The Ohio Attorney General describes the scale of its Bureau of Criminal Investigation plainly: BCI processes about a million background checks a year, and every one is done by comparing fingerprints received against its criminal fingerprint file. State law makes schools, day care centers and health care facilities run those checks on hires, and many licenses require one. All prints must reach BCI electronically through WebCheck or a card scan unless an exemption applies, which is why the background check page sends people to a list of WebCheck locations rather than to a form.
What the page does not offer is a search by name. The only document called a name search on the BCI forms list is a Request for BCI Name Search, and it asks for the transaction numbers of rejected submissions and an address that must match them, a remedy for prints too poor to read rather than a lookup anyone can order. The public route to an arrest or a case in Ohio therefore runs through the county clerk of courts and the sheriff who booked the person, which is where the Ohio county pages point.
- $22: the BCI state check fee, paid on the e-payment site or by money order, certified, business or personal check to Treasurer, State of Ohio, never cash.
- Fingerprints only: BCI runs its check against fingerprints, electronically through WebCheck or on a card, and offers no name search to the public.
- Free challenge: a person who disputes their record is fingerprinted at a police agency with Challenge and Review as the reason, at no charge.
- $50 to seal: the application fee for sealing or expunging a conviction, with a hearing set 45 to 90 days out and the prosecutor notified 60 days ahead.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Ohio's own systems: the Ohio Attorney General background check page, the BCI civilian background check procedures, the Request for Challenge and Review of Criminal History Records, the Request for BCI Name Search form, the Attorney General background check questions, Revised Code section 2953.32 on sealing or expunging a conviction, Revised Code section 2953.33 on sealing after a not guilty finding or dismissal, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction offender search, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Getting fingerprinted inside and outside Ohio
Inside Ohio the answer to how to complete a background check is to pick a vendor from the WebCheck list and contact it. The vendor captures prints electronically and sends them to BCI with a reason fingerprinted code, and the questions page warns that BCI cannot change anything a vendor keys in wrongly, that a new submission is needed to fix it, and that no credit is given for a vendor mistake. The results of a BCI check and an FBI check come back separately, so a rejection letter for one does not mean the other failed, and a rejected submission needs a fresh set of prints.
From outside Ohio there is a pilot with FastFingerprints that captures prints electronically for BCI, and failing that the paper route: print the BCI civilian background check card from the forms page, have any agency roll the prints, and mail the card to BCI. The civilian procedures sheet requires a release from the electronic submission requirement with every card, the fee of $22 paid on the e-payment site with the transaction number written in the reason fingerprinted box or a receipt enclosed, the agency code 1AB002 in the agency code box, and the address for the result in the box provided.
Prints rolled in anything but fingerprint ink, or a card missing the social security number, date of birth or reason, go back unprocessed. The mailing address is BCI, P.O. Box 365, London, Ohio 43140, and the civilian unit answers at 877-224-0043 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
BCI will run an FBI check only for the kinds of Ohio employment a statute names. A person who wants a national record for personal reasons, or for immigration, is told to contact the FBI directly, while an Ohio only check can be used for immigration through a vendor. The Ohio background check guide lists the statutes behind the common required checks.
Challenging what the record says
Someone who receives a rap sheet and believes it wrong follows the Challenge and Review procedure. A written request with a brief reason, the name and a complete mailing address goes to BCI, Attn: Challenge and Review, at the London post office box, together with a fingerprint card rolled by a law enforcement or criminal justice agency with Challenge and Review entered as the reason. There is no fee. BCI runs the card through its fingerprint system, and if it matches an existing record it mails back the printout with the card and the letter.
The bureau is clear about what it will not do next: the agencies that submit arrests and dispositions own the data, so a person who still disagrees must go to the police department, sheriff or court that reported the entry, and that agency must notify BCI in writing before the record changes. For an FBI entry from another state, the contributing agency there is the one to contact. The Ohio criminal records guide covers the agencies that report.
Sealing or expunging a conviction under 2953.32
Ohio rewrote this section with an effective date of September 30, 2025. An eligible offender applies to the sentencing court, or to a common pleas court for an out of state or federal conviction, and the timing depends on the offense. Sealing can be sought one year after final discharge for misdemeanors and fourth or fifth degree felonies, three years for one or two third degree felonies, six months for a minor misdemeanor, seven years where the record includes soliciting improper compensation, and five years after registration ends for a sex offense that required it.
Expungement, which goes further than sealing, waits one year after discharge for a misdemeanor, six months for a minor misdemeanor, and for a felony ten years beyond the date sealing became available. Convictions excluded altogether include first and second degree felonies, felony offenses of violence, offenses with a victim under thirteen, traffic chapters 4506 through 4549, and first or second degree misdemeanor domestic violence.
One application may cover several cases. The applicant pays a $50 application fee unless a poverty affidavit shows indigence, and the court may add a local fee of up to $50, whatever the number of records. The court sets a hearing not less than 45 nor more than 90 days after filing, notifies the prosecutor at least 60 days ahead, and the prosecutor may object in writing up to 30 days before. A probation officer reports on the applicant and notes whether fingerprints were taken at arrest.
The statute lists what the judge must find: that the offense is eligible, that no criminal proceedings are pending, that the applicant is rehabilitated, and that the applicant's interest outweighs any legitimate need of the government to keep the record.
Sealing an arrest that never became a conviction
A person found not guilty, or named in a dismissed complaint, indictment or information, may apply under section 2953.33 at any time after the finding or dismissal is entered. After a grand jury no bill the wait is two years from the foreperson's report. A pardon from the governor also opens the door. The court holds the same 45 to 90 day hearing, and if it finds a not guilty verdict, a dismissal with prejudice, or a dismissal without prejudice where the statute of limitations has run, it must order BCI to seal or expunge the DNA specimens and profiles, separately from the decision on the rest of the records.
A dismissal does not qualify for expungement, as opposed to sealing, where the case involved the traffic chapters, a felony offense of violence or a registered sex offense, and DNA stays in the national index if the person is otherwise eligible to be there.
State prison custody and the DRC search
The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction offender search shows people now in an Ohio prison, under Adult Parole Authority supervision, or judicially released. A last name alone works and also returns longer names that begin with it, Brown pulling in Browning. A search by county of commitment returns the first county on the record when a person was committed from several at once. Residential county and zip code searches reach only people on APA supervision or violators at large, and the address shown is the last recorded one, not a current location.
An offender number is six digits with a prefix, A or R for men and W for women, with a leading zero added to a five digit female number. The site also links the parole violators at large list and Roberta's Law victim notification, which since March 22, 2013 notifies victims of aggravated murder, murder, first to third degree offenses of violence and life sentences automatically. The Ohio inmate search guide covers the county jail rosters that this search does not include.
What the county holds that BCI does not
BCI holds a fingerprint record, not the arrest report, the booking photograph or the case file. The sheriff of the county where a person was booked keeps the jail record, the arresting agency keeps the incident report, and the clerk of courts of the county keeps the docket that shows the charge and its disposition, which is also where a sealing application is filed and where the prosecutor is served. For a dispute about a BCI entry, the challenge letter from the bureau sends the person back to that county agency.
The Supreme Court of Ohio's own docket search covers only its cases. The Ohio court records guide explains the common pleas and municipal clerks, and the Ohio public records law guide covers the Sunshine Laws that make incident reports and dockets public while the BCI file stays closed.
Questions about Ohio arrest records
Related Ohio records
Ohio readers can continue with the Ohio background check guide for the required checks and their statutes, Ohio court records for the clerks of courts, Ohio inmate search for prisons and county jails, Ohio wants and warrants, the Ohio sex offender registry guide, and the Ohio county pages for every sheriff and clerk.