# How can I check to see if a neighbor has a criminal record? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 3, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-check-to-see-if-a-neighbor-has-a-criminal-record/315485 "2005-08-03T22:11:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-check-to-see-if-a-neighbor-has-a-criminal-record/315485/1 "2005-08-03T22:11:06Z")
My neighbor shows every indication of being a gang member and he frightens me. If he has some sort of violent criminal past, I’d really like to know about it. Is there a way to go online and search to see if he’s a felon? We know his name because we’ve received his mail by mistake once or twice. I have done casual Google searches using just his name. Heh. He happens to have the same name as a popular TV and movie personality, and I keep getting fan websites for the stupid celebrity instead of criminal records. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-check-to-see-if-a-neighbor-has-a-criminal-record/315485/2 "2005-08-03T22:14:39Z")
Adult criminal records are public information, though they may not be available online, depending on the jurisdiction. The easiest way to go is to call your local city or county courthouse and ask how to search the criminal records. You may need to go down there and fill out some forms to get the info. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-check-to-see-if-a-neighbor-has-a-criminal-record/315485/3 "2005-08-03T22:34:34Z")
You can also search back logs of the areas police logs in the newspaper. I have done this and found what I wanted. Just out of curiosity - what will finding out he is a fellon do for you? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-check-to-see-if-a-neighbor-has-a-criminal-record/315485/4 "2005-08-04T05:34:47Z")
There are a couple ways to do this. First, check some on-line sources. [Black Book](http://www.crimetime.com/online.htm), [Search Systems](http://www.searchsystems.net/), and [Public Data](http://www.publicdata.com/) all are available on line. ([PublicData.com](http://PublicData.com) will cost you a few dollars. The other 2 are mostly free). You can also go to a police department and ask to do a look up on their public access computer. The neat thing about that is, you can run a search via name or address. It will tell you all the police contacts that occurred with that person or address regardless if there was an arrest or not. Not all p.d.s’ have public access computers. Lastly, go down to the court house and see if they have a public records room. Wisconsin has a great system called [CCAP](http://wcca.wicourts.gov/simpleCaseSearch.xsl;jsessionid=C3E3B906C16C4639BF167FDED86CFF42.render5?). There was recently some [debate](http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/aug05/345282.asp) about CCAP. Some jackass wants to put the brakes on it. That’s nonesense! In a free society records should be open, and available [on-line!](http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/aug05/345342.asp) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-check-to-see-if-a-neighbor-has-a-criminal-record/315485/5 "2005-08-04T06:06:59Z")
The easiest and cheapest way is to go to your county courthouse. You should be able to look up most civil and criminal cases there, but it’s dependant on your jurisdiction. You may even be able to look up some info via the court’s website. County courthouse is going to have info on local cases only, though. For federal cases, you’ll need to search the federal courts. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-check-to-see-if-a-neighbor-has-a-criminal-record/315485/6 "2005-08-04T07:04:20Z")
Some caveats: These are public records, and are available for you to review. If… you know his actual name. Or what his actual name was at the time he committed the crimes. Or what name he was using at that time. It’s pretty easy to legally change your name in most states. And even easier to just not bother about legalities and just start using a different name. Especially if you’re living a life where you don’t have a regular job, with SSN’s, tax filing, etc.m don’t bother much about having a current drivers license, etc. And if … you know where he committed any previous crimes. Many criminal records are only stored at the local county level. So if he committed crimes just across the county line, they won’t be listed at your county courthouse. Thus you may have to know just where he has lived previously, and go to several county courthouses to get this info. There are state & federal databases on criminal history, but mostly these are limited to higher-level crimes. And many gang members seem to be pretty good at keeping charges off their record, or getting them plea-bargained down to a lower charge, etc. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-check-to-see-if-a-neighbor-has-a-criminal-record/315485/7 "2005-08-04T12:47:13Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Some caveats: > > These are public records, and are available for you to review. > > If… you know his actual name. Well, at least in Cook County, if you can find just one crime under whatever name you have for him, you are givin an IR number, which is a unique number used to identify criminal fingerprints. You then search by IR number and you’ll be able to pull up all aliases as well. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-check-to-see-if-a-neighbor-has-a-criminal-record/315485/8 "2005-08-04T12:55:32Z")
Invite him over for a drink. Save the glass and get prints off of it. Search the FBI data base for a match. Heck, works on TV. 😉