NYC Background Check

Choose personal history or a local police certificate

For your own New York State criminal history and accuracy review, use DCJS’s personal-record request instructions. Fingerprints are required; this is not a public search of another person. Choose a suppressed or unsuppressed response; separate requests are required if you need both.

New York residents schedule fingerprints through IdentoGO using the DCJS instructions, bring accepted identification and pay the listed $17.50 processing fee (effective February 2, 2026). Out-of-state applicants must follow DCJS’s separate resident-outside-New-York/card-submission instructions rather than assuming the in-state appointment price applies.

For a local NYC background certificate, use the NYPD Certificate of Conduct route, which searches within the five boroughs. Schedule an appointment online; walk-ins are not accepted. Applicants are fingerprinted and photographed at One Police Plaza, Room 152-A. Bring the original identification/documents listed for your citizenship status and the $50 certificate payment. NYPD accepts specified money orders/certified checks and qualifying credit/debit cards; the cardholder must be present. The certificate is mailed after processing. This is different from a court’s Certificate of Disposition.

Exact matching changes how a “no result” should be read

OCA says CHRS is based on an exact match of the full name and date of birth supplied. That makes careful input important. A name variation or wrong birth date can change what the system returns, so preserve the exact search terms with the result.

CHRS is a court-system product, not a substitute for every background-record channel. The report excludes family, civil and federal court information and does not become a national search merely because it covers all New York counties.