To find out if you have a warrant in Mississippi, you have to check with the specific county or municipal court, or the sheriff’s office, that would have issued it, because the state has no public statewide warrant database. The safest way to do that check is through a criminal defense attorney, who can make the inquiry without putting you within arm’s reach of an arresting officer. Free options exist too, including sheriff and court websites and phone calls to court clerks, but each carries tradeoffs worth understanding before you pick up the phone.
Why There Is No Statewide Public Warrant Search
Mississippi does run a centralized warrant system, but it is closed to the public. The Mississippi Justice Information Center, operated by the Department of Public Safety, gives officers 24/7 access to wants-and-warrants checks through the National Crime Information Center database.1Mississippi Department of Public Safety. Criminal Information Center When an officer runs your name during a traffic stop, they can see outstanding warrants from anywhere in the country. Civilians cannot. NCIC access is restricted to authorized criminal justice agencies.2Federation of American Scientists. National Crime Information Center (NCIC)
What that means for you: a warrant issued by the Hattiesburg Municipal Court will not show up in the Harrison County Sheriff’s records, and vice versa. If you have any doubt about which jurisdiction might have issued a warrant, you may need to check more than one office.
Check Sheriff and Court Websites First
Some Mississippi sheriff’s offices and courts publish active warrant lists or offer searchable databases online. Start there. It costs nothing, it carries no risk, and you can usually search by name and date of birth.
Coverage is uneven. Larger counties tend to keep online lists; smaller ones often do not. DeSoto County, for example, does not publish an online list and instead directs people to call or email its Fugitive Division during business hours.3DeSoto County, MS. DeSoto County Warrant Division Where online tools exist, they are not updated in real time, so a warrant issued yesterday may not appear yet.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety maintains a public “Most Wanted” list compiled by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, but it covers a small number of high-priority fugitives and is not useful for routine warrant checks.4Mississippi Department of Public Safety. Mississippi’s Most Wanted Third-party public-records aggregators may surface something, but their data is often outdated or incomplete. Treat what you find there as a lead, not an answer.
Call the Right Court Clerk or Sheriff’s Office
A phone call to the correct court clerk is one of the most direct ways to find out. You give your name and date of birth, and the clerk can tell you whether a warrant exists in that court’s system. Which court to call depends on the type of case:
- Municipal Court handles misdemeanor crimes, city ordinance violations, and traffic offenses within city limits. A missed court date on a speeding ticket or city ordinance would produce a bench warrant here.5State of Mississippi Judiciary. Municipal Court
- Justice Court has jurisdiction over misdemeanors in the county where the punishment is limited to a fine and county jail time.6Justia Law. Mississippi Code 99-33-1 – Criminal Jurisdiction
- Circuit Court handles felony prosecutions and shares misdemeanor jurisdiction with the justice courts. It also hears appeals from the lower courts.7Mississippi First Circuit Court. About Circuit Courts – Section: Jurisdiction
If you are not sure which court applies, start with the municipal court in the city where the incident happened, or the justice court in the county. For felony matters, call the circuit clerk.
You can also call the county sheriff’s office and ask. Calling is fine. Walking in is not. If you show up in person at a sheriff’s office or police station and a warrant is active, you will almost certainly be arrested on the spot. Mississippi law lets officers arrest a person on a misdemeanor charge without physically holding the warrant, as long as it is outstanding and the officer knows about it through official channels.8Mississippi Legislature. HB 560 (As Introduced) – 2025 Regular Session For felony warrants, arrest authority is broader. A phone call lets you gather information without offering yourself up.
Have an Attorney Make the Call
The safest method is to have a Mississippi criminal defense attorney check for you. The attorney can contact the court clerk or sheriff on your behalf without disclosing where you are. Attorney-client privilege protects your communications with the lawyer, so your location and what you have said cannot be pulled out of them.
There is a second benefit. If a warrant does exist, your attorney is already in position to do something about it. They can review the underlying charges, contact the prosecutor, and often arrange a voluntary surrender at a scheduled time. That means no arrest during a traffic stop, no cuffs at your workplace, no scene in front of your family. Judges tend to look more favorably on people who turn themselves in, and an attorney can sometimes negotiate bond in advance so you spend minimal time in custody.
A bail bondsman can sometimes confirm whether a warrant exists too, since bondsmen deal with courts and jails constantly. But a bondsman cannot give you legal advice or negotiate on your behalf. If the underlying matter is anything more than a missed traffic date, the attorney is the better call.
Arrest Warrants vs. Bench Warrants
Once you know a warrant exists, it helps to know which kind it is.
An arrest warrant is issued when a judge finds probable cause that someone committed a crime. Officers can execute it at any time, and once it is entered into NCIC, police anywhere in the country can see it. Mississippi law authorizes sheriffs, deputies, constables, marshals, and city police to make arrests within their jurisdictions.9Justia Law. Mississippi Code 99-3-1 – Who May Make Arrests
A bench warrant comes directly from a judge, most often after a defendant misses a scheduled court appearance. If you fail to appear for any criminal proceeding as ordered, the court must forfeit your bail and issue a bench warrant at the time of nonappearance.10FindLaw. Mississippi Code Title 99 Criminal Procedure 99-5-25 A bench warrant can also result from violating a court order, like failing to pay a fine or breaching probation conditions.
People sometimes assume a bench warrant is the milder of the two. It is not. It gives officers the same authority to arrest, and it exposes you to a contempt penalty on top of the original charge. Circuit, chancery, and county courts can impose up to a $100 fine and up to 30 days in jail for contempt.11FindLaw. Mississippi Code Title 9 Courts 9-1-17
What Happens If You Ignore It
Warrants do not expire. They sit in the system until you are arrested or the court recalls them. In the meantime, the problems compound:
- Any police encounter can end in arrest. A traffic stop, an accident report, even calling police as a witness can prompt an officer to run your name. If the warrant hits, you are going in regardless of why the officer was talking to you.
- If you had posted bond before failing to appear, that money is gone. The court is required to forfeit it when the bench warrant issues.10FindLaw. Mississippi Code Title 99 Criminal Procedure 99-5-25
- For traffic-related fines, if you fail to pay within 90 days of a written notice, the court can pursue collection the same way it would any delinquent payment, including additional fees.12Justia Law. Mississippi Code 63-1-53 – Notice to Accused Upon Failure to Pay
- Once a warrant is executed and you are booked, the arrest becomes part of your permanent criminal history. Deeper background checks, of the kind used for security clearances and federal work, are more likely to surface an active warrant even before it is executed.
The longer a warrant sits, the harder it is to resolve on favorable terms. A judge who sees that you ignored a warrant for six months has much less patience than one who sees you handled it within days.
Resolving the Warrant Once You Confirm It
If a warrant is real, move fast. Retain a criminal defense attorney before doing anything else. The lawyer can evaluate the underlying charges, confirm which court issued the warrant, and build a plan that minimizes custody time and preserves your standing with the judge.
For bench warrants tied to a missed court date, your attorney can file a motion asking the court to recall the warrant. That usually involves explaining why you missed the hearing and showing you are ready to comply going forward. If the judge grants it, the warrant is lifted and a new court date is set. Success depends on the facts. A legitimate reason like a documented medical emergency goes much further than no explanation.
For arrest warrants tied to new charges, your attorney can arrange a voluntary surrender. You come in at a scheduled time, go through booking, and in many cases post a pre-arranged bond and leave the same day. If bail is not set in the warrant itself, or you cannot meet the conditions, you have to be brought before a judge for an initial appearance within 48 hours. Mississippi’s Rules of Criminal Procedure include bond ranges that judges use as a starting point, with discretion to go higher or lower based on flight risk, community ties, and the seriousness of the offense. Having a lawyer negotiate a bond amount in advance is often the difference between a few hours in custody and several days.