The Westchester County Warrant Watch List
Warrant Watch is the main public tool for Westchester County warrants. It is a joint effort. The Department of Public Safety and the Department of Probation run it together to find and arrest the county's most wanted fugitives. The list shows information on people who are wanted. It is meant to put names and faces in front of the public so tips come in.
Public Safety acts as the county police agency. The old Sheriff's Department merged into it back in 1979, so the unit that once chased warrants now sits under Public Safety. Probation joins in because many wanted people are on probation and have skipped their terms. The two offices share the work of tracking these cases.
If you spot someone on the list, do not try to make the arrest yourself. The official page warns against that. Call 911 or use the tip line instead. You can reach the Westchester County Department of Public Safety Warrant Watch page to view the list and the contact numbers.
Types of Westchester County Warrants and Holds
Not every warrant works the same way. Some come from a criminal charge. Some come from a missed court date. A few are tied to probation or to civil court orders. The kind of warrant decides who issued it and how you clear it. Below is a quick guide to the main types seen in Westchester County warrant cases.
- Arrest warrant
- Issued after a judge finds probable cause that a person committed a crime.
- Bench warrant
- Signed by the court, often when someone fails to appear, fails to comply, or is held in contempt.
- Family Court warrant
- Can issue in family offense, support, or custody cases, and carries tight confidentiality limits.
- Probation warrant
- Issued when a person is accused of breaking the terms of probation.
- Fugitive warrant
- Used for a wanted person from another county or another state.
- Search warrant
- Lets police search a place; it is often sealed before it is carried out and is not the same as an arrest warrant.
- Civil enforcement order
- Covers executions, evictions, and court orders that the Civil Unit carries out.
Family Court warrants and search warrants both have access limits. A sealed search warrant may not show up in any public tool until after it is served. Family Court files stay closed to broad public view. So the warrant type also shapes what you can find online.
How to Search Westchester County Warrants
There is no single county portal that lists every open warrant by name. Warrant Watch shows the most wanted fugitives, not all active orders. To check a full warrant status, you reach out to the office that issued it. That means the issuing court clerk, the Warrant-Fugitive Unit, or an attorney who can pull the case. Pending criminal cases with future court dates also show up in the state WebCriminal tool, which can hint at an open matter.
Start with the source. A bench warrant from a city court is tracked by that court. A probation warrant runs through Probation. The Warrant-Fugitive Unit handles fugitive tracking countywide. Keep a name, a date of birth, and any case or docket number close at hand before you call.
- Check the Public Safety Warrant Watch list for the most wanted fugitives.
- For a court order, call the clerk of the court that issued it, or check pending cases in WebCriminal.
- Call the Warrant-Fugitive Unit at 914-864-7868 to ask about a fugitive warrant.
- Speak with an attorney, who can confirm a warrant and plan the next step.
- If you have a tip on a wanted person, call 911 or the tip line at 800-898-TIPS.
Note: Online and phone records can lag behind the court, so confirm any warrant status with the issuing office before you act on it.
Westchester County Warrant Search Fields
The Warrant Watch list is built as a public page of fugitives, not as an open search form. Public Safety has not exposed name-by-name search fields in its public version. So the practical "search fields" for a Westchester County warrant are the contact paths you use to confirm one. The table below sets out those paths and the details to have ready.
| Field / Path | Type | Required | Notes / Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warrant Watch list | List / page | n/a | Official page provides fugitive information; no name search box is exposed. |
| Tip line | Phone | n/a | 800-898-TIPS (8477) for anonymous tips. |
| Warrant-Fugitive Unit | Phone | n/a | 914-864-7868 for fugitive warrant questions. |
| Person details | Text | Recommended | Full name and date of birth speed any phone check. |
| Case or docket number | Text | Optional | Helps the issuing court clerk find the order fast. |
What a Westchester County Warrant Record Shows
A warrant is a court order with a set of basic parts. When you confirm one through a clerk or the issuing court, you can expect to see the fields below. A Warrant Watch listing of a fugitive will show some of the same details, plus a photo and a wanted note. Not every field is public for every warrant, and sealed orders show little or nothing.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Subject Name | The person the warrant names, plus any aliases. |
| Warrant Type | Arrest, bench, probation, fugitive, search, or civil enforcement. |
| Issue Date | When the court or judge signed the order. |
| Issuing Court | The Supreme, County, Family, or city court behind the order. |
| Charge or Reason | The offense or the failure that led to the warrant. |
| Bond / Bail | Any set amount that may clear the warrant or allow release. |
| Status | Active, recalled, or cleared. |
A fugitive listing leans more on the public-safety side. It tends to add a physical description, a photo, and the agency seeking the person. The court-side record leans on the case data, like the charge and the issuing court.
The Warrant-Fugitive Unit and Civil Unit
Public Safety runs two units that touch warrants. The Warrant-Fugitive Unit tracks and arrests wanted people across the county. You can reach it at 914-864-7868. This is the unit to ask about a fugitive warrant or a person on the Warrant Watch list. The unit works with Probation and with local police departments.
The Civil Unit handles a different set of orders. It carries out executions, evictions, and court orders that involve enforcement. This is the office that took over much of the old sheriff civil work after the 1979 merger. The Civil Unit sits at 110 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, Room L-217, in White Plains, and its phone is 914-995-3053.
Key Contacts:
Warrant-Fugitive Unit: 914-864-7868
Crime tip line: 800-898-TIPS (8477)
Civil Unit: 110 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, Room L-217, White Plains, NY 10601; 914-995-3053
For a civil order, such as an eviction or a money judgment execution, the Civil Unit is the right call. For a criminal fugitive matter, use the Warrant-Fugitive Unit. The Public Safety FAQ page explains how civil enforcement requests are handled.
What to Do About an Outstanding Warrant
An open warrant does not go away on its own. It can lead to arrest at a traffic stop, at the airport, or at home. The good news is that most warrants can be cleared with the right steps. Acting early gives you more options. The path depends on the warrant type and the court that issued it.
Do not rely only on third-party warrant sites. Many of those pages are out of date, sell reports, or scrape old data. They are not the issuing court and they do not clear anything. Use official tools and the issuing court instead, and talk to a lawyer before you turn yourself in.
- Do not rely only on third-party warrant sites; treat them as a tip at most, not proof.
- Check official court case tools, contact the issuing court clerk, or speak with an attorney to confirm the warrant.
- If you are on Warrant Watch or are contacted by police, do not attempt self-help apprehension; call the official numbers.
- For a missed court date or bench warrant, ask the court or your lawyer whether a voluntary appearance, a calendar recall, bail, or a motion is needed.
- If a person is in jail, know that the Department of Correction checks for active warrants and legal holds before bail is completed.
- For an out-of-state warrant, ask about extradition and the local surrender steps.
Important: Talk to an attorney before you turn yourself in, since a lawyer can arrange surrender, raise bail, and protect your rights at arraignment.
Warrant Checks at Jail Release
A warrant can stop a release even after bail is paid. The Westchester County Department of Correction checks each person for active warrants and legal holds before it lets them out. If another county, another state, or a court has placed a hold, release can be delayed or blocked. The jail completes that check as part of the bail process.
This matters most when someone posts bail for a relative. The money may be accepted, yet the person stays in custody on a separate hold. The jail information line can tell you about bail status, the arresting agency, and a possible hold. For the full lookup steps and contact numbers, see Westchester County inmate records.
Anonymous Tips on Westchester County Warrants
Public Safety asks the public to help find wanted people. If you know where a listed fugitive is, you can pass it along without giving your name. Call the tip line at 800-898-TIPS, which spells out to 800-898-8477. For an in-progress sighting or an emergency, call 911 instead. The agency stresses one rule above all: do not try to make the arrest.
The tip line feeds the Warrant-Fugitive Unit and its partner agencies. Tips can help close long-open cases. The District Attorney then prosecutes the charges once a wanted person is taken in. You can review recent prosecutions on the Westchester County District Attorney press releases page, which notes that a charge is only an accusation until proven.
Restricted Westchester County Warrant Records
Some warrants are not open to public view. A search warrant is often sealed before it is served, so it does not appear in any public list while the case is active. Family Court warrants carry confidentiality limits and stay tied to closed family files. Federal warrants are a separate system and are not in the county tools at all.
Sealed and confidential orders only open to a party, an attorney of record, or someone with a court order. For underlying charges and case history that may sit behind a warrant, see criminal records. To learn how a case moves through the trial courts, see Westchester County court records, and for legal records held by the clerk, see the County Clerk page.