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Public Criminal Records VA
VSP permits anyone to use SP-167, but the person whose record is searched must sign and notarize the authorization.
Virginia has two useful public routes, but they answer different questions
| Question | Official route | Important boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Do I need a Virginia criminal-history report? | Virginia State Police Criminal History Record Check | The SP-167 process is a Virginia criminal-history product. For a search on another person, VSP says the individual being searched must sign and have the required signature notarized. |
| Do I need current criminal/traffic case information? | Virginia Courts Case Status and Information | OCIS 2.0 searches adult criminal information in J&DR, criminal/traffic general district, and select circuit courts. It is court case information, not a VSP criminal-history report. |
| Do I need the police arrest report itself? | The arresting agency. | VSP says its arrest reports are not releasable to the public and directs questions about a charge/report to the arresting agency. |
| Do I need a national fingerprint-based check? | Use the authorized national/fingerprint route for the stated purpose. | VSP distinguishes its Virginia SP-167 route from national fingerprint programs and points general national requests to the FBI. |
Build a Virginia record check around identity and case context
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For SP-167:
use the current VSP instructions and obtain the signatures/notarization VSP requires; do not treat a name-only web search as equivalent.
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For a pending or known court matter:
search OCIS 2.0 or the locality-specific court system and verify court, case number, charge and disposition before linking a record to a person.
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For a police report:
identify the arresting agency from the event and request the report there; VSP’s public background-check page expressly separates that from the criminal-history product.
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For a consequential decision:
resolve a name match with the official case or fingerprint-based record appropriate to the purpose rather than assuming a similar name proves identity.
Read a Virginia result according to the product that produced it
Public court information, a VSP report and an arrest report are not interchangeable
The Virginia courts’ statewide system is useful for case status, while VSP’s SP-167 process is a state criminal-history request. A VSP FAQ says the SP-167 returns a Virginia criminal history record; VSP separately directs report/charge questions to the arresting agency. Keep that product boundary visible when a court case, criminal-history report and police narrative describe different stages of the same event.
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