Say I had a suspicion someone I knew had an outstanding warrant in another state.
I have no concrete proof, just a gut reaction to the latest in a number of preposterous stories that do not add up.
This person is living in my state.
I contacted FHP, asking them how to proceed. They wanted a name and address so they could co-ordinate with the other state. They said the other state would not be able to help me, since the individual lives in this state.
I thanked them and hung up without giving them any information.
I do not know if the charges are for a violent or non-violent crime. Hell, I don’t know that there are charges.
I surfed the 'net on this particular state, and their Top 10 popped up, but not this individual. I’d like to know if there’s a way I can surf by name and birthdate to see if any charges are outstanding.
This individual is married to a close family member and a small child is involved. I do not want to make trouble, but then again, I don’t want my family member to be hurt.
Counties maintain criminal history records. They are public records. The best way to check is to go the county and do a manual search. There are online services that charge. You can also check each state and county (if you know the county) online and see what their web site says about criminal history records. Some give info. on how to send in $10, for example, and the turn around time can be a few weeks.
We were able to obtain this info from our town police, told us what we neded without asking a lot of questions, helps to know the sargent on duty at the desk.
But as Violet mentioned, other than online services to check for you, the best bet is to do a manual search since the overwhelming majority of counties don’t appear to have this information online.
That site took me to one I’d already visited. I can’t do a manual search, since I’m about seven states away from the one in question. Also, I have nothing firm to go on…just a cold whisper on the back of my neck.
I’m thinking about hiring a private investigator…time to start a new thread!
I used to do this for a small income. My uncle is a PI and paid me to look up people in my county (which is next to his). I went down to the courthouse with a list of names, looked them up on microfiche, asked for the case numbers, and then looked through the cases.* That was several years ago now, but unless all that info has been dumped online, I agree that you will have to hire a PI, who will then send his peons out to look in the various counties.
However, I don’t know anything about PI pricing, so it seemed that this post was more meant for this thread than the other.
*What I mainly learned at that ‘job’ was that most criminals are very, very stupid.
If the warrant is for a felony, it should be in the NCIC system, which your local cops can check with a name and date of birth. If the crime is less than a felony, it probably wouldn’t be extraditable from outside of the issuing state.
Badge, is there a way to do so anonymously? And how should one check for misdemeanors? Or is that even possible?
And am I wrong in assuming if, say, one has a warrant from Texas that one can be hauled back to Texas for prosecution? I didn’t think extradition applied much within the U.S., but perhaps I was wrong…?
I’m also interested in this because of my son’s bio-father; I was told he’s in prison, but I haven’t been able to verify it to my satisfaction.
Just out of curiosity, what did the person in qusetion say that got you thinking? The only reason I ask is that I am in a somewhat similar bind now, wondering whether not I should be following up on a particular subject. Anyways, hope it all works out for you.