What is an outstanding warrant in California? If a warrant is outstanding, it means that a law enforcement officer has not executed the warrant by arresting the individual who allegedly committed an offense. There are numerous ways that an active warrant can turn into a CA outstanding warrant. This can happen if California law enforcement officials are not able to find the individual named on the warrant, either because the person is hiding or because officials do not have accurate information about the person’s location. Sometimes the person named on the warrant does not know they are wanted in connection with an offense, and sometimes California law enforcement agencies get bogged down with too many warrants to serve and they are unable to devote the time to serving low priority warrants.
Before a warrant becomes outstanding, it begins as an active warrant issued by a California judge or court of law. The issuance of a warrant authorizes CA law enforcement officials to arrest the individual named on the warrant. Although there is no statewide database of warrants, local and state police and sheriffs are all responsible for apprehending individuals wanted for arrest. Typically, when a warrant is issued, it will be assigned to a particular officer who must attempt to arrest that person.
To find out if there is an outstanding warrant in your name in California, you must contact your local sheriff’s office or court. You could have a warrant in your name for unpaid parking or traffic tickets, even if those incidents happened many years ago. A warrant stays in the law enforcement database until it is settled or until the person named on the warrant is dead and gone. If your name has ever been recorded in a police report in relation to any sort of offense, this is a good clue that there might be a warrant out for your arrest in California.
It is a good idea to settle your warrant, no matter what it is for, because it can come back to haunt you later if you don’t. For example, your California outstanding warrant can show up on background checks and prevent you from obtaining employment. If you later get in trouble for something else, it will look bad for you if there is already an outstanding warrant for your arrest on record. If your warrant is for something minor like a traffic violation, you will probably be given an opportunity to pay the fines you owe, rather than being taken into custody. To settle your warrant, you should go directly to the sheriff’s office because they often will not give out information about outstanding warrants over the phone. This might mean getting arrested, but ultimately, it could mean clearing your name.