Where to get your BCI report
The Bureau of Criminal Identification is part of the Attorney General's office, at 4 Howard Avenue — the corner of Pontiac Avenue and Howard Avenue, in the Pastore Complex — Cranston, RI 02920.
The Customer Service Center is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Attorney General notes that the fingerprint process stops at 4:00 p.m. A state background check costs $5.
What to bring
One valid photo ID. The Attorney General lists a valid state-issued driver's license, a valid state-issued identification card, or a valid United States passport.
Bring the $5 too. In person you can pay by credit or debit card (a card fee applies).
Getting your BCI report by mail
If you cannot get to Cranston on a weekday, the Attorney General accepts mail requests. Send four things: a signed and notarized release form, a copy of a valid photo ID, a check or money order for $5.00, and a self-addressed stamped return envelope.
Allow 14 days for mailing and processing. Watch the notarization — it catches people, because it means a trip to a notary before the trip to the post office.
Why you want it before you file
People are often wrong about their own records, and the two things they misremember decide everything: how the case ended, and the date the sentence ended. A charge someone remembers as "dropped" may be a filing, a dismissal, or a deferred sentence — three different legal paths — and the BCI record will not settle that on its own.
The Judiciary's public portal is the quick version, about ten minutes, and the right first step. It tells you whether the trip to Cranston is worth making.
To expunge, file from the BCI record. To seal a case that did not end in a conviction, work from the court record.
What a BCI report does not show
The BCI record shows your convictions and what else is on the state record. It does not show everything. The Attorney General says an arrest where the grand jury did not indict (a no true bill), where the Attorney General declined to file an information, an acquittal, or a dismissal "will not be reflected in the report." Those appear only in the court record, and the court record is where you seal them from.
A BCI record is a Rhode Island record. It does not show out-of-state cases, and it does not tell you whether you are eligible for anything. It is the raw material, not the answer.
Working out which law governs what is on it is the next step. The eligibility checker does it with you and names the section behind every answer.
The law behind this page
- Source: R.I. Attorney General, Bureau of Criminal Identification — address, hours, the 4:00 p.m. fingerprint cutoff, the $5 fee, accepted photo ID, card payment, and the mail-request requirements and 14-day processing time.
- Source: R.I. Attorney General — a no true bill, a declined information, an acquittal or a dismissal will not be reflected in the report.
- Source: R.I. Judiciary public portal — the court record, including cases that did not end in a conviction.
