Arkansas Criminal Background Check

Choose public ARCH or the authorized CBC process

Arkansas State Police offers two different name-check routes. ARCH is the public service when you do not have written consent. If the check is legally required or you have signed consent, follow the separate Criminal Background Check (CBC) service and the requesting organization’s instructions. Buying a public result does not satisfy every licensing or employment program.

Online CBC requires signed written consent and a Tyler Arkansas account. Category I permits state checks and requires keeping consent for five years; Category II covers specifically authorized state/FBI use and requires consent retention for three years. Consent alone does not authorize an FBI check. Get the program’s approved submission and fingerprint instructions before selecting a national product.

What a public ARCH search requires and costs

ARCH requires an adult subject’s first and last name, sex and complete birth date. It takes credit or debit cards and charges a nonrefundable $24 per search, including a search with no identified subject. One candidate result is included; opening each additional candidate costs another $24. Review the identifiers before paying and decide which candidate, if any, the available information actually supports.

Keep the two products’ coverage separate

ARCH returns Arkansas convictions, open Arkansas felony arrests less than three years old and specified sex-offender registration information. It excludes juvenile, sealed, federal and other-state records. Its possible responses distinguish an identified person with history, an identified person without history and no identified subject. A name-only result requires fingerprint verification for a definitive identity match; these outcomes are not interchangeable.

CBC’s own FAQ describes a different response scope: Arkansas convictions, pending Arkansas felony arrests within five years, and registration information. It excludes pending misdemeanors and arrests ending in dismissal, no prosecution or acquittal from that ordinary response, and sealed-record access is limited. The five-year CBC description should not replace ARCH’s published three-year limit. Neither ordinary state product is a nationwide record.

State fees are published; the federal component needs confirmation

CBC lists $22 per Arkansas state name check, or $11 for volunteers; a mailed request without an online account is $25. As checked October 2, 2026, its home page still displays FBI components of $16 and $14 for volunteers alongside a notice of an FBI fee increase effective October 1. The notice directs users to their licensing representative. Verify the updated federal amount with that representative before payment rather than treating the displayed figures as a settled current quote.

CBC warns that incorrect entries and selections are not refundable. Match the applicant’s first name, last name, date of birth, sex and race to government-issued identification, then review the confirmation screen. The authorized national request is additional to the state check and must follow a successful state request. Keep the transaction reference because it connects the fingerprint submission to the requested check.

Save results within the online retrieval window

CBC says more than 70% of requests return instantly; others remain pending for research or extra identifying information. Use Pending for status and History when the email notice says results are ready. The instructions estimate five business days or sooner for the FBI check and deliver it electronically to the requester, not as a paper report in the mail. This is a published estimate, not a guarantee for an incomplete application.

Print or securely save the CBC report when first viewed: access to the report ends fourteen days after that first viewing. ARCH results are not certified; for certified history, follow ARCH’s direction to the Arkansas State Police Identification Bureau. Confirm the exact certificate or agency product required before buying another public search.

Challenge identity or missing dispositions through the official route

If you say an arrest is not yours, the CBC FAQ describes fingerprints taken by law enforcement and comparison by Arkansas State Police to confirm or exclude the match. For inaccurate history, ACIC provides an Authorization for Review of Criminal History form. ACIC does not sell background checks; it directs those requests to State Police at 501-618-8000.

To correct an inaccurate disposition, you or your attorney should contact the court and ask it to send the proper documentation to ACIC. Keep the report, case reference and exact disputed item. Do not turn a missing or outdated repository entry into a claim that a charge never existed; the court’s reporting and the repository’s update are separate parts of getting the record right.