A criminal record search is a valuable service offered by most private investigators. Discovering whether a person has a past history of illegal behavior is vital for businesses seeking to complete a pre-employment investigation, prior to hiring a new worker. Criminal history check are also common when investigating parties to a civil lawsuit, among many other reasons.
This dialog explains how professional investigators and internet search companies can uncover any traces of criminal history in a person’s past.
What is a Criminal Record Search?
Criminal record histories are maintained throughout most of the world. In the US, every state keeps a database of all felony and misdemeanor violations to their penal codes. In many areas, criminal record history is a public record and can be discovered by anyone who submits a proper inquiry. In other areas, criminal records are not easily obtained by the general public.
Regardless, professional investigators are experts in uncovering a complete criminal history for any person, including searching under alternate names and aliases, as well as alternate dates of birth.
Some criminal records are totally or partially sealed, due to juvenile offenses or court-ordered privacy clauses. Investigators are sometimes able to petition the court to allow full disclosure of a sealed record, in order to uncover potentially important criminal history information.
Criminal Record Inquiries
The cost of a criminal record history search varies greatly, due to the wide range of fees charged by the jurisdiction maintaining the records. Online investigation services can be very cheap for finding a criminal history on a particular person, but may not get all the information, especially if an alias or alternate date of birth may be involved.
Hiring an actual private detective is the best option, but will also typically be the most expensive. If the inquiry is very important, than do not cut corners. Go the best route and do not regret spending a bit more money for a thorough search. This is especially true for employers that are looking to fill sensitive positions in their organization or for parents looking to hire a nanny or other caregiver for their children.
Criminal Record Search Analysis
Criminal record histories can be complicated to acquire and can even be confusing to decipher. Many convictions do not spell out the actual crime or even the charge of the indictment. Plea bargains can reduce far more serious offenses to minor infractions and even eliminate the specter of sexual or violent inferences from a criminal record. Only a professional investigator has any real hope of finding all this missing or altered information relating to the original charges filed on an individual.
If you only require a basic criminal record history search, you might be wise to consider a low cost online criminal search company. However, for more detailed reports and interpretation of a file, consider hiring a private investigator who specializes in the criminal justice system.