Check Free Clay County Arrest Records (Missouri)

Look up free Clay County arrest records via various agencies at the state, county, and municipal levels outlined in this streamlined resource.

All official custodians of arrest records in the county allow members of the public to search for reports at no cost (although obtaining physical copies may come at a nominal fee). In general, arrest reports are considered public records and are available for viewing by anyone interested.

Utilize the guidance and links in this resource to effectively conduct a search for arrest information in Clay County, Missouri, either online or by directly contacting one of the custodians discussed below.

How To Track Down Updated Clay County Arrest Records & Inmate Rosters for Free

According to Missouri’s Sunshine Law, state statute 610, all records of government agencies are available to the public for viewing and copying unless otherwise covered by another law.

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office has a detention division that provides all insight related to the county detention center. Under a drop-down menu on the upper right-hand side of the sheriff’s office website, there is a “detention listings” tab that curious citizens can click on to reveal all current inmates in the Clay County jail.¹

This statute includes arrest records and inmate rosters, so no special permissions are needed to view the Clay County jail roster, it is available to the public at all times and updated every four hours.

The detention listings page lists all inmates, so no search really needs to be conducted. Any individual can just scroll through the list, alphabetized by inmates’ last names, to find the person he or she is looking for.

There is limited information available on each inmate, such as his or her race, sex, the date he or she was booked, and the charges that resulted in the arrest. No mugshots are available, though.

The Clay County Detention Center is open 24 hours, 7 days a week, and can be reached by phone at 816-407-3800. It is located at:

Clay County Detention Center
14 South Water Street
Liberty, MO 64068

If arrest records are needed for someone who was recently held at the detention center, or if more information on a current inmate is desired, members of the public can contact the Clay County Sheriff’s Office’s Custodian of Records Unit. The agency’s email address is also available on its site.

Clay County Sheriff’s Office
Custodian of Records
12 South Water Street
Liberty, MO 64068

If an individual is looking for a copy of only a single police report, he or she can call 816-407-3710. This number is associated with the Property and Evidence Division of the sheriff’s office. The availability and fees associated with police reports vary from one to the next; the sought-after report could be free or could cost $5.00.

Cash or checks are the only accepted forms of payment.

The Clay County Jail roster will show all detainees that were arrested somewhere within Clay County, but not necessarily by the county (police departments of local municipalities use the Clay County jail, too). All inmates at Clay County prison are listed on the roster, and not differentiated by what law enforcement body made the arrest.

Liberty Police Department: Liberty, the county seat of Clay County, is one of these cities that utilizes its detention center for its arrested individuals, so the process to view current inmates is the same as for the county. To view police reports, though, the city has its own system. The Liberty Police Department’s Records Unit houses all criminal and incident reports, which can be viewed as soon as 3-7 days after the report is made.²

Reports can be purchased from the records unit starting at $5.00 per report. Crime and incident reports cannot be viewed or obtained online, so any interested party will need to contact the unit directly. The police department is open from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm from Monday to Friday and is located at:

Liberty Police Department
101 East Kansas Street
Liberty, MO 64068

Alternatively, folks can contact the city’s records unit by phone (816-439-4740) or by email ([email protected]).

In addition to the official government bodies that keep these records, there are some third-party agencies that may be able to assist as well. VINELink, for example, offers free access to criminal reports information, and may be able to assist in a search for arrest records in Clay County.

As with many other types of records, the process for obtaining archived arrest records may be slightly different than for current ones.

How To Obtain Details of Prior Arrests & Charges in Clay County

For older arrest and criminal records in the county, citizens could look to the 7th Judicial Circuit Court, which serves Clay County.

While the circuit court does have its own online public access records system (available on the court’s homepage), it is not compatible with many computer types and may be available only to certain members of the public, as an agency password is needed. This tool only provides records from 1995 to the present.

There are other ways to obtain arrest reports, though. Clay County’s Criminal Division deals with all matters related to both misdemeanor and felony criminal offenses for the county, including keeping records. There are different applications to fill out depending on the situation; for information on criminal cases, users should fill out the Criminal Case Information Form.³

If the desired file is a closed record, folks can fill out the Application to Inspect Closed Criminal Records (these records are typically only available to the defendant or his or her attorney, though).⁴ View a complete list of forms for different scenarios under the criminal division’s “Forms” tab.

Fees for duplicating records start at $1.00 per page for non-certified copies or plain photocopies and could go as high as $6.00 for the first page of an authenticated copy. Scroll to the bottom of the filing deposits and other fees page of the circuit court website to see a list of all costs for obtaining copies of records. All payments can be made out to the Clay County Circuit Clerk.

The criminal division can be reached by phone at 816-407-3860 and is located in the courthouse at:

James S. Rooney Justice Center
11 South Water Street
Liberty, MO 64068

The courthouse is open from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm from Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. All forms that are filled out to request public records can be sent to the above address, or faxed to 816-407-3899 with ”Attn: Records” as the top page.

The Liberty Police Department will most likely still be able to aid citizens in the case that they are looking for an older arrest record using the same process outlined above.

In addition to the police department, Liberty’s Municipal Court Division has an Online Criminal Case Search System for any members of the public to use. The first and last name of the involved party, along with his or her date of birth, is required to initiate a search or the case/citation number.

The court can be reached by phone at 816-439-4430 or by email at [email protected] for any questions. Faxes can go to 816-439-4435. The building is open from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm from Monday to Friday and is located at the following street address:

Liberty Municipal Court
101 East Kansas Street
Liberty, MO 64068

The Missouri State Highway Patrol files and maintains its own arrest reports, which are available for the public online.⁵ The most recent arrests are listed at the bottom of the highway patrol’s website and remain on the list for five days following the arrest. All other reports can be found using the search bar located above the list.

To conduct an online search through this tool, it is helpful to fill out as much information as possible, though searches can be run with only some of the following fields filled out:

• First & Last Name
• County of Arrest
• City/State
• Troop
• Arrest Date

All reports are available for copying and printing. Troop A of the Missouri Highway Patrol serves Clay County and is located at:

Troop A Headquarters
504 Southeast Blue Parkway
Lee’s Summit, MO 64063

Headquarters is open 24/7 and can be reached by phone at 816-622-0800 or by fax at 816-622-0715.

The state of Missouri provides a statewide search tool to view records from any court within the state. The most helpful searches someone can conduct using this tool to find an arrest record would be by the litigant name, its filing date, or the case number. The Missouri Courts Search Tool does not have an associated number to call or email for any further questions.

Instead, there is a Help Desk Contact Form that people should use for any clarifications needed.

If the reason a concerned citizen is searching for arrest reports has to do with posting a bond for an inmate, the section below will outline the next steps to take.

How To Post Bail or Use a Bail Bondsman in Clay County Missouri

If the Clay County court has allowed for bail to be posted for an inmate, an individual can do so at a kiosk located in the lobby of the detention center located at:

Clay County Detention Center
14 South Water Street
Liberty, MO 64068

The detention center is open 24/7, and only cash is accepted at the kiosk. According to the sheriff’s office FAQ page, there may be instances where cashier’s checks or money orders are accepted as well.⁶ All should be made out to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and include the inmate’s name and booking number in the memo line.

Once the bond has been paid, the release process will begin.

There are multiple steps involved in this, and the inmate may not be released as soon as bail is posted.

The other method for posting bail is recruiting the assistance of a bail bondsman. In this case, instead of paying a cash bond, individuals would be paying a surety bond. This means that the bail bond agent or company will be paying the court instead.

A current list of qualified bail bondsmen can be found on the Clay County Circuit Court website. There are two different forms to be filled out when utilizing the services of a bond agent, depending on the situation: the Special Affidavit of Qualification by General Bail Bond Agent Form, or the Surety Bond, Licensed General Bail Bond Agent Form.⁷

Because individuals arrested by the Liberty Police Department are detained at the Clay County Detention Center as well, the process for posting bail for someone arrested by the city is the same as for the county.

Because of Missouri’s Sunshine Law, public records are available for any curious individual to view and copy. Excluding situations where a record may have been marked confidential for certain reasons, all arrest reports are considered public and are available through several different avenues.

To view Clay County arrest records in particular, the county Sheriff’s Office, Circuit Court, and Detention Center are the best places to begin looking.