Do I need to use a service to perform a criminal background check or am I paying a fee for information I can easily obtain on my own if I knew where to look?
I think it depends on what you are looking for exactly. I have gotten background checks from various agencies when I was in the Marines. I have also paid for a background check on guys who were around my son (ex-wives possible boyfriends, etc.). I have found that the ones you pay for are not really that accurate. Example: I went to ABC County and found out that John Smith had a DUI nine years ago. I wanted to go further, so did a nationwide check, which did not find anything, not even the DUI that I already found to exist.
For the ABC County criminal check, I paid $1. For the sophisticated Nationwide check, which said checked local, state, and federal records, I paid $19.95.
If you know what you are looking for, contact that agency and usually there is some clerk who hates criminals and will tell you how to access the records, sometimes for a nominal fee. Anyway, most crimes are public record, unless the incident was as a juvenile. But you can usually access the criminal records if the clerk does not care.
Hope this helps and look forward to hearing what others have to say.
The database searches have their place, but the best thing to do is always to dig as deep as you can in whatever place you suspect the subject of your research may have gotten in trouble in.
It’s amazing how much stuff national databases can miss, whether you’re talking credit or criminal history.
Remember, there is NO single national system for tracking misdemeanors, although felonies are tracked a little bit better.
Unfortunately I don’t have much to go on - I’m really just checking out potential nannies and trying to make sure there’s no real warning signs.
I don’t know about Illinois, but in Wisconsin we have this. It searches for court cases, but also picks up tickets. This is where I always start when we have a new employee. After that I start with the social engineering.
You’d be surprised how much Google kicks out some days.
I’ve Googled an ex or two and seen newspaper articles on them…