Expert: Philip Sweeting - 5/25/2006

Question
Hello, My Name is Ryan Honnstad, and I am from Lake Crystal Minnesota. My question is… is it possible to have past police involvement or court records expunged. I was involved in an incident about 6 years ago with an overzealous police officer that wrote me on several unfounded charges that were later dropped out of court. The charges of wrong address on license, obstruction, and under age consumption, all of which held no validity.

This incident keeps resurfacing and this police report is still on file and available at the courthouse and police dept. This report contains untruths and is rather slanderous. I am a graduate for Minnesota State University Mankato with my BS in Law Enforcement and am currently looking for a job. My concern is that this report will keep me from, or make it difficult for me to get a job in law enforcement. This officer is no longer with our police department and I currently have an upstanding reputation with this department where the incident originally occurred as I just completed a year long internship with them. Any ideas? Thanks, Ryan


Answer
You would need to check with your state police on the procedures in your state for sealing/expunging arrest records. You should be able to go to their web page and they should have an area for information on sealing records as long as you meet certain criteria...each state may be a little different. Your best bet is to contact a lawyer in your state. In Florida it would cost you $500.00 to $1,000.00 to have them do the work

In Florida as long as you have no prior convictions, you would be able to get your arrest record sealed one time but there are some exceptions. The entire process takes about 6 months. Hope this helps.