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Free St. Clair County Public Records Search

Access St. Clair County Records: marriage, divorce, warrants, arrests, probation, criminal, court, background checks, and all public records.

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Searching for St. Clair County public records, such as arrest and criminal records, warrants, court and prisoner status, property information, probate, background checks, or marriage and divorce actions, are available for viewing once you know where to look. Local, state and federal agencies in the United States don’t have standardized search processes. Still, this information is available per the Freedom of Information Act established in 1967, ensuring the public free access to governmental records and data.

While individuals have no say in the accessibility of public records, in 2008, the Judicial Conference of the United States outlined its policy on privacy concerns and ethical use of data to preserve civil liberties. The report included protections for public data, and citizens can’t request their records be repealed. Records Page provides resources, links, guidance and comprehensive data access tools to simplify and provide easy access to public records.

How To Run a Free Arrest Record & Inmate Search in St. Clair County, Michigan

Searching for St. Clair County arrest records can be done through the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office’s online search form, and citizens can also call the office on the 24-hour phone line at 810-987-1700.¹

The inmate search page has three fields: last name, first name and booking number. The minimum information needed is the last name, but the field only requires as little as one letter to search. If using one letter, the results will show all names that include the letter in the first or last name.

This search risks returning a lengthy public index of most or all inmates. If available, the best results come from entering the first and last name and the booking number.

Founded in St. Clair in 1821, the 200,000-square-foot correctional facility moved to 1170 Michigan Rd, Port Huron, MI, 48060, in 2006 and now houses adult and juvenile offenders.

Track Down Arrests & Obtain Reports From Local Police Departments in St. Clair County

If searching the county level doesn’t yield results or a police report is needed, cities and townships in St. Clair County have their own police departments who host jail records and provide police reports.

If a municipal police department performed the arrest, they can distribute arrest reports or information to requesters as well. Many cities and townships in St. Clair County host police agencies that citizens can contact to obtain jail records and reports. These departments are usually reachable only by phone or in person; their contact information can be found in the table below.

Department	Address	Phone Number
Port Huron Police Department3	Municipal Office Center (MOC) 100 McMorran Boulevard Port Huron, Michigan, 48060	810-984-8415
Marysville Police Department	1355 Delaware Avenue Marysville, Michigan, 48040	810-364-6300
Clay Township Police Department	4710 Pointe Tremble Road Algonac, Michigan, 48001	810-794-9381
City of St. Clair Police Department	547 N Carney Drive St. Clair, Michigan, 48079	810-329-5710
Marine City Police Department4	375 South Parker Street Marine City, Michigan, 48039	810-765-4040
City of Algonac Police Services5	805 St. Clair River Drive Algonac, Michigan, 48001	810-987-1700
City of Yale Police Department	111 West Mechanic Street Yale, Michigan, 48097	810-387-4201
Village of Capac Police Department	103 East Church Street Capac, Michigan, 48014	810-395-4351
Emmett Township Department of Public Safety Patrol Division	621 Cliff Street Battle Creek, Michigan, 49014	269-968-9303

How To Conduct a Free Public Criminal Record Check in St. Clair County, Michigan

To look up someone’s criminal record in St. Clair County, determining which agency maintains and administers the specific record type is the first course of action. In general, criminal records include but are not limited to arrests, sentences, parole violations, probation, arrest warrants, background check reports and sex offender registries. Yet, no single repository contains all criminal records on the county, state, or federal level.

Various agencies employ record custodians who manage and maintain an online directory of criminal records. Custodians distribute copies of documents to private citizens or businesses that need to learn more about an individual’s past and current history.

The primary agencies that store and distribute St. Clair County public records include Michigan State Police Criminal History Records, the Michigan Department of Corrections’ OTIS search and the County Circuit Clerk or Courts, all of which are detailed below.

Find Criminal Records in St. Clair County Through the Circuit Clerk’s Office

The St. Clair Circuit Clerk’s Office provides an online criminal record search option that allows citizens to see an overview of someone’s criminal history, including the type of charge, fines owed, and sentencing date.⁶

If there are any accuracies in the results, individuals should email [email protected] so they can address the matter.

This tool can be searched using the defendant’s name, case number or by ticket number. However, it’s important to note that this search feature only offers information about cases or charges that originated in St. Clair County and for offenses that occurred elsewhere in Michigan, the State Police will have further information.

Perform a St. Clair County Criminal Record Search Through the Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center

The Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center offers a search tool allowing the public to search criminal history records for offenders residing in all of Michigan. ICHAT, the Internet Criminal History Access Tool, includes criminal records for felonies and serious misdemeanors punishable by more than 93-day prison terms.

ICHAT is a public records repository for all 83 Michigan counties, but it doesn’t contain suppressed records or warrant information. Other St. Clair County judicial records not included are federal, traffic, tribal and juvenile records, local misdemeanors and criminal history records from outside states.

How To Use ICHAT: To begin searching for St. Clair County Criminal Records, visit the Background Search login page.⁸ Users can register for an account or sign in as a guest user. Once logged in, search options include the following fields:

• Reason for search
• First name
• Middle name (not required)
• Last name
• Suffix (not required)
• Date of birth
• Race
• Gender
• SID (not required)

The SID is the offender’s unique state identification number, and if used, no other information needs to be entered in the search form.

Below the fields, there’s a link for additional names that, when clicked, provides a drop-down menu for up to three additional names or aliases. Each additional name row has a field for another first name, another middle name and another last name. None of these are required.

The last field on the bottom of the form is for any miscellaneous number the user would like to have printed on the record report. This could be an identifying number for the user, such as a U.S. passport number, state ID or employee ID. Social Security numbers shouldn’t be added to this field.

Here are some considerations you should be aware of when using ICHAT:

• ICHAT isn’t free. A nominal fee is charged.
• Once payment is made, ICHAT reports are instantly viewable online or available to print.
• Results aren’t mailed.
• Results are only accessible for 7 days.
• ICHAT reports may not be accepted by all agencies or organizations. Be sure to check before paying for a report.
• Users must enter the correct information. If an inaccurate result is found and purchased, no refunds are given.

How To Look Up St. Clair County, Michigan Warrants

Michigan’s OTIS system doesn’t provide access to Michigan or St. Clair County arrest warrants. However, inquiries can be directed to the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office by calling 810-987-1700 or the Michigan State Police at 517-332-2521. For additional cities in St. Clair County, contact local law enforcement offices.

St. Clair County also provides an online FOIA Request for Public Records that, once completed, can be mailed, emailed or faxed.⁹

If the Court System issued the St. Clair County warrants, the County Clerk’s Office may have a record of a warrant issued in the county. The county clerk can be reached by calling the St. Clair County Clerk’s Office at 810-985-2200.

How To Find Out if Someone Is on Probation in St. Clair County, Michigan

St. Clair County Probate Court provides an online search form to locate probation records, or individuals can call 810-985-2066 with Probate Court questions. Contact the 72nd District Court by calling 810-985-2072 for questions concerning probate records found in the District Court.

In addition, the MDOC Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS) provides information to the public, including criminal records from the MDOC, Michigan courts and the Michigan State Police which includes information about state prisoners, probationers, and parolees.

The search tool also lists out inmates who’ve absconded their sentence and inmates transferred to or from a Michigan prison through the Michigan Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision.¹¹

OTIS allows searches for the following details:

• Last name
• First name
• MDOC number
• Sex
• Race
• Age
• Offender status
• Identifying marks, scars and tattoos

Tips for Using OTIS – The last name is the only required information, but if no other fields are entered, the results will include all records. This type of search could return numerous pages.

Searches will result in “0 records matched” if the spelling of the last name is incorrect or only one letter is entered. If results repeatedly return the zero records matched message, set the Offender Status to ALL. For the most accurate results, enter the MDOC number alone; no additional data is required.

If unsure about the last name, users can use an asterisk (*) as a special character to widen the search within a targeted format. This works if the first three letters of the name are entered. For example, entering ‘Fra*’ returns names including Franklin, Franco, Frame and France.

If only two letters are entered with an asterisk, OTIS returns a zero records matched result.

The last field, scars, marks or tattoos, offers the option to enter an identifying mark for the individual. This field is sensitive to phrases and spelling, and OTIS can only find offenders with the exact phrase in their identifying information on record. If “black spider” is entered, only those with that exact phrase appear in the results.

If “black-spider” is entered, for example, OTIS returns a zero record-matched result. Special characters aren’t allowed.

Once the user clicks on a name included on the results page, a biographical information page appears for the offender with a list of headers and subheaders. Information provided includes the offender’s unique MDOC identification number or the unique state identification number (SID), as well as their location, security level and active and inactive prison or probation sentences. You can also find someone’s mugshot.

How To Complete a Background Check in St. Clair County, Michigan

Background checks come in several forms containing differing information.

For example, background checks include criminal, employment and education verification; social media account checks; drug screening; credit history; driving record and more. There’s no single repository for all the data gathered for a background check. Instead, background checks include pulling data from numerous agencies and online sources.

Anyone can run a personal background check on themselves or others by searching St. Clair County public records through the agencies and methods described throughout this resource.

Individuals performing a personal background check don’t need a reason when searching records, and consent from the person searched isn’t required. However, it’s unlawful to use information gathered from personal checks for stalking, harassing or causing harm to others.

Professional background checks are run for employment, various licensing, insurance policies, housing, firearm permits, volunteers, elderly care aids, child care workers and more. St. Clair County endorses name search services (level 1) through the state’s OTIS search tool and the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office, including level 2 checks through fingerprinting. However, fingerprinting data isn’t available to the public.

Personal background checks typically include:

• A Social Security number trace provided by the Social Security Administration (SSA)¹³
• Criminal record check
• Driving record from the Michigan DMV Individuals can only purchase their personal driving record from the Michigan DMV. Agencies accessing driving records include commercial and governmental under special permissions and organizations that subscribe to the Driving Record Subscription Service.
• Credit history check obtained through the Federal Trade Commission’s free annual credit report
• Social media use analysis and personal connections

Employers in all industries use employment background checks for new hires and existing employees. A Michigan employment background check typically includes the following:

• Criminal history
• Professional license verifications
• Social Security number trace
• Pre-employment drug screening.

Positions such as school counselors, teachers, nurses, attorneys and nursery workers trigger background checks by employers and nonprofit organizations.

Safeguards are in place for individuals who have had a background check run by an employer. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) protects citizens from discrimination, especially when employers perform a background check and then use the information to discriminate against the employee. The EEOC investigates all discrimination charges for accused employers covered by the law.

Employees can file a Charge of Employment Discrimination online, in person at an EEOC office or by phone or mail.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is part of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and protects the rights of citizens to fair treatment from financial institutions, lenders and banking. The statutes set forth the responsibility for employers conducting background checks to ensure accurate information compliant with FCRA standards.

How To Access Public Criminal Records Throughout All of Michigan (MI)

The Michigan State Judiciary record search, MiCOURT, provides information for all courts in Michigan. The MiCOURT tool allows users to search by court name, description or county and provides links for the court’s record custodian.¹⁴ The initial search page is pre-populated with the complete list of Michigan courts and alphabetically sorted, so users can search for courts by scrolling through the pages.

Citizens can also find national criminal records using the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) inmate search tool. Although this search form primarily includes inmates who violated federal laws, rosters may include some state inmates.

The MDOC OTIS search form can be utilized to find Michigan inmates based on their arrest status, identifying information, or MDOC number. In 2008, the Michigan Legislature instituted offender information removal 3 years after discharge. Any future arrests would facilitate a new record, and the same rule applied for removal.

For a more broad search, the United States federal court system provides a records search for federal court records. The Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) is an online search tool that allows public access to more than 1 billion documents from federal courts nationwide.¹⁵ Users can search by the federal court where the case was filed or use a nationwide index to search all federal court cases.

Contact the PACER Service Center at +1(800)676-6856. The center is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT. Email the center at [email protected].

Additionally, users can find Michigan criminal records through the Michigan Sex Offender Registry. The Michigan State Police (MSP) is required to develop and maintain the registry per Michigan Compiled Laws MCL 28.721et seq., The Sex Offenders Registration Act. To search the registry, use the search form to look for offenders or locate neighborhood maps showing the locations of sex offenders.

Only the first and last names are required for individual searches.

For a neighborhood search, the city, zip code or county is required. The form won’t allow street-only entry. The results page appears on a Google map of the area with the radius circled.

Any offenders living in the outlined area are listed to the left, with links allowing users to click for more information. While the information provided by this registry is public, it’s unlawful to harm, harass or commit any crime against an individual in the registry.

How To Track Down St. Clair County Court Records

To perform a St. Clair County case search, the St. Clair County Clerk’s Office provides a Court Document Request Form. The inquiry doesn’t include district or probate courts, nor does it include other St. Clair County court records. Once the form is completed and submitted, the PDF file is emailed after the payment of $15 is confirmed.

The Michigan State Judiciary also offers a St. Clair County Court free public records search. The MiCOURT court search includes two options: a search for the St. Clair County Probate Court and one for the 72nd District Court. These searches include the following records:

• Civil
• Traffic
• Criminal
• Domestic (Divorce/Family)
• Probate

Records that aren’t part of the search include:

• Adoption Records
• Judicial Admissions
• Juvenile/Child Protective Proceedings
• Guardianships
• Mental Illnesses
• Name Changes
• Parental Waivers
• Protection Orders or Violations
• Surrendered Children
• Infectious Disease Treatments
• Voluntary Foster Care for Adults
• Delayed Registration of Foreign Birth
• Wills

Users can also contact the St. Clair County Clerk’s Office directly or visit at 201 McMorran Blvd., Room 1100, Port Huron, Michigan 48060.¹⁷ The office can be reached by phone at 810-985-2200, or it can be faxed at 810-985-2241.

How To Obtain or View St. Clair County Vital Records (Marriage, Divorce, Birth & Death)

Vital records include data from life events, such as marriage certificates, divorce decrees and birth and death certificates. These records are generated by local agencies, such as the St. Clair County Clerk’s Office, unless the event happened overseas, in the District of Columbia or while stationed at a military base and isn’t a federal record.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics division provides a Where to Write for Vital Records page, which provides a map and list to choose a state or territory. Once clicked, a state-specific page provides information to contact local record custodians who provide vital record copies.

People can check if someone is married when issuing certain insurance policies or as a part of family genealogy research. Divorce records are helpful for an individual who wants to find out about a person they’re involved with when property status or ownership needs to be established or for a legal name change.

Additional reasons for marriage or divorce record requests include applying for Social Security or pension benefits, obtaining a passport or for making historical family marriage inquiries.

Birth records help with family history research and collaborative genealogy charts and can identify a person’s place of birth and where their parents are from. Some administrative reasons for a birth record include:

• For establishing identity
• When enrolling in school
• When applying for a driver’s license
• Needed for state ID cards
• Required when applying for a passport
• To verify a place of birth and exact date
• For Social Security applications

A certificate of death must be signed by the attending physician and include the cause of death, as well as the date, exact time and place of death. Death certificates are also helpful for family genealogy research and are required for administrative actions, such as:

• Proof of death for life insurance payouts
• To claim other insurance proceeds
• To notify Social Security
• To settle a deceased person’s affairs

Additionally, the Michigan Medical Marijuana Program (MMMP) is part of the Cannabis Regulatory Agency and issues patient registry cards allowing individuals to purchase medical marijuana.

An online application and resource page provides information and access to the patient portal, and the applications and forms page allows printing of all forms and includes information and forms for Medical Marijuana Facility Licensing and resources for patients and caregivers.

Determine if Someone Is Married or Divorced via the St. Clair County Clerk’s Office

St. Clair County public records include marriage records, and they are available to the public. To find out if someone is married, complete the online marriage record request form provided by the St. Clair County Clerk’s Office. The form is then uploaded for verification or mailed to the clerk’s office.

A divorce judgment request form can be obtained from the St. Clair’s County Clerk’s Office.

The St. Clair County Clerk’s Office administers all marriage, divorce, birth and death records for residents of the county and its included cities. The documents only include marriage certificates for individuals married in St. Clair County. The St. Clair County marriage records request form provides a certified copy sent by mail for a $20 fee.¹⁸

Any additional copies ordered are $6 each.

St. Clair County divorce records are also accessible to the public. The divorce judgment request form provided by St. Clair’s County Clerk’s Office only includes divorces recorded in the 31st District Court. Once the form is completed, an email is sent with a PDF copy of the divorce record.

The fee is $15.

Searchers can also request mailed copies of divorce records through the Michigan State Vital Records Department request form. The Michigan website also offers instructions for requesting divorce records in person, by phone and online.

Obtain Death & Birth Records in St. Clair County Through the St. Clair County Clerk’s Office

The St. Clair County Clerk’s Office provides an online form to request a certificate of birth for an individual born in the county. Once the online form is complete, it’s uploaded through the Birth Certificate Request submission page.¹⁹ In addition, the request requires a color copy of a state-issued identification card or license.

St. Clair County provides certificates of death through an online death certificate request form or mail-in request. One copy costs $15, and each additional copy is $6.

Death certificates can also be requested through Michigan State’s Vital Records Department. The site provides information on how to order records online, in person, by phone or through the mail.

How To Check Who Owns a Property or Home in St. Clair County, Michigan for Free

St. Clair County provides a Property Tax & Maps Search to find property or homeowners in the county. This service is free. The Register of Deeds also supplies land records for parcels in St. Clair County but charges a $1 fee per page.²⁰

The Property Tax & Maps Search form includes the following search options:

• Owner name
• Street number
• Street name
• Parcel number

Users can only search one option at a time.

If the user is unsure of the owner’s name, entering the first three letters of the last name will return all the parcels for owners whose last name starts with those letters. For example, entering ‘SMI’ returns all owners whose last name is Smith or any other last name with those first three letters. First names are optional and can be abbreviated, but using the last name only can return better results.

Enter the street name by itself. Don’t add the type of road, such as RD, ST, TR, court, north, south, east or west. If users have the parcel number, the results should only include information for the actual property.

Citizens’ Rights & Responsibilities Regarding St. Clair County Public Records

With advances in technology and computing, the automated retrieval of Michigan public records in the personal and professional sectors continues to rise substantially. Information deemed as public includes sensitive records that, when used incorrectly, could cause harm to citizens and infringe on basic liberties.

Personal information included in background checks can mean denial of housing and discrimination based on old St. Clair County arrest records or unsettled legal action.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) established the regulations concerning how credit reporting agencies (CRAs) use and disseminate a consumer’s personal and credit information.²² Since 1970, the FCRA has continued to maintain the accuracy of public records and safeguard consumer information while ensuring the rights of the Freedom of Information Act remain intact.

Professional use of background checks–such as by an employer, lender or financial institution–must remain within the laws established by the FCRA and federal and local laws. Agencies that police the use of public data include the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which protects individuals from discrimination resulting from credit and criminal records, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which investigates background check fraud.^{23, 24}

The Ban-the-Box Laws prevent employers from asking about an applicant’s criminal history on a job application.

All citizens of the United States deserve the same chance to realize their desires and live and work to their best ability without the effects of discrimination. Using St. Clair County public records in a manner that causes someone to lose an opportunity must come with repercussions that deter future wrongdoing.