Law enforcement professionals include those who work for government agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and those who work for local and county police departments. There are two situations in which those officers and agents can arrest people. The first is when they catch a person in the middle of committing a crime, but the second is when they have a warrant issued for the arrest of that individual.

A court can issue a warrant in one of two cases too. They can issue a warrant for someone who failed to appear on a charge or when the lawyers present enough evidence to show that the individual is potentially guilty of a crime. If you receive official paperwork that states you must appear in court on a certain date or time, you must appear. The court can issue a warrant that leads to your arrest and requires that you spend the night or several nights in jail. Some websites let you view active warrants and search for names to see if those people are in the database.

Arrest records serve as the official documents that show police arrested and detained an individual too. It doesn’t matter if the person committed a crime on the highway or at home, the police can still arrest that person and hold him or her in custody. The amount of time it takes between the arrest and when the person sees the judge can range from hours to days or even longer.