The audience of this online book includes private investigators, search professionals, and other interested parties who are involved in running criminal background checks in the United States. It is written in a relaxed, conversational manner. Experienced professionals may find it more useful to skip directly to the Resource List sections.
There are many reasons why someone may be investigated. The most common reasons are pre-employment, romantic involvement, and confirmation of credentials for business purposes.
As a company conducting a background check, you may charge between $50 and $250 or more depending on the depth of research performed. Many seasoned professionals are available to do this work for you. Search our Member List if you would like to hire someone to do this. This book is intended to be a tool for those individuals or the company who actually performs this work.
The actual expenses incurred in running a criminal background check for, let's say, one hundred twenty dollars will run between $30 and $50 plus your time, of course. Also, you must have established accounts with the crucial providers of the public records that you need access to.
Here is the order of searches to perform. You can also open a session with our Background Check Report Wizard that will guide you through the process and actually create the formatted report for you.
Most employment applications will include a line for the applicant's social security number and date of birth. Herein, I will refer to the applicant as the "target". If you do not have one or both of these identifiers, your first task is to find out what they are. See our discussion of finding missing persons for details.
Establish the address history going back at least seven years. Driver's license and other professional licenses that you find are also good to include in this section. View the Credit Header Records section of the Resource List.
One of the easiest searches to perform involves looking at the federal court indexes. You need an established account to use this system. At the time of this writing, retrieval costs were pennies per page. You can dial up to the system or connect using the Internet. The search form allows you to enter a first, last, and middle name, but you will have to look inside each match for address and other identifiers to match them to your target. Cut and paste any matching records into your working report. View the Federal Bankruptcy, Criminal, Civil, Appellate Courts section of the Resource List.
There are many providers of this national index. Typically you can use the same company or source that is providing you with credit header data. Try to match the target's social security number within the records. Cut and paste any matching records into your working report or into the Background Check Report Wizard. View the Bankruptcies, Liens and Judgments (National) section of the Resource List.
Next contact the state's department of corrections records department to look for matching records for the target's name, date of birth, or social security number. The people working these departments tend to be very cooperative and courteous if you treat in the same fashion. In addition, many of their records go back for 20 years or more. If your target of was incarcerated or on probation, try to determine the date of the infraction and the county in which he was sentenced. You can then go back to the county (see the next section) to pull records of the actual criminal case.
Some state's department of corrections records are available to search electronically yourself. See our Resource List section to find providers in the state of interest. By the way, inmates who serve time in a city or county jail may not always appear in the state's records. View the State Parole, Probation, and Dept. of Corrections section of the Resource List.
Next to the department of corrections, state and county records are your best resource to indicate criminal activity. There is no "national" criminal records system that is available to people that do not work in law enforcement.
Some states now offer indexes of court records that "pull" from some or all of their counties. The advantage of these is that you can search the index electronically and avoid the three day wait to look for county records. Target identifiers vary from index to index. Not all show a date of birth, address, or SSN for the target. Many of the indexes will only show a court document number, not the actual outcome.
I've identified each state that offers this instant searching capability and some sources that will provide you with this information (again with an established account). This up to date analysis of criminal records state by state is in our Resource List section. This comparison alone is worth the price of admission. You can save yourself time AND money by taking advantage of the comparisons we have spent hundreds of hours making.
On average, expect to pay $5 to $15 to search a state-wide criminal index. Some indexes like those from Indiana or Texas are available at little or no cost at all. In the scheme of things, speed has a great advantage over cost. Most clients want the information yesterday, so the faster you get it to them the better.
Cut and paste the request for information into your working report or into the WIZARD. Send the client an update when the actual records come in. State-Wide Criminal Records section of the Resource List.
County records are generally speaking your best resource to indicate criminal activity. Our Resource List section has some good sources for court retrievers in any county throughout the country. Most are small independent operators who use a telephone and fax machine to take orders and deliver the results.
If you do a lot of work in one state or county, it pays to identify a good court records retriever who can search and pull records for you. Expect a 2 or 3 day wait. Try our Resource List or search our Member List to find a local county court records retriever.
People who run background checks across the country, but not a lot in any one jurisdiction are best served by a national provider of county records. These companies do a great service by providing a single service point to a national network of court retrievers. Expect to pay a few dollars more, but the single point of contact is well worth the additional cost. Many even provide dial up or Internet access for both requests and reports.
Cut and paste the request for information into your working report or into the WIZARD. Send the client an update when the actual records come in. View the County Criminal Records section of the Resource List.
Examining this list is especially important when people will be around children (obviously). Laws vary from state to state. New Jersey, the state that gave birth to Megan's Law, has one of the nation's weakest programs. A judge in Connecticut recently ruled that sex offender registries cannot be published as they violate the right of the accused to appeal their entry on the list. Again, see our Resource List section for state by state resource details and sources. View the Sex Offenders Lists section of the Resource List.
This concludes our discussion of the standard seven level background check (4 federal, SSN validation, department of corrections, state and/or county criminal, sex offenders).
Retrieved using the same sources as county criminal records. Can be useful for searches involving family, personal relationships, and business deals. They are usually more costly than criminal records. Expect to pay $10 to $15 per county plus court fees. View the County Civil Court Records and Litigation section of the Resource List.
Can be useful for searches involving family, personal relationships, and business deals. A nicely formatted report can be obtained from one of our good sources (see our Resource List). Of course a permissible purpose and established account are needed. View the Assets and Property Records (Including Vehicles, Boats, Airplanes) section of the Resource List.
Can be useful for searches involving business deals. A nicely formatted report can be obtained from one of our good sources (see our Resource List). Of course a permissible purpose and established account are needed. View the Business and Corporate Records section of the Resource List.
Commonly called MVR which stands for "Motor Vehicle Records" or "Moving Violation Records". Typically not available instantly or electronically. Most vendors will fax you the reports. Rules vary from state to state regarding getting the consent of the driver. I recommend getting a signed consent form from every driver being researched. It keeps things simple, and you are assured of getting the correct DOB, SSN, name spelling, and license number.
If you do all of your work in one state, it would pay to establish an account or go online with the DMV for that state. If you do a lot of work across the country, but not a lot in any one state, use our Resource List section to find a provider of these records nation wide. Most of these operators use a fax machine to deliver the results. Some have an Internet based system to take the orders. Of course you must establish the accounts with the appropriate vendors. View the Driving Records section of the Resource List.
Signed forms are absolutely required as per federal law. Do not risk your license or the ability to pull these reports by not getting the signed form. Also, note that a signature on an employment application will not suffice. The consent form must be it's own document. Many of the sources we list will pull a credit report for you (with consent). If your business passes inspection, you can request them directly yourself from the credit agencies. View the Credit Header Records section of the Resource List.