Access Free Polk County Public Records: Criminal, Marital, Court & More

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Free Polk County Public Records Search

Access Polk County Records: marriage, divorce, warrants, arrests, probation, criminal, court, background checks, and all public records.

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Find free Polk County public records in minutes by following the guidance and helpful links throughout this resource.

Whether you’re searching public records for your safety, curiosity, or to see what’s a part of the public domain, this resource provides everything necessary to efficiently and effectively track down all types of information.

Follow the steps outlined below to obtain records pertaining to arrests, mugshots, prior crimes, prisoner locations, probation, warrants, background check reports, court documents, property ownership and tax information, as well as vital records regarding marriage, divorce, birth and death details in Polk County, Florida.

How To Find Polk County Arrests & Mugshots for Free

Residents can search for Polk County arrest records and mugshots using 2 government agencies:

• Polk County Sheriff’s Office
• City police departments within the county that operate city jails

Most arrests can be searched on the county level and this provides the broadest results. However, if the county search doesn’t yield results or a police report is needed, then contacting the arresting agency or local police departments is the next best route.

Reach Out to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office or View Their Online Arrest Log

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is the primary law enforcement agency in the county overseeing unincorporated regions of the county and 6 municipalities that contract with the sheriff’s office—this is the first point of contact for residents to find arrest and jail records in the county. It operates two jails, the Central County and South County Jail.

In the state of Florida, criminal records of adults (persons older than 18 years) are available to the public for scrutiny and viewing free of charge pursuant to Florida Statute Section 943.053 unless they are sealed or expunged by court order.¹

As a result, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office maintains an index of inmates in its jails that can be conveniently accessed online through a Arrest Records Search Tool at no cost. This jail roster can be queried using their name, booking date, or AKA search.

The search feature can also be narrowed down to current offenders and can be used to find someone’s mugshot, since photographs of inmates of Polk County bookings are displayed in the search results.

Contact the Arresting Agency or Police Departments Within Polk County Florida

If county jails do not yield any arrest records, then Polk County residents who are looking to find out if someone is in jail can turn to city police departments within the county that may operate city jails. City police departments may be present in some cities and operate jails. Some may maintain online rosters, but a majority of them do not.

Therefore, interested parties will need to contact their respective city police departments via phone or in-person visits to ascertain police records of arrests.

To accomplish this, Polk County citizens will need to proceed to perform a Google Search with the following syntax: “[city name] [state] arrest record search”

The links below point to major city police departments’ contact information in Polk County.

• Lakeland Police Department: (863)834-6900
• Haines City Police Department: (863)421-3636
• Bartow Police Department: (863)534-5034
• Davenport Police Department: (863)419-3306
• Winter Haven Police Department: (863)291-5858
• Plant City Police Department: (813)757-9200

How To Access Marriage & Divorce Records in Polk County FL

To determine if someone is married, divorced, or to request official copies of martial certificates, Polk County citizens have three primary avenues.

• Polk County Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller
• Florida Department of Health – Bureau of Vital Statistics
• VitalChek

For marriages or divorces that occurred in Polk County, the Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller is the best route but if it could’ve happened elsewhere in Florida, searchers are better off checking with the Florida Department of Health.

VitalChek is a state endorsed third-party provider who offers online marital records in most states. If the event occurred outside of Florida, third-party search sites can help check multiple jurisdictions at once.

Request Marital Records or Certificates via the Polk County Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller

The Polk County Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller is a point of contact to obtain marriage and divorce records and certificates for events that took place in the county—this can also be used as an avenue to check if someone is married. Marriages and divorces that were recorded in other counties should be sought from those counties.

There are two ways Polk County residents can obtain these records:

• They can perform a Polk County marriage records search and print unofficial records at no cost.
• Make an electronic request for a certified copy of Polk County divorce records.

Acquiring Unofficial Copies of Marriage & Divorce Records & Certificates: Citizens can perform either a Marriage & Divorce Court Records Search or an Official Marriage & Divorce Court Records Search. Once the record is viewed, it is possible to print it for free.

Obtaining Certified Copies of Marriage & Divorce Records & Certificates: Polk County residents can obtain copies of marriage and divorce records and certificates that took place in the county by making an electronic public records request.² The service offered by the County Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller allows the management of record public requests allowing users to:

• Make these requests and pay for them online
• Monitor the status of the request
• Allows for bulk record requests

To make the request for an official copy of a marriage or divorce record, click on this link and follow the instructions.

In the event that a record is not found online, interested individuals can either mail or email their requests to the Polk County Clerk of Court:

Polk County Clerk of Court
Records Custodian
PO Box 9000, Drawer CC-18
Bartow, FL 33831-9000

Email: [email protected]

If individuals realize during their search that the marriage or divorce was finalized outside of Polk County, they can instead utilize the statewide Florida public record search resource, which describes how to find marital, court, property, and more background information on anyone in the state at no cost.

Track Down Marital Information via the Florida Department of Health – Bureau of Vital Statistics

Interested parties can obtain both marriage and divorce records from the Florida Department of Health – Bureau of Vital Statistics by mail or in person by following these steps.

Begin by completing the Application for Certified Copy of Marriage Certificate Form for a marriage request or for a divorce request complete the Application for Dissolution of Marriage Certificate Form. Fill out details such as name of both spouses, date the event took place, county where the marriage took place/divorce was granted etc.

The fees for both marriage and death certificates are as follows:

• First copy— $5.00
• Additional copies—$4.00
• Additional years to be searched (this is needed when the year the event took place is unknown)—$2.00 per year. The maximum charge would be $50.00.
• Rush orders (optional)—$10.00. This should be marked “Rush” on the envelope, shipping is however not expedited.

Note, there is a $5.00 search fee for marriage and divorce records searches that is nonrefundable.

Then enclose a money order or check that is payable to “Vital Statistics” since credit card payments are not accepted. The form and payment should be mailed:

Florida Department of Health
Bureau of Vital Statistics
ATTN: Vital Records Section
P.O. Box 210
Jacksonville, FL 32231

Certificates issued after 1970 are mailed within 3-5 business days and those issued before 1970 will be mailed as photocopy certificates and require more processing time.

Walk in requests can be made between 8.00AM – 4.30PM for the same price at the following address:

Florida Vital Statistics office
1217 N. Pearl St
Jacksonville, FL 32202

For further questions or concerns, contact the Vital Statistics Office at (904)-359-6900.

Use VitalChek To Acquire Polk County Marriage & Divorce Records Online

VitalChek is the only approved and authorized vendor contracted by the Florida Department of Health to issue marriage and divorce records.³ Citizens should be cautious of other vendors that offer services to order vital records.

Requesters can visit VitalChek and follow the steps where it asks to select the type of certificate requested, whether marriage or divorce.

Marriage Certificate—The 1st copy costs $15.00 and the processing fee for VitalChek is $7.00 (excluding shipping costs). Additional copies are $4.00. If a marriage certificate has been apostilled by the DOH, orders can be placed through an apostilled marriage certificate request.

Divorce Certificate—First copy costs $15.00 and the processing fee for VitalChek is $7.00 (excluding shipping costs). Additional copies are $4.00.

Lastly, fill list an address where the certificate should be shipped and pay via debit or credit.

How To Retrieve Polk County Florida Criminal Records

Residents of Polk County have multiple avenues including local, state and federal agencies to find and obtain criminal records, some of which are:

• The Florida Department of Law Enforcement  (FDLE) – State of Florida Criminal History Information
• Polk County Sheriff’s Office
• Polk County Clerk of Courts
• Florida state agencies, and in particular the Florida Department of Corrections and the Sexual Offender and Predator System
• Federal agencies such as the Bureau of Prisons and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)

Further details on each of these agencies and what they provide are below, or you can review the Florida criminal history search tutorial for in-depth guidance on finding statewide details.

Look Up Anyone’s Criminal Record via the Polk County Clerk of Courts

Polk County Clerk of Courts is the official custodian of court records in the county, and this includes criminal records. Users can make use of the Polk Records Online (PRO) which accesses the database to criminal records from the court docket. The clerk of courts allows either:

• Public access
• Login access

Public Access—This Public Access to Polk County Criminal Records provides a general way for the public to access criminal records to obtain a free arrest history. When searching for criminal records, interested parties should click on the felony and misdemeanor options and input details such as citation number, party name, case filing court date etc.

Login Access—This option is for users who have registered with the system giving varying levels of access based on the role the user has registered for. Users in this case include attorneys, law enforcement and parties to a case etc.

Obtain Criminal & Arrest Reports via the Polk County Sheriff’s Office

In addition to the background check services offered by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office discussed earlier, interested parties may also contact the sheriff’s office to obtain criminal records.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office does maintain arrest logs of inmates that have been arrested and in custody having been charged with suspected crimes.

While these are not considered criminal records since the offenders have not been convicted of the crimes yet, nevertheless, residents can use the Polk County Sheriff’s Criminal Record Search to determine an individual’s run in with a law.

In this way, they get some idea of their criminal past. However, it should be stated that just because someone has Polk County arrest records, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are guilty of the crime.

View Prior Offenses Through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE)

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) – Division of Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) is the primary repository for criminal data in the state of Florida and is also tasked with providing this information to the public.⁴

Additionally, FDLE makes available Florida criminal records and national criminal history to government bodies for the purposes of license issuance and employment. Pursuant to Florida Statute 943.056, Florida citizens have the right to make a request for their personal criminal records for personal reasons with the intent to ensure their records are complete and accurate.⁵

As was mentioned earlier, personal review requests for criminal records will need to have fingerprints captured by local law enforcement such as city police departments and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. An appointment is needed to have fingerprints taken by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

In Florida, personal review requests are free of charge and cannot be used for employment, licensing, immigration or certification purposes. If there is no criminal record, a ‘no record’ response is returned. It is also possible to challenge the contents of the criminal history.

To commence a personal review request, Polk County citizens should complete the Application for Personal Review of Florida Criminal History Record Form. They should then mail this completed form and fingerprint cards to:

Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Attention: Criminal History Record Maintenance Section
P.O. Box 1489
Tallahassee, FL 32302-1489

Polk County residents who wish to the challenge the records after a personal review may proceed to contact the Criminal History Record Maintenance Section via email or phone:

Email—[email protected].
Phone— (850)-410-7898

Note: Personal review requests for these types of Polk County public records can only be made by the owners of the record and designated attorneys. However, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) does give citizens a way to find the criminal records of other individuals which is a name-based search.

The FDLE has discontinued these named-based criminal information requests by mail and they are now conducted through electronic means when conducting Florida Criminal History Record Checks.⁶ As per Florida laws, these public requests cost $24.00.

Requests for public criminal records can be done via instant searches, certified and non-certified searches and Originating Agency Identification (ORI) Searches.

Instant Criminal History Searches: These types of searches instantaneously return results and can be printed and emailed by customers—however, they are not official certified records. Instant searches are paid via credit card and there is a $1.00 processing fee that is assessed for each search which makes the total amount for each search $25.00 through this method.

Certified or Non-Certified Searches: These types of searches are conducted by FDLE staff who enter the request into FDLE’s SHIELD system upon receipt of demographic information by the requester. The results of the records can be notarized (certified) upon request and the cost of $24.00 is paid by credit card.

Non-certified and certified copies will be mailed within 5 and 7 business days respectively (excluding U.S. mail delivery times).

If an expedited mailing is required, submit the requests (certified/non-certified) as a normal request, make a purchase of a prepaid shipping label from USPS which must be supplied to FDLE on the SAME day as the request and proceed to email a copy of the shipping label (PDF) and include the FDLE control number to [email protected]. This is located on the receipt.

Originating Agency Identification (ORI) Searches: These searches are performed by originating bodies such as state agencies or authorized entities. The cost of these searches also depends on state statutes and which agency will receive the results based on the ORI.

This number is not supplied by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to allow users to run criminal history checks, rather from the agency and/or entity with the valid ORI number.

Please note that certain records are exempted for public consumption such as juvenile records. Pursuant to Florida Statutes Section 943.053(3)(b)1, the FDLE is constrained to release juvenile records except:⁷

• When the case has been transferred to an adult court.
• The juvenile commits an offense that qualifies a felony if done by an adult.
• Charged with an offense that is deemed a felony offense when committed by an adult.

Polk County residents who have questions and concerns’ about FDLE’s processes, can contact the agency at [email protected] or (850)-410-8161.

Finding Criminal Records via the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): Polk County citizens also have the option of obtaining criminal records at a national level by submitting a fingerprint based background check through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

This Federal identity history summary can be submitted online or through a written request. Completed fingerprint cards will need to be enclosed with a money order or certified check of $18.00.

This payment should be made out to the “Treasury of the United States” and sent to:

FBI CJIS Division – Summary Request
1000 Cluster Hollow Rd.
Clarksburg, WV 26306

Look Up Crimes on the State & Federal Levels (Florida)

Polk County residents also have the option of finding criminal records from contacting federal and state bodies when looking to run a free criminal record check. These include:

Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) — The Florida Department of Corrections has a Criminal Records Search Tool which can be used to find criminal records of inmates that are sentenced to state prison and those under state supervision such as parolees.

Florida Sexual Offenders & Predators Registry—Offenders that have been convicted of sex crimes can be located at no cost using the Florida Sexual Offenders & Predators Search Tool.

Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)—Polk County residents can access the BOP’s database for free using the Federal Criminal Records Search Tool to find offenders that have been convicted and released for federal offenses.

How To Perform a Florida Background Check in Polk County FL

Residents who want to have a background check completed can contact the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) who offer both electronic (Live Scan) and roll (ink) fingerprinting services. The prior link gives locations of the sheriff’s offices that offer these services.

Fingerprints are captured by appointment only by calling either +1(800)226-0344 or (863)-298-6200. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office will submit the prints to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. PCSO does not conduct background checks for immigration purposes— requestors who wish to obtain fingerprints for this reason will need to call (813)-931-3124.

Cost for the Live Scan printing is $27.00 and an additional PCSO fee of $5.00. A $5.00 fee applies for fingerprint cards and payment is made only in cash and check.

Residents may also obtain criminal records from the Polk County Clerk of Courts and other federal and state agencies mentioned earlier but will be discussed in great detail in the section below.

Additionally, Polk County citizens who want to conduct background checks on themselves and those that are run for professional purposes such as employment will primarily be done through state agencies, and in particular the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and costs $24.00. This is delved into in depth in the following section.

A Summary of Professional vs Personal Background Checks

Background checks can be done for personal reasons or for professional purposes and there are varying privacy considerations and laws in place to ensure the fair use of public record searches.

Personal Background Checks: Residents of Polk County can run a personal background check on anyone else and for any reason.

For example, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) makes a provision for citizens to conduct background checks to allow them to ensure their criminal records are correct. These checks are free and any incorrect information in their records can be challenged.

Or members of the public may be curious about new friends, colleagues, neighbors or long-lost family members.

In any case, the FDLE makes it possible to run name-based checks that give instant results which was discussed earlier. In this way, Polk County residents can run background checks for personal reasons and use the agency to obtain records on other people.

Searches through third-party vendors is also available and convenient since they check multiple types of records and several states at once.

Note, this information should never be used immoral purposes such as threatening, intimidating or harming others.

Professional Background Checks: These screenings are usually done for employment, hiring decisions, insurance, licensing, firearms, rental agreements, and per Florida Statute 943.0542, healthcare and the childcare industry to safeguard vulnerable members of the society.⁸

Level 1 or name-based searchers check the entire state of Florida while Level 2 or fingerprint background checks go through the FBI and check for records throughout the entire U.S.

Level 2 checks tend to be more accurate since individuals may use aliases in their names which could mean the wrong records are pulled up.

Employees’ Rights & Employer Guidelines on Background Checks in FL

Florida has several statutes that safeguard the rights of employees and have mandated guidelines that must be followed in regard to background checks. The state of Florida does not object to employees from obtaining background checks on employees—nevertheless, the state does have ban-the-box laws in place in certain counties and cities.

Ban the box laws prohibit employees from inquiring into an applicant’s criminal history or any police reports they may have during the initial employment application. These laws make it such that employers must conduct an individual assessment of a candidate’s background before making a final determination.

The city of Lakeland in Polk County is one of the cities that has instituted ban the box laws for city employment applications, but not private sector employers. As a result, city employers have eliminated questions on job applications that inquire about applicants’ criminal backgrounds.

Other than Florida state laws, federal agencies such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) do protect Polk County residents in regards to criminal history checks.

For example, employees must ask permission from employees to run background checks and it must be in writing as mandated by the FCRA. The EEOC gives employers guidance on how to assess a prospective employee’s criminal record and how it will affect the potential job.

How To Look Up Arrest Warrants in Polk County

Warrants are part of public records in Polk County and are thus made accessible to the public for viewing—there are several ways that residents can acquire this information which include contacting the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office has a warrant division with a database of all active and outstanding warrants. It maintains the Polk County Warrant Information Search Tool that can be used to find warrant information for free.

This people finder tool allows the display of  information such as warrant number, name, DOB, city of the subject of the warrant. There is a button that allows citizens to alert the law enforcement agency of the whereabouts of persons wanted. Citizens are strongly advised not to take action on their own, but rather contact the sheriff’s office.

The warrants unit can be reached either at [email protected] and/or (863)-298-6499.

Additionally, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has a Public Access System which is essentially a Warrant & Wanted Person Search Tool that can be used to find if someone has a warrant in Polk County and the other counties within the state. Some of the offenders do have mugshots making it easier to identify them.

The warrant search on this system is done through several criteria including:

• Last Name
• First Name
• Middle Name
• Nickname/Alias
• Date of Birth (DOB)
• Race

Lastly, warrants are issued by the courts and it is possible to find them when looking through court records. As mentioned previously, the clerk of the circuit court is the custodian of court records, and interested individuals can use the Case Records Search Tool to find any warrants that may have been issued to offenders who are in the court system.

How To C0nduct a Probation Search in Polk County FL

Polk County residents have primarily two options to search for information on whether someone is on probation or not—these are through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement – Probation Services and Probation Services of the Polk County Court Services.

Probation is defined in Florida as a supervised set period of time ordered by court on an offender with certain conditions in lieu of jail time.⁹ It should be stated that probation information is limited to public access, however, conviction information is found online.¹⁰

Polk County Court Services may provide limited information on individuals that are under probation. The office deals with defendants who have been convicted of misdemeanor offenses and as an alternative to jail cells. This division has a main office in Bartow and two branch offices, one located in Lakeland and another one in Winter Haven.

Contact information for all offices can be found below:

Main Office
1745 US 17 South
Bartow, FL 33830

Phone: (863)-534-2114 / (800)-780-5346

Lakeland Polk County Government Center
930 East Parker Street
Lakeland, FL 33801

Phone: (863)-603-6670

Northeast Polk County Government Center
200 Government Center Blvd.
Lake Alfred, FL 33850

Phone: (863)-401-2410

On the other hand, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement – Probation Services supervises 150,000 offenders in 130 probation locations almost throughout the state, supervising and monitoring offenders from court ordered supervision.¹¹ They also manage offenders released from prison on parole and conditional release.

The FDLE maintains an Online Offender Search Tool that can be used to locate supervised individuals in Polk County and throughout the entire state.

Additionally, Polk County citizens can click on this map of community corrections regions & circuits— Polk County has a Lakeland Circuit Office. This office currently has almost 7,500 offenders under its supervision.

The information below can used to contact the office and obtain information on probation on individuals:

Lakeland Circuit Office
200 N. Kentucky Ave., Suite 403
Lakeland, FL 33801-4963

Phone: (863)-413-3305
Email: [email protected]
Fax: (863)-413-3309

How To Find Court Records & Dockets in Polk County

The Polk County Clerk of Courts has a Online Court Records Search Tool that can be used by residents to locate different types of court cases surrounding civil, criminal and traffic matters. ¹³

This service is free to the public and as mentioned earlier, there is a public access and one that requires users to register based on the different roles including attorney, law enforcement etc.

It is possible for Polk County citizens to obtain all types of court records from the Polk County Courthouse and from the County Clerk office which maintains an online search tool to find these records. Polk County has two courts that serve its citizens: the Circuit Court (10th Judicial Court) and the County Court.

The Polk Circuit Court (10th Judicial Court) also allows for public records requests including court records by visiting:

Polk County Courthouse
255 North Broadway Avenue
Bartow, FL, 33830

Phone: (863)-534-4844 (Paul Sessions)
Email: [email protected]

Services offered by the Polk Circuit Court (10th Judicial Court) includes but is not limited to appeals, felonies, probate, family law and juvenile dependency.¹²

Retrieve Court Documents Through the Polk County Clerk of Courts

In addition to using PRO, the Clerk’s office has a service known as the Public Information & Electronic Requests (mentioned earlier when requesting vital records) which is an online directory and management for all public record requests.

Polk County judicial records may also be ordered using this tool, but payments will need to be made as the records are certified. This system allows for public record requests and bulk data records requests.

If a Polk County case search does not yield court records, interested parties can either mail or email their requests.

Polk County Clerk of Courts
Records Custodian
PO Box 9000, Drawer CC-18
Bartow, FL 33831-9000

Email: [email protected]

How To Locate Birth & Death & Other Vital Records in Polk County Florida

Polk County citizens have 3 avenues to pursue to obtain birth and death records and certificates—these include:

• Polk County Health Department
• Florida Department of Health – Bureau of Vital Statistics
• VitalChek

While marriage and divorce records are considered Polk County public records, birth and death records are not public record, and if not being ordered by the registrant, parents on the record, legal guardian etc., then the requester must apply for the birth and death record with a notarized Affidavit To Release a Birth Certificate or Affidavit To Release Cause of Death Information respectively.¹⁴

This applies to birth and death records that are less than 100 and 50 years respectively.

Pursuant to Section 119.071 Florida Statutes, social security numbers (SSN’s) are redacted from the death certificates and are only issued to eligible parties.¹⁵ When these certificates are issued, the first 5 digits are not included.

Request Birth & Death Records or Certificates via the Polk County Health Department

The 3rd way in which Polk County citizens can obtain birth and death records and certificates would be through a local Florida County Health Department office in the county where the vital event took place.¹⁶

In this case, it would be the Polk County Health Departments which currently has 13 locations in the county where the request can be made—the previous link can be used to find these locations by selecting Polk County.

These offices offer walk in and mail in requests for birth and death records from 1917 to present. Interested parties should contact a location nearest to them and determine the ordering information and fees which vary.

For births and deaths that took place outside Florida or births and deaths that took place outside the U.S., contact the National Center for Health Statistics.

Find Details of Birth & Death Records From the Florida Department of Health – Bureau of Vital Statistics

Interested parties can obtain both marriage and divorce records from the Florida Department of Health – Bureau of Vital Statistics either by mail or in person by completing the application for a Florida birth record (Spanish) for a birth request or for a death request complete the application for a death record (Spanish).

For birth requests, fill out details such as name on the record, date the event took place, name of parents etc. Death requests will need details such as type of death, name on the death record, place of death, SSN etc.

The fee cost for death certificates is as follows:

• First copy—$5.00
• Additional copies—$4.00
• Additional years to be searched (this is needed when the year the event took place is unknown)—$2.00 per year. The maximum charge would be $50.00.
• Rush orders (optional)—$10.00. This should be marked “Rush” on the envelope, shipping is however not expedited.

Birth certificates can be purchased for a nominal fee as well:

• Computer generated & photocopy generated first copy—$9.00 & $14.00
• Additional copies—$4.00
• Additional years to be searched (this is needed when the year the event took place is unknown)—$2.00 per year. The maximum charge would be $50.00.
• Rush orders which are optional—$10.00. This should be marked “Rush” on the envelope, shipping is however not expedited.

There is a $9.00 and $5.00 search fee for birth and death record searches that is non refundable. Lastly, enclose a money order or check that is payable to “Vital Statistics” and mail it to:

Florida Department of Health
Bureau of Vital Statistics
ATTENTION: Vital Records Section
P.O. Box 210
Jacksonville, FL 32231

Processing time for requests is 3-5 business days for birth and death certificates. Death certificates issued before 2009 require additional processing time and will  be mailed as photocopy certificates.

Birth and death information can also be obtained through VitalCheck which is a third-party vendor that allows for online requests for certified vital records.

How To View Polk County Property Ownership & Taxes

The Polk County Clerk of Courts is the county recorder in Polk County, and as a result maintains the official property records which includes land records, liens and property deeds.¹⁷

This public index can conveniently be searched using a Polk County Property Records Search Tool which can be queried using:

• Name
• Tax Number
• Lands Available
• Parcel Number
• Map Search
• Sales Date

The Clerk of Court also maintains a Polk County Historical Deed Index Search Tool which can be used to locate deeds recorded between 1861 and 1956. Anything recorded after 1957 will be searched with the previous tool.

Copies of these deeds can also be obtained by visiting any of the 3 locations—requesters should keep the book and page number handy when submitting the request.

The Polk County Property Appraiser Search Tool can also show property tax details and appraisal information. The tool can be queried for free using any of the following criteria:

• Owner Name
• Parcel ID
• Site Address
• Simple Query Search

Polk County Public Record Custodians & Search Tools

In conclusion, Polk County citizens can find and obtain criminal and arrest records from several government agencies including:

• Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office
• City police departments
• Polk County Clerk of Courts
• State and federal agencies—these include the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), Florida Sexual Offenders and Predators Registry, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Prisons.

Court records in Polk County can be located by contacting the Polk County Clerk of Courts or using the Polk Records Online Search Tool (PRO) or by making a Public Information & Electronic Request.

Limited probation information can be sought from the Polk County Court Services and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement – Probation Services.

Warrant information can be found by contacting:

• Polk County Sheriff’s Office
• Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE)
• Polk County Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller

Martial records can be obtained through:

• Florida Department of Health – Bureau of Vital Statistics and online through VitalChek
• Polk County Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller for Uncertified Certificates and Certified Certificates. They may also obtain certified copies of certificates by making an electronic public records request or make a request for an official copy of a marriage or divorce record through the Polk County Clerk.

Birth and death records or certificated can be acquired via the:

• Florida Department of Health – Bureau of Vital Statistics and online through VitalChek
• Florida County Health Department

Property records in Polk County can be located for free using two resources namely:  the Polk County Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller who is also the county recorder and the County Property Appraiser.

Polk County public records that are being sought whether they be criminal or vital records are often located in multiple government agencies and sometimes using authorized 3rd party vendors—this can make it confusing to find and locate them, however knowing which agency is the custodian of said records makes the process less time consuming and easier.