The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation calls its public service Tennessee Open Records Information Services, and the name is literal: the bureau is the central repository, says it is its responsibility to give the public access when asked, and sells a Tennessee adult criminal history on any individual for $29, non refundable, by card online or by mail, with the result sent as a PDF to a required email address. No fingerprints are taken and no signed release is needed, which the TBI background checks page states in capitals.
What limits the product is the way the file is built. Tennessee criminal history is made of misdemeanor and felony arrests reported solely by fingerprint submission from the arresting agency, so an arrest where no prints were taken never reaches the TBI. The result says whether the subject has a Tennessee record, and if a record may belong to the person searched, a copy follows; aliases are not included in the report. Juvenile matters stay out unless the juvenile was transferred to criminal court as an adult under section 37-1-134. For the sheriff who booked the person and the clerk who holds the case, see the Tennessee county pages.
- $29, no prints: the TBI name based Tennessee check for the general public, online or by mail, with results emailed as a PDF that the bureau says reads best on a desktop.
- $50 with prints: the FBI only nationwide check for the public through the IdentoGO contractor, with qualified organizations paying $37.15 for applicants, $33.15 for volunteers and $23.90 for state only or international adoption.
- Free: expungement of a charge that was dismissed, no billed, acquitted, nolle prossed or never filed after an arrest, filed with the clerk of the court that had the case.
- $100 and 24 hours: the diversion application fee and the usual processing time for the TBI certificate of eligibility, best filed three business days before court.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Tennessee's own systems: the TBI background checks page, the Tennessee Open Records Information Services portal, the TBI diversions, expungements and dispositions page, the Tennessee courts self help page on expungements, the TBI firearm background check and appeals page, the TBI appeal of denial of attempted firearm transfer form, the Tennessee Felony Offender Information search, the Felony Offender Information help page, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Paying for a check, and who pays what
The public pays $29 per request, by Visa, MasterCard or Discover online, while billable account holders log in to TN FlexCheck with a user name. Open Records Information Services answers at 615-744-4057. For a fingerprint based check the TBI sends everyone to its contractor, IdentoGO, rather than to a police station: the public pays $50 for an FBI only nationwide check, and qualified organizations with an originating agency identifier pay $37.15 for an applicant, $33.15 for a volunteer and $23.90 for an international adoption or a state only check.
The bureau repeats that the contractor, not law enforcement, is the place to buy a fingerprint based check. The Tennessee background check guide covers which employers and licenses are qualified organizations.
Diversion, and the $100 application
Tennessee has two kinds of diversion and the TBI page keeps them apart. Pretrial diversion under section 40-15-105 is a suspended prosecution: no plea, a memorandum of understanding with the district attorney, and on completion an order of expungement marked with that section. Judicial diversion under section 40-35-313 follows a guilty plea or finding, holds the sentence back during probation, and is closed to anyone with a prior felony or a Class A misdemeanor for which time was served; failing the probation puts the sentence into effect with no expungement.
Either way the defendant first needs a certificate of eligibility from the TBI, requested through the online diversion portal or a paper application, with the diversion type checked or the form comes back unprocessed.
The unit works from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on state business days, processes applications in order, usually within 24 hours, and discourages rush requests because they delay everyone else, so it asks for the application at least three business days before the court date. The fee is $100, by card other than American Express, and the portal does not work on a phone; more than four charges from the same date can be doubled up on a line rather than paid twice, a second county can share an application only with agreement letters from both district attorneys, an indigent defendant gets a judge signed form in place of the fee, and the TBI will not run a check in advance to see whether a client qualifies, because FBI rules forbid it. Sex offenses that require registration may be diverted but never expunged.
Expunging a dismissed charge for nothing
The TBI lists the outcomes that support expungement: successful pretrial or judicial diversion, acquittal, no true bill, nolle prosequi, a conviction reversed on appeal, and dismissed charges. The court system's self help page, which notes that updated information is coming to reflect changes to section 40-32-101, says a person may be eligible for free expungement when charges were dismissed, a grand jury returned no true bill, the person was arrested and released without charge, a trial ended in a not guilty verdict, the case ended in nolle prosequi, or an order of protection was successfully defended.
The filing goes to the court where the matter began, general sessions or a trial court, with the docket number and case details, and no court appearance is needed. The clerk will mail the certified order and charging document back only in a self addressed stamped envelope, one for each charge.
Two notations stop the process. A charge marked dismissed with costs means court costs are owed and must be paid or waived first. A charge marked retired means the case was put on hold, and the person must have it changed to dismissed before it can be expunged. The self help page also collects local expungement clinics and news of fee funds, and the Tennessee court records guide covers the clerks who hold the dockets.
Firearm denials and the 15 business day clock
Since 1998 the TBI has run the Tennessee Instant Check System for licensed dealers, more than four million transactions so far, and a denial is the way many people learn that an old arrest has no disposition on file. The denied buyer completes the Appeal of Denial of Attempted Firearm Transfer, available from most dealers, and sends it by fax, email or mail to the TICS Unit at 901 R.S. Gass Boulevard in Nashville; staff will not discuss a denial by phone.
The appeal must arrive within 30 days of the denial or it is not processed. The TBI then has 15 business days to seek the missing disposition from the arresting agency, the court clerk and the state records unit; if it finds it, the dealer is told of the change, and if it cannot, the transaction becomes a conditional proceed that lets the dealer complete the sale without requiring it. An overturned denial is not remembered, since approved transactions are not retained, so the same arrest can block the next purchase until the clerk or agency files the R-84 final disposition report or an expungement order.
A handgun carry permit does not replace the check because it lacks an annual re-check. The TICS page has the status lookup, which needs the transaction number and date of birth.
The felony offender lookup
The Department of Correction and the Board of Parole share the Felony Offender Information search, by name with an alias option, by TDOC identification number or by state identification number, with a race filter and a case sensitive challenge to pass. It also carries a link to buy the official TBI check. The disclaimer says neither agency warrants the accuracy or completeness of what the service shows, and questions go to the department's constituent services or to the Board of Parole in Nashville. The Tennessee inmate search guide covers this lookup and the county jails, which it does not include.
What the sheriff keeps that the TBI never sees
The TBI record is only as complete as the fingerprint cards agencies send. The sheriff of the county holds the booking record and the jail roster, the arresting agency holds the incident report, and the clerk of the general sessions or criminal court holds the file that shows whether the charge was dismissed, retired or diverted. When a TICS appeal or an expungement stalls, it is usually because a disposition never left the clerk's office, and the fix is the R-84 report from that clerk or agency.
For people being sought, Tennessee wants and warrants covers the sources, and the Tennessee criminal records guide maps every office.
Questions about Tennessee arrest records
Related Tennessee records
Tennessee readers can continue with the Tennessee background check guide for qualified organizations and fingerprint checks, Tennessee court records for the clerks and dockets, Tennessee inmate search for state and county custody, the Tennessee sex offender registry guide, the Tennessee public records law guide, and the Tennessee county pages for every sheriff and clerk.