Hennepin County Criminal Records

Hennepin County criminal records are maintained by the 4th Judicial District Court in Minneapolis, the county seat and Minnesota's largest city. With about 1.28 million residents, Hennepin is the most populous county in the state. It includes Minneapolis and major suburbs like Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Plymouth, Maple Grove, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, and Edina. Criminal records here span the full range from misdemeanor citations to major felonies. You can search them online, request documents at the courthouse, or check the Hennepin County Sheriff's inmate locator for current custody information.

Hennepin County Sheriff's Office

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement agency for the county and also runs the jail. The Sheriff's Office website at hennepinsheriff.org provides public access to various services and jail-related information. The Sheriff can be reached at (612) 348-3702.

The Hennepin County jail information page at hennepinsheriff.org/jail allows you to search for people currently in custody. This is the official inmate locator for Hennepin County. You can look up by name to see if someone is currently held. For active warrant information, the Sheriff also maintains a public warrants page at hennepinsheriff.org/warrants.

Under Minn. Stat. § 13.82, arrest data is public government data. The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office must release basic arrest information including the time and date of arrest, charges, and custody status. This applies to all agencies in the county, not just the Sheriff.

The Hennepin County Sheriff website at hennepinsheriff.org is the starting point for jail searches, warrant checks, and arrest data in Hennepin County.

4th Judicial District Court Records

The 4th Judicial District Court handles all criminal cases in Hennepin County. The Court Administrator at the Government Center manages case files and handles copy requests. With over 1.28 million residents and the largest city in Minnesota, this court sees the highest volume of criminal cases in the state. Cases range from local ordinance violations to federal-level felony prosecutions.

The Government Center sits at 300 South 6th Street in Minneapolis. The Court Administrator's office handles walk-in requests on business days. You can search for records by name or case number at the public access terminals in the courthouse. Certified copies cost more than plain document copies.

The Minnesota Courts website has a dedicated page for the 4th District at mncourts.gov/Find-Courts. It lists current hours, contact information, and services. Online case records go back to July 1, 2015 through MCRO at no charge.

How to Search Hennepin County Criminal Records

Minnesota Court Records Online (MCRO) at publicaccess.courts.state.mn.us is the free statewide portal for searching Hennepin County criminal cases. Enter a name or case number to see matching records from the 4th District. The system shows party names, charges, hearing entries, and case status. Records since July 1, 2015 are free. Cases before that date require an in-person or written request.

The Hennepin County jail search and inmate locator is available through the Sheriff's Office at hennepinsheriff.org. This tool shows current custody status for anyone held at the county jail.

The Hennepin County Sheriff's jail page at hennepinsheriff.org is the official source for current inmate custody status and jail booking data.

For a statewide conviction history, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at chs.state.mn.us offers a public search for $8. The system shows public conviction data going back 15 years from sentence discharge, per Minn. Stat. § 13.87. If someone has a Hennepin County conviction or convictions anywhere in Minnesota, this search will return them. The BCA's main site at bca.dps.mn.gov has full details on what the public record contains.

The Minnesota DOC public viewer at coms.doc.state.mn.us shows people currently serving state sentences or on state supervision. This complements local Hennepin County jail data by covering cases where someone has been sentenced to a state facility rather than held locally.

Minneapolis Police and City Records

Minneapolis is served by its own police department, which operates separately from the Hennepin County Sheriff. The Minneapolis Police Department handles criminal cases within city limits. Their website provides resources for obtaining records related to city cases. The screenshot below shows the St. Paul Police Department site as a reference for how metro police agencies present public records access options.

Metro-area police agencies like those in Hennepin County follow the same state data access rules under Minn. Stat. § 13.82 when releasing arrest and incident data to the public.

Active investigations by any Hennepin County law enforcement agency are confidential while ongoing. Once a case closes, the related data generally becomes public. The transition from confidential to public data happens at the case closure, not at the arrest. This means you may see a booking record before the court file is fully public.

Expungement in Hennepin County

Hennepin County has a high volume of expungement petitions due to its population size. Petitions go through the 4th Judicial District Court at the Government Center in Minneapolis. The court handles automatic expungements under Minn. Stat. § 609A.015 for cases with no conviction, and petition-based expungements under Minn. Stat. § 609A for eligible convictions.

Filing an expungement petition in Hennepin County means notifying all relevant agencies, including the BCA, the Minneapolis Police Department, the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, and other agencies that hold records related to the case. Each agency gets a chance to respond or object. A judge reviews the complete picture before making a ruling. Expungement seals the record from public view but does not destroy it from law enforcement databases.

Predatory offender registration under Minn. Stat. § 243.166 is entirely separate from expungement. A Hennepin County resident required to register as a predatory offender must continue doing so regardless of any court-ordered expungement of other records. Their registration status remains publicly searchable.

Note: The 4th District Court's self-help center at the Government Center assists people with expungement forms and can explain what the process involves. LawHelpMN at lawhelpmn.org also has guides for people navigating Hennepin County expungement filings.

Cities in Hennepin County

Hennepin County includes Minneapolis and many major suburbs. All criminal cases from these cities go through the 4th Judicial District Court.

Nearby Counties

These counties border Hennepin County. Cases filed just outside Minneapolis may be in one of these neighboring jurisdictions.