Section 29-3520 of the Nebraska statutes makes complete criminal history record information held by a criminal justice agency a public record, open to inspection and copying by any person during business hours, and the Nebraska State Patrol's criminal history record requests page turns that into a product: the public may request a Record of Arrest and Prosecution, a RAP sheet, for any individual, showing Nebraska arrests at which the person was fingerprinted and the dispositions that followed, from convictions and acquittals to declined prosecutions, no charges filed and convictions nullified by set aside or pardon. Asked whether someone can check on a babysitter, a neighbor or a daughter's boyfriend, the patrol answers yes; adult arrest records are public, and paying the fee is all the interest a requester must show.
The same page explains the limits that section 29-3523 writes into the public version. When the prosecutor files no charges, the arrest leaves the public record one year after the arrest date. When charges are not filed because a diversion was completed, it leaves after two years. When charges are filed but the court dismisses the case on the prosecutor's motion, after a hearing not under appeal, after an acquittal, after a deferred judgment or after a drug or problem solving court program, the information leaves the public record immediately. Juvenile arrests are never public. The patrol describes itself as a library that reports what agencies send it, so a correction must come from the court, county attorney or arresting agency that supplied the entry. For those agencies, see the Nebraska county pages.
- $45 on the patrol's page, $30 on its form: the patrol's web page and the online service price a name based RAP sheet at $45, while form NSP 752, revised March 2024, prints a $30 fee for the mailed request; both are the patrol's own documents and the page carries the later statement.
- One year, two years, immediately: the removal periods in section 29-3523 for an arrest with no charges, an arrest resolved by diversion, and a case dismissed or acquitted.
- Three business days: the statutory time the patrol has to produce a report once a request arrives in good order, with a no record answer online within minutes.
- No expungement statute: Nebraska expunges an arrest only when a district court finds by clear and convincing evidence that it resulted from law enforcement error; a conviction can be set aside but stays on the record.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Nebraska's own systems: the Nebraska State Patrol criminal history record requests page, form NSP 752, the Criminal History Record Request, the Nebraska State Patrol online limited criminal history search, Nebraska Revised Statute 29-3520 on criminal history as a public record, Nebraska Revised Statute 29-3523 on removal, sealing and expungement, the Nebraska Judicial Branch page on case information eServices, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Ordering a RAP sheet online, by mail or at a troop office
The patrol lists three routes. The online service, run by a third party in partnership with the state, charges a non refundable $45 for each person of interest whatever the outcome, takes Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express, and needs the subject's first and last name, date of birth, sex and race, with a Social Security number, driver license number and place of residence not required but recommended to speed the result.
A no record answer appears immediately as a downloadable report; a request is being researched answer means the identifiers were not unique and a technician will finish within three business days, with an email when the report is ready. The second and third routes use form NSP 752, mailed to the Criminal Identification Division at 4600 Innovation Drive, Lincoln, NE 68521 or carried into any troop area office, paid by cashier's check, personal check or money order to Nebraska State Patrol.
The page prices those at $45 too, while the form itself, dated March 2024, still prints $30 and lists ne.gov/go/cbg for online orders. Certification or notarization of the result must be requested by ticking the box on the form, and the patrol sends a report only to the requester named on the request.
Public view against complete criminal history
A standard request produces the public information view, redacted to remove the entries section 29-3523 protects. The complete criminal history view restores them, and it is released only when the person of interest signs the release in section 5 of form NSP 752 before a notary, consenting to disclosure to the named requester; the online application likewise sends the requester to a notarized release form that can be uploaded, faxed or mailed.
The statute makes two more exceptions on its own: the protected entries may be disseminated when the subject is currently under prosecution or correctional control from a separate arrest, or is an announced candidate for or holder of public office, and they may be shared with researchers under a confidentiality agreement. Minor traffic citations and offenses handled by citation rather than booking are not in the file at all, because the patrol holds only arrests at which fingerprints were taken and the statute requires only felony arrests to be submitted, which is why a person who remembers a misdemeanor arrest may see no criminal record found.
Fingerprint checks are for the authorized only
A fingerprint based national check, which searches the state and FBI files on the subject's prints, is not open to the public. The patrol says such checks cost more and are available only when a state or federal law requires them, with an authorized list posted on its fingerprinting pages; an employer outside that list uses the name based RAP sheet. The Nebraska background check guide covers the schools, care providers and licensing boards that hold that authority, and the patrol's fingerprinting service for them.
Sealing, set asides and the rare expungement
Section 29-3523 does more than redact the patrol's copy. On an acquittal or an order dismissing a case for the reasons in subsection 3, the court must order that every record of the case, from arrest and custody through complaint, trial and disposition, is not part of the public record, notify the Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, the State Patrol and every law enforcement agency, county attorney and city attorney in the file, and order them all to seal their records.
A case dismissed before January 1, 2017 gets the same order on motion to the court where it was filed, as does a pardoned person and a sex trafficking victim whose conviction was set aside under section 29-3005. Once sealed, the person cannot be questioned about the offense on any application for employment, bonding, licensing or education or as a witness, and may answer as if it never happened; the 2018 amendments apply to anyone arrested, charged or convicted before or after July 19, 2018.
Expungement is the exception, not the rule. The patrol states that Nebraska has no statutory expungement provision, and subsection 9 confirms the single route: a person arrested because of a law enforcement agency's error petitions the district court of the county of arrest, serves the county attorney, and must prove the error by clear and convincing evidence. A conviction is handled by a motion to set aside, which the patrol explains leaves the conviction on the record with a notation that the sentence was completed and the court set it aside.
The Supreme Court held in State v. Coble in 2018 that relief under the statute is sought by a separate action, not by a motion in the old criminal case. The Nebraska criminal records guide covers set aside motions in the sentencing court.
Searching the court file on JUSTICE
The arrest that became a case is read in the court record. The Judicial Branch's case information page explains that the statewide trial court system, JUSTICE, holds criminal, civil, traffic, juvenile and probate cases from the county and district courts of all 93 counties and the separate juvenile courts of Douglas, Lancaster and Sarpy, with the case summary, parties, offense information, costs, the register of actions and most filed documents as images.
It is free at any courthouse kiosk or law library, including the State Library and the law libraries at the University of Nebraska and Creighton. Online, the JUSTICE one time court case search linked from that page costs $17 per name, returns up to 30 cases with everything in them for three calendar days, and charges even when nothing is found. A subscriber account through Nebraska.gov costs $100 a year for up to ten users, with free list searches by party, court, case type, county, year, judge or attorney and $2 to open a case, a judgment date search or a case number search, document images included. The Nebraska court records guide lists each clerk.
Who holds the person after the arrest
A RAP sheet shows the arrest and its outcome but not where the person is today. Someone sentenced to the Department of Correctional Services appears in its inmate locator, someone on probation or parole with the supervising office, and someone newly booked on a county sheriff's jail list, which the Nebraska inmate search guide covers county by county. The patrol separately maintains the public registry described in the Nebraska sex offender registry guide, which is searched on its own and is not part of the RAP sheet.
Questions about Nebraska arrest records
Related Nebraska records
Nebraska readers can continue with the Nebraska criminal records guide for convictions and set asides, the Nebraska court records guide for JUSTICE and the clerks, the Nebraska background check guide for fingerprint authority, the Nebraska public records law guide for the public records statutes, and the Nebraska county pages for every sheriff and jail.