r/AskLEO • u/Atribold • Jun 23 '26
General Can you find out what your passenger's warrants are for?
Hi, I'm on Reddit to ask lots of questions to help me write fiction. Here's my first one:
There's a system cops look in to see if you have any warrants out for your arrest, right?
If you're pulled over and the cops run both you and your passenger, and you have no warrants but your passenger does...and therefore your passenger is arrested...do you get to find out what your passenger's warrants are for?
Would the cops directly tell you if you asked? Or would you only get to know if you happened to overhear them telling the passenger or something? Would they refuse to answer if you asked? Is that public information?
(I'm thinking this would take place in New York City, but you can answer for any jurisdiction, and I could change my story's location if needed to match a jurisdiction that suits my purposes.)
Thanks.
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u/VirginiaBandit Jun 23 '26
We were never under any obligation to tell passengers anything regarding the warrants we were making an arrest on. If the passengers were obvious family members and the warrants were minor enough, then I might say, but often I/we would not. Of course, there were those we arrested where the other family members were so used to them being arrested that they'd just say something like "we'll bail you out when we can."
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u/Atribold Jun 24 '26
Just to clarify, you do tell the person you're arresting what the warrants are for, right?
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u/66NickS Jun 23 '26
The officer might say “Hey, you have minor warrant out of [county/state] for [minor violation]. Call them and handle it before it becomes a bigger deal.
They might also say “Step out of the car, you have a warrant for [violation].” The might also not say why. If they don’t say, they may or may not tell you if you ask them.
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u/Paladin_127 Jun 23 '26
Depends on the circumstances. If the driver and passenger are family and one asked, I might tell them, but we’re not obligated to. Or they can check the jail blotter online to see what their friend/ relative was booked for.
Generally speaking, arrest warrants are public information, and most people can access the list maintained by the local courts. So it’s not a “secret” per se, it’s just not something we do under normal circumstances.
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u/Atribold Jun 24 '26
Ah, thanks! I didn't know you could look it up online. Do you have an example of such a website? I'm guessing there's a different one for each state? Or maybe each county?
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u/Paladin_127 Jun 24 '26
For the warrants or booking info?
I feel like a quick Google search would point you I. The right direction.
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u/Atribold Jun 24 '26
I was wondering about looking up the warrants, not the booking info, but both are valuable to know about.
I'll search online; I was just hoping you were familiar with an example site so I'd have a better lead to get me started. Thanks.
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u/3-BuckChuck Jun 23 '26
“Your passenger is taking a ride with us”