A Hillsborough County criminal-record search can involve several different government systems. Court cases and final dispositions are maintained by the Hillsborough County Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller, arrest and jail information by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, statewide criminal-history records by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and state prison records by the Florida Department of Corrections. The fastest search depends on what you are actually trying to find.
First, identify which Hillsborough County record you actually need
“Criminal record” can mean several very different things. One office may show an arrest, another may show the filed criminal case, and another may show the final judgment. Searching only one source can therefore give an incomplete picture.
Court case
Use when you need filed charges, case events, hearings, court documents, dispositions or sentencing information.
Arrest / jail record
Use for Hillsborough County booking information, arrest inquiry and current local custody.
Warrant
Use the Sheriff’s separate Warrant Inquiry when checking publicly available local warrant information.
Florida criminal history
Use for a statewide Florida criminal-history search rather than only a Hillsborough County court case.
State prison record
Use when searching for someone in Florida state custody or under qualifying corrections supervision.
Federal criminal case
Federal prosecutions in the Middle District of Florida are separate from Hillsborough County court records.
Search Hillsborough County criminal court cases in HOVER
The official Hillsborough County court-record system is Hillsborough Online Viewing of Electronic Records (HOVER). It is operated by the Hillsborough County Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller and provides electronic access to many public court indexes, dockets and non-confidential document images.
HOVER allows searches using:
- case number or Uniform Case Number
- citation number
- party or business name
- date range
- court type
- case type
- court hearing lookup
- new-case public data files
Choose your search method
A case number is usually the strongest identifier. If you do not have one, use the person’s name or narrow the search by court type, case type or date range.
Open the matching case
Check the defendant name, case type and filing information carefully before assuming that a similarly named person is the person you intended to search.
Review the case events
HOVER case pages can display chronological events, filings, hearings and indexed documents. These entries help show how the case progressed through court.
Read the charge and disposition area
HOVER can display the offense description, offense date, degree and disposition. The disposition is particularly important because a filed charge alone does not tell you how it ended.
Open available document images
Public, remotely viewable documents may appear as clickable images. Some documents cannot be viewed because they are confidential, sealed or require redaction.
Hillsborough County felony criminal records
Felony court records are maintained by the Clerk’s Circuit Criminal / Felony Department. These cases fall within the criminal jurisdiction of Florida’s circuit court and are handled locally through the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit.
Electronic access to many felony case indexes, dockets and eligible document images is available through HOVER. If a qualifying court file cannot be viewed electronically, the Clerk states that authorized users may view or pick up records at its Tampa Edgecomb or Plant City locations.
Official Clerk information: Circuit Criminal / Felony Department.
Hillsborough County misdemeanor records
The Clerk’s County Criminal / Misdemeanor Department maintains records for misdemeanor offenses and qualifying non-criminal, non-traffic infractions.
The department receives and processes arrest-related paperwork, charging documents, self-represented filings, electronically filed pleadings and court actions recorded from court minutes.
Misdemeanor files are also searchable through HOVER when public electronic access is permitted.
View official County Criminal informationFind an upcoming criminal court date
Hillsborough County’s Clerk provides a separate Court Date Lookup.
The current search allows a user to enter a last name and first-name initial. The public lookup covers upcoming hearings within the next 30 days for qualifying traffic, criminal and injunction cases in Hillsborough County.
The result can include:
- defendant name
- hearing date
- hearing location
- case number
- hearing description
- judicial officer
How to interpret a HOVER criminal case result
| Field | What it means | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Case number | The court’s identifier for that particular case. | Use it for future searches, copy requests and courthouse inquiries. |
| Charge | The allegation filed in court. | A charge is not the same as a conviction. |
| Degree | The legal classification of the charge. | Felony and misdemeanor degree can affect which court division handles the matter. |
| Case event | A chronological filing, order, hearing or other court activity. | Review events in date order to understand progression of the case. |
| Disposition | How the charge was ultimately resolved. | Look for conviction, dismissal, acquittal, withholding of adjudication or another result. |
| Image icon | Whether an electronic document is available for public viewing. | A missing image does not always mean the document does not exist. |
Search Hillsborough County arrest records
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office provides an official Who’s in Jail / Arrest Inquiry.
This is the appropriate local starting point when you are looking for an arrest or current detention record rather than a final court judgment.
HCSO Arrest Inquiry
Best for: arrest and custody information.
It reflects information available to the Sheriff’s Office around the arrest and detention process.
Clerk / HOVER
Best for: filed criminal case and final disposition.
Use the court record to determine what prosecutors filed and what eventually happened in court.
Hillsborough County jail and inmate information
Hillsborough County’s detention system is operated by HCSO. The Sheriff’s Department of Detention Services reports responsibility for a multi-facility county jail system and receives detainees from numerous law-enforcement agencies.
Orient Road Jail
1201 Orient RoadTampa, FL 33619
Phone: 813-247-8300
HCSO identifies Orient Road Jail as the primary receiving, booking and processing facility.
Falkenburg Road Jail
520 N. Falkenburg RoadTampa, FL 33619
Phone: 813-247-8300
Falkenburg Road Jail houses additional Hillsborough County detainees and provides detention programs.
Hillsborough County warrant search
HCSO provides a separate official Warrant Inquiry.
Use the warrant system for publicly available Hillsborough County warrant information rather than assuming that a normal arrest search will answer the same question.
Police reports, incident records and HCSO public-records requests
Not every law-enforcement record appears in Arrest Inquiry. Reports, recordings, incident material and other agency records may require a public-records request.
HCSO provides an online Records and Reports request portal.
When making a request, it helps to include as much identifying detail as you know:
- incident or report number
- person’s full name
- date of incident
- approximate time
- location
- type of record requested
- arrest or booking number if known
- preferred format
Florida statewide criminal-history search through FDLE
A Hillsborough County court search does not automatically tell you whether the same person has criminal-history records elsewhere in Florida. For statewide Florida criminal-history information, use the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
FDLE’s Division of Criminal Justice Information Services is Florida’s central repository for criminal-history information and provides several public search options.
| FDLE option | Current fee | How it works | Important detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instant Search | $24 + $1 card processing fee | Name-based online search with immediate result. | Result is not certified. |
| Certified / Non-Certified Search | $24 | FDLE staff conduct the demographic search. | Certified processing is currently listed as about 6–7 business days, excluding mail time. |
| ORI Search | Varies | Uses an authorized Originating Agency Identifier. | The requesting authorized agency must provide the ORI. |
How to review your own Florida criminal history for free
If you are checking your own record for accuracy rather than searching another person, FDLE provides a different service called Personal Review.
Florida law allows an individual to request a copy of their Florida criminal history for personal review and to challenge inaccurate or incomplete information. FDLE currently states that it does not charge a fee for this personal-review service.
Complete FDLE’s Personal Review form
Use the official application for Personal Review of Florida Criminal History Record.
Obtain the required fingerprint card
Fingerprints allow FDLE to match the record to the correct person rather than relying only on a name.
Mail the form and fingerprint card to FDLE
FDLE currently directs Personal Review requests to its Criminal History Record Maintenance Section in Tallahassee.
Review and challenge errors if necessary
If the record is inaccurate or incomplete, use FDLE’s challenge process rather than relying on a third-party website to fix it.
FDLE Personal Review mailing address
Florida Department of Law EnforcementPost Office Box 1489
Tallahassee, FL 32302-1489
Attn: Criminal History Record Maintenance Section
Personal Review / challenge questions: 850-410-7898
Florida prison and corrections records
Someone who has moved from Hillsborough County jail into Florida state prison may no longer be best searched through the county jail system. The Florida Department of Corrections maintains a separate offender-search system.
Use the official Florida DOC offender search for qualifying information concerning people under state corrections jurisdiction.
Search Florida DOC offendersGet copies and certified Hillsborough County criminal court records
HOVER lets users view and print many available non-certified court documents without charge. When an authenticated court record is needed, Hillsborough County also offers electronic certification.
Electronic certified court records
The Clerk’s eCertify system allows eligible court documents to be purchased as electronically certified records. The certified PDF includes authentication information, and the Clerk provides a separate validation tool for checking whether an electronic certified document is authentic.
The Clerk notes that an eCertify purchase applies to the complete event document rather than selected pages. If you only need specific pages, the Clerk directs users to request them in person or by mail.
A separate payment processor currently adds a 3.5% credit-card processing fee to eCertify transactions.
Hillsborough Clerk eCertify informationWhich type of copy should you request?
Plain copy
Usually sufficient when you simply need to read or retain an ordinary public court document.
Certified copy
Used when another agency, court, licensing body or institution requires Clerk authentication.
eCertified record
Digitally certified by the Clerk and capable of being authenticated using the Clerk’s verification system.
What if the court document is not available online?
Some older records and some public documents are not available as immediately viewable electronic images. HOVER indicates when paper court records exist and provides procedures for requesting files for viewing.
The Clerk’s HOVER FAQ explains that if the normal paper-file request option does not appear, users can contact: filesordered@hillsclerk.com and include the case number to ask about the file’s location and availability.
In-person criminal court record access in Hillsborough County
George E. Edgecomb Courthouse
800 E. Twiggs StreetTampa, FL 33602
Customer Service Center: Room 101
Phone:
813-276-8100
Regular hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Plant City Courthouse
301 North Michigan Ave.Room 1071
Plant City, FL 33563
Phone:
813-276-8100
Regular hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
The Clerk also maintains other service locations, but Edgecomb and Plant City are particularly relevant when a criminal court file needs in-person review or pickup and cannot be accessed through HOVER.
View current Clerk locations and hoursMap: George E. Edgecomb Courthouse
For an in-person Hillsborough County criminal court record issue, the George E. Edgecomb Courthouse is the main downtown Tampa court-services location.
Map is lazy-loaded so it does not block the initial article render.
Written requests for Hillsborough County court records
The Clerk states that requests for access to judicial branch records under Florida’s court-access rules should be made in writing and directed to the custodian.
Hillsborough County Clerk public-records contact
Court-record requests: PublicRecords@hillsclerk.com
Hillsborough County Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller601 E. Kennedy Blvd.
13th Floor
Tampa, FL 33602
Sealed and expunged criminal records in Hillsborough County
Florida provides several different forms of criminal-record sealing or expungement. The process and eligibility depend on the person’s history, the disposition and the type of relief requested.
For ordinary court-ordered sealing or expungement, FDLE explains that obtaining a Certificate of Eligibility is the first step. A record is not actually sealed or expunged merely because FDLE issues the certificate; a court order is still required.
FDLE currently lists a typical eligibility-review processing time of approximately 12 weeks from receipt of a completed application packet and states that it does not expedite applications.
Florida also recognizes other record-relief processes
- administrative expungement
- court-ordered sealing
- court-ordered expungement
- juvenile diversion expungement
- lawful self-defense expungement
- human-trafficking expungement
- automatic juvenile expungement
- qualifying automatic sealing
Juvenile criminal records are not searched like ordinary adult cases
Juvenile delinquency records have substantially different confidentiality and electronic-access rules. Florida’s court-access rules identify juvenile delinquency records among categories that can be confidential, and FDLE states that juvenile criminal-history information is generally exempt from ordinary public release, subject to statutory exceptions.
What to do when a Hillsborough County arrest record is wrong
HCSO provides separate instructions for factual errors and identity-theft problems involving its online arrest information.
Factual error in the arrest entry
HCSO states that factual errors such as an incorrect arrest date or transposed numbers/characters can be addressed using its Error Correction Form.
The Sheriff’s Office currently directs completed correction material to:
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office
1201 N. Orient Road
Tampa, FL 33619
Identity theft or someone else’s record under your identity
HCSO instructs people who believe online arrest information appears under their identity because of identity theft to complete an Identity Theft Form through the Sheriff’s Identification Section. HCSO says fingerprinting is used to verify the person’s identity.
HCSO Identification Section
1238 Tech Blvd.Tampa, FL 33619
Phone:
813-247-0062
Published hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Official guidance: HCSO Arrest Records on Public Website.
Federal criminal records in Tampa and Hillsborough County
Federal criminal prosecutions are separate from Hillsborough County state-court cases. Tampa falls within the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Federal court dockets and documents are generally accessed through PACER. PACER requires an account and may charge document-access fees.
Federal prosecution → PACER / U.S. District Court.
Public criminal records and background-check decisions
Finding a public court case is not the same thing as obtaining a regulated consumer background report. Employment, housing, credit, insurance and other eligibility decisions may involve federal and state requirements beyond ordinary public-record access.
If a background-check company is providing a consumer report for a regulated purpose, different notice, accuracy and dispute obligations can apply.
Hillsborough County search tips that save time
Start with HOVER for outcomes
If you want to know how a Hillsborough County charge ended, the Clerk’s case is more useful than an arrest entry.
Use the case number when possible
Case numbers reduce confusion when multiple defendants have similar names.
Use arrest inquiry for recent events
A very recent arrest may appear in HCSO custody information before the full court history is easy to locate.
Check every charge
One case may contain multiple counts and each count can have a different disposition.
Watch the document icon
HOVER distinguishes viewable documents, documents requiring a viewing request, and documents restricted by rule or court order.
Try a paper-file request
An older court file may exist even when its documents are not immediately available as online images.
Go statewide only when needed
If your question extends beyond Hillsborough County, switch from HOVER to FDLE’s statewide criminal-history service.
County jail is not state prison
Use HCSO for Orient/Falkenburg custody and Florida DOC for state corrections records.
Check identity carefully
Name similarity alone is not enough. Compare DOB and other public identifiers before assuming a record belongs to someone.
Hillsborough County criminal records: frequently asked questions
1. Where do I search Hillsborough County criminal court cases?
Use the Hillsborough County Clerk’s HOVER system. It provides public access to many court indexes, case dockets and non-confidential document images for felony, misdemeanor and other qualifying case types.
2. Is the Hillsborough County court-record search free?
HOVER can be searched without paying a third-party records service, and the Clerk states that available non-certified court documents can be viewed and printed online at no charge. Certified copies and some other services can involve fees.
3. How do I find someone who was recently arrested in Hillsborough County?
Use HCSO’s official Who’s in Jail / Arrest Inquiry. It is the better starting point for recent booking and county-custody information.
4. Does an HCSO arrest record mean the person was convicted?
No. HCSO specifically states that its arrest information does not establish guilt or innocence and does not reflect the final disposition of criminal charges. Use the Clerk’s court file to verify the outcome.
5. How can I search Hillsborough County warrants?
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office provides a separate official Warrant Inquiry. Because warrant status can change, important matters should also be confirmed directly with the responsible agency or court.
6. Can I get a certified Hillsborough County court record online?
Eligible documents can be ordered through the Clerk’s eCertify system. Electronically certified documents contain authentication information that can be validated through the Clerk’s verification service.
7. What should I do if an old criminal document is missing from HOVER?
The document may exist only in a paper file, require redaction or have access restrictions. HOVER allows requests for paper-file viewing, and the Clerk can also be contacted about file location and availability.
8. How do I search criminal history outside Hillsborough County?
Use the Florida Department of Law Enforcement criminal-history search for statewide Florida information. FDLE currently charges $24 for a public criminal-history search, with an additional card-processing charge for its Instant Search.
9. Can I review my own Florida criminal history for free?
Yes. FDLE’s Personal Review process allows an individual or the person’s designated attorney to request the individual’s own Florida criminal history for accuracy review without an FDLE fee. Fingerprints are required for identity verification.
10. How do I seal or expunge a Hillsborough County criminal record?
Eligibility depends on Florida law and the specific case history. For ordinary court-ordered sealing or expungement, obtaining an FDLE Certificate of Eligibility is generally the first step before petitioning the court. A Certificate of Eligibility by itself does not seal or expunge the record.
Official sources for this Hillsborough County guide
Court procedures, access restrictions, fees and agency websites can change. These primary government resources should be used to verify information before an important records request.
- Hillsborough County Clerk — HOVER Court Records
- Hillsborough County Clerk — Circuit Criminal / Felony
- Hillsborough County Clerk — County Criminal / Misdemeanor
- Hillsborough County Clerk — Court Date Lookup
- Hillsborough County Clerk — eCertify
- Hillsborough County Clerk — Public Records Requests
- Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office — Arrest Records
- HCSO — Arrest / Jail Inquiry
- HCSO — Warrant Inquiry
- HCSO — Locations and Jail Contact Information
- FDLE — Florida Criminal History Record Check
- FDLE — Personal Review of Florida Criminal History
- FDLE — Seal and Expunge Process
- Florida Courts — Judicial Branch Resources
- Florida Department of Corrections — Offender Search
- PACER — Federal Court Records