courts and build their own databases, so they may keep showing an item that Montana has since sealed because it was public when they bought it.
The repository also keeps its records indefinitely in most cases, since section 44-5-212 does not require purging on age alone, so a 1980s arrest with a conviction can still appear. Anyone who finds a discrepancy follows the challenge procedure in section 44-5-215 by calling Montana Criminal Records at 406-444-3625.
Non conviction removal and sealing
Two remedies are described on the non conviction removal and sealing page. Removal deletes a non conviction entry from the database and destroys the paper; sealing under section 46-18-204 keeps the record but closes it to the public unless a district court orders disclosure on good cause, leaving it visible to the criminal justice agencies listed in section 44-5-103, including the military and the Border Patrol. Since July 1, 2017 the Criminal Records and Identification Services Section removes all non conviction arrest data automatically under section 44-5-202, so no Record Removal Form is needed for a charge dismissed, deferred and dismissed, acquitted, dropped or never filed after that date; for older entries a person first runs a current CHOPRS or mail check, then asks the section in writing, quoting section 44-5-202(8), to remove the non convictions.
If the record is incomplete the section asks the court, and if the court does not answer the person must obtain the documentation, because the section changes a record only on court paper. A letter with the outcome follows within about 30 days. Sealing applies to a deferred sentence: once the court dismisses it and the section receives the order, the charge becomes confidential criminal justice information.
Expunging a misdemeanor conviction
House Bill 168 of the 2017 Legislature, codified in Title 46, chapter 18, part 11, lets a person petition the district court to expunge misdemeanor convictions. The department's expungement page sets the conditions: no conviction of any other offense in Montana, another state or federal court for five years after completing the original sentence, including payment of financial obligations and any ordered treatment, and no new detention, charge or pending charge.
Those requirements may be waived for someone applying to a service academy, enlisting, or serving in the armed forces or National Guard whom a prior conviction would otherwise bar. The petitioner's counsel notifies the prosecutor, the prosecutor tries to notify victims, the district court decides, and on a grant the petitioner is fingerprinted on a blue FD-258 applicant card and sends the card, the department's expungement form and the court order to the records section.
The department says it cannot help with the petition itself. The Montana criminal records guide covers the district court filing.
Marijuana convictions and the court forms
The Montana Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act of 2021 made some marijuana conduct legal and some a civil infraction, and the Judicial Branch posts forms and instructions for petitioning the convicting court to expunge, resentence or redesignate such a conviction: Form A for a sentence still being served, Form B for a completed one, a separate form for every conviction, a copy of the criminal record from the Department of Justice attached, service on the county attorney with a certificate, and a filing fee or a fee waiver.
The county attorney has 21 days to object, a hearing is held only if the petitioner asks for one under section 16-12-113(7), and a granted order goes to the department with its Expungement/Removal Request Form. The Judicial Branch home page also links the District Court Public Access Portal and the Courts of Limited Jurisdiction portal, where the case behind an arrest is read, which the Montana court records guide explains clerk by clerk.
Convicted felons in the corrections search
The Department of Corrections Correctional Offender Network Search finds the records of convicted felons under state supervision by department ID number or by name, with a correctional status glossary, the Board of Pardons and Parole and the sexual or violent offender registry linked beside it, and the department reachable in Helena at 406-444-3930. It does not list people awaiting trial in a county detention center, which belong to the sheriff and are covered in the Montana inmate search guide, and the registry itself is covered in the Montana sex offender registry guide.
Questions about Montana arrest records
Related Montana records
Montana readers can continue with the Montana criminal records guide for conviction files, the Montana court records guide for the public access portals and clerks, the Montana background check guide for fingerprint based employer checks, the Montana public records law guide for the right to know provisions, and the Montana county pages for every sheriff and detention center.