Hello all,

Long story short, I’d like to learn more about a particular person in a completely legal and reliable way. The internet is full of websites that say they’ll return criminal history and various other personal info, but what is a legitimate one? I have a full name and a date of birth.

Thanks.

A quick, easy and free check would be a search of your states Dept. Of Corrections Inmate database. Begin there.

I don't think what you're looking for is out there for us civilians.
If you know the jurisdictions where some activity may have happened, check for the "Clerk of the Court" website and do a records check.
They should have civil and criminal records online although they will usually be very basic information.

Here is an example of where to start if it's the right jurisdiction.

https://www.stanislaus.courts.ca.gov/

https://stanportal.stanct.org/search

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
I don't think what you're looking for is out there for us civilians.

They are out there for employers. Back in 2008 I worked for Accenture and they ran a background check on me prior to my employment offer. They questioned me on a ticket I received in Denver...I lived in an adjacent municipality. The ticket was for being in a park after hours. I got the ticket in 2002 or so, and I was pissed when I got it. I was driving through the park and didn't know it was closed. There was a sign at the entrance to the park saying it was open from sunrise to sunset or something. No gate, nothing else, just a small sign I never saw.

Sorry I can't help, but it can be done.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
I don't think what you're looking for is out there for us civilians.
If you know the jurisdictions where some activity may have happened, check for the "Clerk of the Court" website and do a records check.
They should have civil and criminal records online although they will usually be very basic information.

Here is an example of where to start if it's the right jurisdiction.

https://www.stanislaus.courts.ca.gov/

https://stanportal.stanct.org/search

I’m familiar with searching specific county courts systems but I know our local one doesn’t provide much detail at all and I don’t have a great location to search… realistically it appears I would have to cover at least 3 states and who knows how many counties.

I think it has to be out there somewhere… I know when I filled out a rental application many years ago before buying a house they said it included a credit and criminal history check.

Maybe Accurint, have a look at the the homepage.

quote:

Originally posted by mr kablammo:
Maybe Accurint, have a look at the the homepage.

Yup, my Sheriff's Office used Accurint for years when we were trying to locate people. It's got all the criminal history stuff you're looking for. Very excellent info on their site. We only dropped them because of a budget crunch. Investigators never forgave admin for that one.

I look up people on the Indiana Court database which is public and has a website.

It's great - you can see divorces (or divorces that are not actually complete yet) criminal offenses, traffic offenses, bankruptcy, civil. Anything that isn't sealed or expunged.

Looks like Accurint is a Lexis Nexis subscription based service.
Not sure if you can easily use it once as an individual. Their website isn’t all that clear.

As a PI, we used Lexis Nexis extensively. It is not a public use website. Its also quite expensive.

Lexis nexis and accurint are two of the databases our detectives used at my PD that they could use. NCIC and the NC States Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) were LE specific and only had court interactions vs LExis Nexis and Accurints data on prior living and people who they lived with or co-signed papers or stuff like that.

My best friend was a PI and his investment in the database was priceless in tracking people down, finding relatives, etc.

But if I was interested in one guy and knew he was from your area, I’d just go to the clerk of courts and inquire there…some places have info online and some don’t. IIRC NC counties charged $10 per transaction on a particular person in their county…

Going to a PI and asking if he could or does use LexisNexis/Accurint might be he cheapest route to get a good well rounded picture

We use LexisNexis and TLO and can query some other databases at my agency, but being a strictly personal issue accessing such systems is strictly forbidden. Sure way to get fired, at least.

I’ve been asking some of our detectives and analysts but none of them know what someone could use in a non-LE manner.

I’ll look into this some more.

I maybe have a guy riding with me to a shoot on Saturday that actually works for a company that does the website background database... search engine for various law enforcement .... I'll ask him how regular citizen based businesses do background checks.. I know the one I used on myself a few years back is a joke.. the white pages. According to them I have no criminal record at all... not even a traffic ticket. which is totally bogus....

Contact an experienced licensed private investigator. They have access to records that are not available to the general public. I am not talking about one of those internet search outfits, I am talking about legit investigators, many of whom are retired LEO's. You can get as in-depth as you want ranging from records checks to going out and knocking on doors and interviewing people, depends on how much you want to spend and how thorough you want to be. What you will not get from any records check is records that have been legally expunged. A good source for finding a licensed investigator in your state is go to the California Association of Licensed Investigators (CALI) site.

When I had my PI business, we used TLO for all of our background information on subjects. Unfortunately if someone approached me looking for what you are asking, I would require a legal release permitting me to do the background research to protect myself from any liability. I'd never bear the legal responsibility these days of just providing any info on anyone to anyone that asks or offered to pay for it.

True financial information, though required different sources that I, err.....forget.

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
We use LexisNexis and TLO and can query some other databases at my agency, but being a strictly personal issue accessing such systems is strictly forbidden. Sure way to get fired, at least.

I’ve been asking some of our detectives and analysts but none of them know what someone could use in a non-LE manner.

I’ll look into this some more.

Check your email. Just sent you mail.

btw How is your wife doing with her shingles pain?

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
btw How is your wife doing with her shingles pain?

She is over the pain finally; thanks for asking! However; she went straight from that to a severe case of frozen shoulder and is doing physical therapy for that. She just can’t catch a break!

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
btw How is your wife doing with her shingles pain?

She is over the pain finally; thanks for asking! However; she went straight from that to a severe case of frozen shoulder and is doing physical therapy for that. She just can’t catch a break!

You’ll get a cornucopia of responses around this…

But my experience with adhesive capsulitis is that movement and tearing the adhesions actually is better for you than trying to wait it out. Six months versus years.

You can do steroid injections that will help for 4 to 6 weeks. But only a few of them.

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
We use LexisNexis and TLO and can query some other databases at my agency, but being a strictly personal issue accessing such systems is strictly forbidden. Sure way to get fired, at least.

I’ve been asking some of our detectives and analysts but none of them know what someone could use in a non-LE manner.

I’ll look into this some more.

Check your email. Just sent you mail.

Thank you sir!