Philadelphia County Criminal History Philadelphia County Criminal History

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About Philadelphia County Criminal History

Philadelphia County criminal records are split among local and state offices. The Office of Judicial Records keeps court files, the Philadelphia Police Department and Department of Records handle police reports, and the Philadelphia Department of Prisons holds local custody information. Pennsylvania State Police operates PATCH and the Megan's Law Public Website. This private reference site organizes those official routes so readers can identify the right custodian, portal, counter, or phone line without treating one source as a complete history.

Why We Built This Site

Philadelphia's consolidated city-county system does not fit the usual county model. The Sheriff's Office handles court security, prisoner transport, writs, and fugitive work, but it does not run the jails or serve as the main custodian of police arrest reports. Court charges and dispositions belong to the First Judicial District's Office of Judicial Records. Local custody data comes from the Philadelphia Department of Prisons, while Pennsylvania State Police maintains the Central Repository, PATCH, and the Megan's Law Public Website. We assembled the official search routes, request steps, fees, and contact details that distinguish those records.

What You Will Find Here

The material is organized around the official source that can answer each records question:

  • Agency contacts: where to reach OJR Criminal, the Department of Records, police open-records staff, and Pennsylvania State Police
  • Record guides: how criminal court case records are found and read in Philadelphia County
  • Record-clearing information: how Pennsylvania expungement, petition-based limited access, and Clean Slate limited access differ
  • Official check routes: how PATCH name checks, PSP Access and Review, and purpose-coded fingerprint checks serve different needs

What We Cannot Do

This is a privately run reference site. We have no connection to any Pennsylvania court, sheriff's office, police department, or state agency. There are real limits to what we can help with:

  • We do not retrieve a person's record or conduct an official background check
  • We cannot issue a certified court document, rap sheet, or other official criminal record
  • We do not submit records requests, expungement petitions, or other forms for a visitor
  • We cannot offer legal advice about a charge, case, warrant, or record-clearing option
  • We cannot promise that every listed address, phone number, fee, or office procedure will remain unchanged

Only the office that maintains a record, such as OJR Criminal, the Department of Records, or Pennsylvania State Police, can issue an official or certified copy.

Search Partners

Third-party providers power search boxes that appear on parts of this site. Each provider controls its own service, results, and prices. A paid signup reached through one of those tools may generate a referral fee for us, which supports access to this site. We do not set the provider's charges or determine what its search returns.