I recently went to an online background check site and wasted $45.00. I don’t feel like spending $45.00 each time until I find a real one. Could anyone recommned a background check service? I know of at least 3 arrests for this person in the past 10 years and it showed none of them.
Is “arrests” here code for “convictions”? In some jurisdictions arrests may not appear on criminal background checks or may be easily expungable if the person is found not guilty or charges are dismissed. Remember that arrests are a lot easier to make than convictions - lots of people get arrested and then later the case falls apart because they can’t prove guilt.
All of those background check sites (as far as I know) are based off of court records and not police/ criminal records.
Some states have very good detailed records where you can find pretty much every arrest/ traffic ticket that has happened (assuming they were charged as well - if the cop lets them go at the precinct or something - it won’t show up).
Some states have virtually nothing. Some states it depends on the city/county.
If you know what state they live/have lived in - look for the public court records. If there are none - you aren’t going to find anything.
The police in every state and the Feds have their own database. Real background checks require fingerprints. Anything else is usually a court record check. I am not aware of any state whose police records are online.
Charge reports are public knowledge, once someone is arraigned, but not necessarily arrest reports.
intelius.com is pretty good.
What state is this alleged offender from?
Here in MN only convictions show up on a couple different sites that are free and go back 15+ years, but Court Calendars will show everyone sitting on the bench and then a click will give the charges. I can still look back at 20 year old court calendars as long as I know the judges name for the search.
California is the primary state and Wisconsin going back a bit further.
Looks like Wisconsin has stuff back to the 90s in most cases:
http://wcca.wicourts.gov/index.xsl
It looks like everything is consolidated in one place more or less. I tried someone’s name at random and it seems decent compared to most other states.
California is a different story. Looks to me like that depends on the county. I never seem to know what county I’m looking for when I look there (or other states whee it is required to know the county). Such a pain in the ass. If the person moves a lot you have to try multiple counties and they are all different websites. No wonder the state doesn’t have any money…