Checking Criminal History in Madison
Begin with the record that answers the question. Madison Police Department reports describe calls, alleged conduct, investigation, and an officer's case number. Madison Municipal Court records cover city ordinance forfeitures. Dane County Central Booking documents a physical arrest, while Wisconsin Circuit Court Access shows a filed state prosecution. WORCS supplies the separate fingerprint-supported statewide history held by the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
- Ask which Madison agency arrested or cited the person and gather the incident date, location, and case or citation number.
- Request the police report from Madison Police through its secure portal, phone, fax, email, mail, or records counter.
- Contact Madison Municipal Court when the matter is a city ordinance, parking, traffic, or first-offense OWI case.
- For a custodial arrest, check the Dane County jail roster and search WCCA if the prosecutor filed a state criminal case.
- Use Wisconsin DOJ's WORCS product only when a statewide fingerprint-supported record adds value to the search.
The Madison record route depends on what actually happened. A Madison citation can stay in municipal court without any jail booking or WCCA criminal case. A custodial Madison arrest usually creates a police report and Dane booking, then may create a circuit case if the District Attorney files charges.
Madison's Two Local Records Counters
The City-County Building houses two distinct Madison record channels. The Madison Police records counter is on the ground floor at 211 S. Carroll Street. Its public hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. One block of government offices can therefore contain records held by different custodians, with different request steps and fee schedules.
Madison Municipal Court is at 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Room 203. The clerk can take a court-record request by email, mail, phone, fax, or at the counter. That municipal file is not kept by the Dane County Circuit Court Record Center. Give either city office the best available case number, date, name, and specific record type so staff can locate an existing file rather than build a new list.
Madison Police Department Records
The Madison Police records unit accepts public requests in six ways: secure portal, phone at (608) 266-4075, fax at (608) 267-1117, email at pdrecords@cityofmadison.com, mail to 211 S. Carroll Street, or an in-person counter visit. Secure delivery and invoice payment run through the portal. The city's current web page controls over older forms that still suggest narrower delivery rules.
Madison processes more than 25,000 requests in a year. The stated averages differ sharply by record. Contacts and calls take about one to two weeks. Simple broad public requests average four to five months, while video averages five to six months. Those are planning ranges, not promises. Active investigations, juvenile or CHIPS material, medical information, unsubstantiated allegations, personal contact details, and sensitive facts may be withheld or redacted under Wisconsin law.
The official Madison police source below shows the current request routes and should be checked before sending a request.
The request screen is the best starting point for a police narrative, but it does not supply the municipal docket, county booking file, or final circuit disposition.
Madison Police Contact Record Fields
Madison's contact-sheet form can focus a request on a person or an address. The Madison form asks for requester and delivery details, then supports up to three named people with dates of birth and addresses. A Madison address-contact request also needs a time range. Adult person contacts default to 1995, while address contacts default to one year, so a requester seeking a different span should state it.
| Requester details | Name or company, claim, address, email, phone, and fax. |
|---|---|
| Delivery choice | Mail, fax, pickup, or email. |
| Person contacts | Up to three people, with name, date of birth, and address. |
| Address contacts | Address and the requested date range. |
| Useful identifiers | Madison case number, incident date, exact location, and desired record. |
A narrowly framed request can reduce search work. Madison may still review the material for privacy, active-case, juvenile, victim, and other lawful limits before release.
Madison Arrests and Bookings
Madison has no public city booking roster. Madison Police sends people taken into physical custody to Dane County Central Booking. The free Dane County resident roster can show current judicial status, booking and arrest numbers, the arresting agency, agency case number, offenses, court number, holds, location, and scheduled release. It is a current-custody display, not a full archive.
If a person has left the roster, use the Dane County Sheriff's Office records request for historical booking material. The police narrative still remains with Madison Police. If a state case was filed, WCCA and the Dane County Clerk hold the prosecution trail. The Dane County Arrest Lookup gives the county-wide booking and records-request chain without turning the Madison page into a county jail profile.
Note: A Madison booking records intake allegations and custody, not guilt or a final court result.
Madison's Local Clearance Record
Madison Police offers a notarized clearance or visa letter for $9. It covers physical arrests made by the City of Madison since age 17. It excludes citation-only matters that did not involve booking, pending charges, and warrants. The letter is requested in person or by mail and usually takes seven to ten business days.
This Madison product has a narrow city scope. Madison Police discontinued miscellaneous background checks on June 20, 2023 and directs statewide record requests to Wisconsin DOJ. A reader reviewing a full Wisconsin history should use WORCS, while a reader seeking the actual judgment should ask the court that filed the case.
Municipal Court Records in Madison
Madison Municipal Court record requests can be made by email, mail, phone, fax, or at the counter. No official public name-search portal was found. Judge Daniel P. Koval's court hears ordinance forfeitures that include animal, building, and health code cases, disorderly conduct, first-offense OWI, parking and traffic matters, trespass, truancy, and underage alcohol cases. Those are city matters, not Wisconsin crimes.
| Court | Madison Municipal Court, 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Room 203. |
|---|---|
| Contact | (608) 264-9282 and municipalcourt@cityofmadison.com. |
| Case scope | City ordinance forfeitures, parking, traffic, and other listed municipal matters. |
| Lookup route | Email, mail, phone, fax, or supervised counter inspection. |
| Copies | $1.25 per page for court-record copies. |
| Juvenile access | Photo ID and status as defendant, parent or guardian, or counsel are required. |
The court image comes from the official Madison Municipal Court page, which provides current contact and service information.
The Madison municipal court record ends at the city level unless separate facts produce a Dane County booking or state criminal prosecution.
Madison Court Video Record Clock
A municipal discovery request should be filed 45 days before the hearing. The form asks for the case caption, citation or case numbers, defendant or attorney contact, delivery choice, next appearance date and type, signature, and date. Discovery copies cost 25 cents for black and white or 30 cents for color, plus postage.
Madison police video tied to a municipal case is retained for only 180 days. That creates a practical conflict with Madison's five-to-six-month average for public video requests. State the Madison municipal-court purpose and citation number, and submit the request promptly. Waiting for a hearing date to approach can put the source video beyond its retention window even when the related Madison docket still exists.
Where Madison Records Go
A Madison event can branch in two directions. A citation for a city ordinance can stay with Madison Police and Madison Municipal Court. A physical arrest produces a Madison Police report and Dane County booking. If the District Attorney files a felony, misdemeanor, or criminal-traffic charge, the Dane County Circuit Court becomes the source for pleas, hearings, disposition, and sentence.
Record flow: Madison Police › Dane County Courts › Wisconsin Department of Justice Crime Information Bureau
The state repository receives qualifying fingerprint-based arrest data and later reported dispositions. That does not make WORCS a copy of the Madison police narrative or court file. To reconstruct one event, match the Madison agency case number, Dane booking or court number, and the circuit case number. The Dane County criminal court records route explains how to obtain filed documents after WCCA supplies the docket lead.
Reading Madison Police Record Totals
Madison Police counted 25,753 offenses in its 2025 annual report. The total included 4,290 larceny or theft offenses, 3,400 disorderly-conduct offenses, 2,253 assaults, 1,160 property-damage offenses, 1,090 fraud offenses, 1,058 drug or narcotic offenses, and 859 DUI offenses. The report also listed 409 burglaries, 288 motor-vehicle thefts, 245 weapons offenses, 132 forcible sex offenses, 114 kidnappings or abductions, 104 robberies, and five homicide offenses.
These Madison counts are offenses, not unique people, arrests, court defendants, or convictions. One event may contain more than one offense, while some reports never produce an arrest or charge. The Madison annual report said violent and property crime and shots fired declined from 2024, but that trend does not change which record custodian holds an individual file. Use statistics for local context, then use a case number and official record for a specific event.
Madison Criminal Record Request Costs
Madison's July 2024 police schedule separates paper, digital conversion, media, and location work. The municipal court uses its own copy schedule. Do not apply a police rate to a court file or assume that a digital report is always free when staff must locate, review, redact, or convert it.
| Madison record item | Published amount or rule |
|---|---|
| Police hard copy | 15 cents per page, with no charge below 50 cents |
| Paper converted to digital | 7 cents per page |
| Digital to digital | No copy charge |
| Media | Actual cost |
| Location work | Charged only when cost reaches $50 |
| Municipal court copy | $1.25 per page |
| Police clearance letter | $9 |
Police prepayment may apply above $5. Ask for an estimate when the scope includes long video, a large date range, or many reports.
Madison Citation or Criminal Record
First identify whether the event was a citation or custodial arrest. Next ask whether the cited rule was a city ordinance or Wisconsin criminal law. A first-offense OWI may be filed in Madison Municipal Court, while a later criminal OWI or state misdemeanor belongs in Dane County Circuit Court. The same person's name can therefore appear in one system and not another without either record being false.
A municipal forfeiture does not create a criminal conviction. It may also produce no jail entry. Conversely, a Madison arrest can appear in the current Dane roster before the District Attorney has made a filing choice. The booking allegation can be declined, amended, combined, or replaced in the complaint. Use the municipal clerk for a city citation, the Dane clerk for a state case, and Madison Police for the event narrative.
Public Access Rules in Madison
Madison Police and Municipal Court respond under the Wisconsin Public Records Law. A request should describe an existing record by subject, date range, location, report or citation number, and document type. The custodian does not have to create a new report or continuing list. A written request also makes the desired format and delivery method clear.
Key Wisconsin access rules:
Wis. Stat. §19.35 creates the inspection and copy process, subject to statutes and the public-records balancing test.
Wis. Stat. §801.19 protects specified identifiers in circuit filings, including account, license, passport, and Social Security numbers.
Wis. Stat. §801.21 provides the motion and order process to protect a court record.
Public access is not the same as full release. Madison may redact protected personal data, victim or juvenile information, medical material, or facts from an active case. Ask the originating office about an unclear denial or redaction and verify a consequential fact with the certified source record.