What Does it Mean to Have a Warrant Out For My Arrest?

A warrant out for your arrest means that a court has signed a document directing law enforcement to apprehend you, detain you, and bring you back to court. There are two typical types of warrants. That would be an arrest warrant, which would mean that law enforcement has done an investigation and seeks to have the court issue an order allowing them and directing them to arrest you and bring you to court for the first time. There is also something called a bench warrant. A bench warrant will typically be issued by the court if you already have a pending case and you fail to show up for a court date or are in violation of the release conditions. They call it a bench warrant because a police officer hasn’t come forward to the court, but rather the court is sitting on the bench and issuing a warrant directing law enforcement to go get you.

In either situation, if you have a warrant for your arrest, you need to contact an attorney. If you already have one, get in contact with your attorney. If you don’t have an attorney, get one immediately because you face the potential that law enforcement officials are actively seeking you out to arrest you. Here in the District of Columbia, that would be the U.S. Marshals Service and these are federal officers who are possibly seeking you out at work or home, arresting you, and bringing you to court. If they are not actively seeking you out but you happen to get into any kind of involvement with police, for example if you’re driving and they pull you over for not using your turn signal, they’re going to take your information and run a warrant check. If you have a bench warrant or an arrest warrant, you’re not going home until you see a judge. If you find out that you’ve got a warrant for your arrest, it is critical that you take care of it proactively rather than waiting to be arrested at what will surely be an inopportune time for you.