Administrative Expungement in Jacksonville

Jacksonville is the seat of Duval County and the most populous city in Florida. Public records, including arrest and criminal records, can be obtained online from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. They can also be sought through the Public Records Unit, through written correspondence, or in person. An arrest record can have a negative impact on your prospects, since it will come up during a criminal background check. It may make you less competitive for a job or for housing. If you were arrested mistakenly or illegally, you may be eligible to apply for an administrative expungement. If you want to apply for an administrative expungement, you should consult the Jacksonville administrative expungement lawyers at Hanlon Law.

Administrative expungement is a remedy for arrests made by mistake or contrary to law. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement can adopt a rule under chapter 120 for the administrative expungement of any non-judicial record of an adult or child that was made mistakenly or against the law. The arresting law enforcement agency can apply directly to the Department, according to the Department’s rule for the administrative expungement of non-judicial records. However, this occurs rarely, since the agency has the discretion to do this and will rarely want to point out its own error.

Although the procedure is seldom used, unlike with a court-ordered expungement, you are not restricted to applying only once for an administrative expungement.

You will likely need to apply for an administrative expungement of non-judicial records yourself, according to the Department’s rules. It is wise to retain an administrative expungement attorney in the Jacksonville area to help you. Your application needs to be supported by an endorsement from the head of the arresting agency or the state attorney. Their designees can also provide an endorsement on their behalf. To get the supporting endorsement, the arresting law enforcement agency must have made a determination of the error or illegality of your arrest. The supporting endorsement should identify the arrest to be expunged and make specific reference to your name and aliases, your date of birth, your sex and race, your Social Security Number if available, the time and date of the arrest, the original charges, the FBI and FDLE Numbers if applicable, an OBTS number, and the reason for seeking an administrative expungement. Alternatively, a court needs to have entered a final order finding illegality or mistake.

Your application needs to be in writing. It also needs to incorporate the time and date of the arrest, your name, your offender-based tracking system number, and the crimes with which you are charged. It needs to identify the relationship of the person signing the application to the person who was mistakenly arrested. If, for example, you are submitting this application on behalf of your son, who was mistakenly arrested for drug trafficking, you need to identify yourself as the parent of your son. Our Jacksonville administrative expungement attorneys can help you make sure that you meet these requirements. If you were arrested on a pickup order, capias, or warrant, the sheriff or state attorney can request an administrative expungement.

An application for an administrative expungement cannot be admitted as evidence in an administrative or judicial proceeding and cannot be interpreted as an admission of liability regarding the arrest.

If your administrative expungement application meets the statutory requirements, the FDLE will let the arresting agency know. That agency shoulders the responsibility for expunging its arrest records and letting any other agency to which it provided the record information know about the administrative expungement. In contrast to a judicial expungement, in which your fingerprints stay in non-public records, your fingerprints and everything else related to the arrest are destroyed in the course of an administrative expungement.

Unlike a court-ordered expungement, an administrative expungement allows for a complete removal of an arrest record. If you are interested in obtaining an administrative expungement, you should discuss your circumstances with an administrative expungement lawyer in the Jacksonville area. At Hanlon Law, our experienced criminal defense attorneys have expunged and sealed thousands of criminal records across the state. Call us at 800.373.1974 or contact us through our online form.