SearchSystems.net

Criminal Records Help

noreply@blogger.com (Sean) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:42:00 +0000

We feel that we provide the best criminal records resource available on the Internet.

Here’s why:

We’ve worked for 15 years to find and organize available free criminal court, inmate, and offender databases so that you may easily find the background information you need—for free.

That’s great if you only need to search a few counties, but it would take hours just to search all of the available Ohio county court and inmate databases. So to help you save time we offer the largest single criminal record resource available on the Internet—over 400 million records—which now includes over 70 national and international terrorist, wanted, and debarred persons databases. We do charge a fee for this, but we feel it’s nominal considering the breadth and scope of coverage-- $6.95 for a state search and $14.95 to search the entire database.

In addition we have reorganized the databases for each state and now feature a short guide that contains instructions on how to do your own criminal background searches in each state.

Take our Florida Criminal Records page as an example. Statewide databases are now listed first under the Featured Public Records heading. County and local databases are listed in alphabetical order below those, under the standard Public Records heading. Free searches for city, county, and state databases are easily accessible. More importantly, we now provide information on how to do official criminal history checks through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

There’s no more guesswork about which databases to focus on or what you need to do an official state search. We tell you what is available through each method so you can quickly decide which fits your needs.

If you still have questions about locating records in a certain state or jurisdiction, feel free to send us a message and we’ll try to respond back quickly with an answer.

Who’s Behind that Cell Phone Number?

noreply@blogger.com (Sean) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:18:00 +0000

We recently came across a new research tool called Spy Dialer and we thought we’d share it. Spy Dialer offers a free cell phone number search that operates in a new way. Unlike online reverse phone look-ups and paid cell phone searches that provide an owner name and/or location based on phone provider listings, Spy Dialer dials the cell phone number you input and connects straight to the phone’s voicemail greeting. Spy Dialer records the greeting and allows you to play it back on their site. This allows you to: 1) anonymously test the number to see if it works; and 2) hear the voicemail greeting, which often includes the owner’s name, without worry that he or she will answer the incoming call.

We tested the surreptitious service by entering the mobile number belonging to one of our employees. His phone vibrated once and the display indicated a missed call. On the Spy Dialer site, we played back his entire voicemail greeting.

Going a step further, we had the employee check his missed calls. The Spy Dialer query left a number on his phone. When he dialed it, he arrived at a voicemail greeting that featured a snickering laugh and the message “You’ve been Spy Dialed.” Apparently for the free product, the phone owner will hear that message if they call back. If you are a professional skip tracer, you can subscribe to a fee-based version of Spy Dialer that will allow you to set up a stealth call-back number and alternate message. This might be wise if you don’t want your subjects tipped off that someone is checking into them.

Keep in mind that this service only works for cell phone numbers, so land-line numbers are not accessible.

Even Fictitious Detectives Use Search Systems

noreply@blogger.com (Sean) — Wed, 11 May 2011 22:30:00 +0000

In these blog posts we’ve shared several real-life examples of how the services at Search Systems can be used for public records research, but did you know that a fictitious detective uses our site as well?

Follow the investigations of Crispin Darke, Thrilling Detective, via his online blog at Darke Detective. Not only does Crispin lead you through his mystery cases chapter by chapter in first-person detective noir… he also teaches investigative techniques using the Internet. Every chapter has database links and explanations about how and when to use those public record databases.

Modern detectives know that solving a case requires more than door-to-door interviews, stake-outs, and car chases (although Crispin has his share of those). It also requires a contemporary knowledge of public record databases, especially those found online. Each time Crispin performs his research, you get to look over his shoulder as he finds another piece of the puzzle.

We think Crispin is humorous, thrilling, and well-informed. But don’t take our word for it. Read Crispin’s breakthrough story “N is for Knife” or the follow-up case, “The Hobart Ghost” and you’ll be entertained while learning some cool P.I. tricks you can do on your computer.

This is one case where the expression “Don’t try this at home” does NOT apply.

Time Off for Bad Behavior

noreply@blogger.com (Sean) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:33:00 +0000

Public records are like historical facts. Each one is part of the story of someone’s life. As we often discover when we research public records, some of those stories are quite outlandish. For example, take a look at the FBI Most Wanted List from their Cincinnati, Ohio field office, found on this criminal wants and warrants directory. The saga of Lester Edward Eubanks reads like a character back-story in an Elmore Leonard novel:

“Lester Eubanks is wanted for escaping from jail. On May 25, 1966, Eubanks was convicted of murdering a teenage girl during an attempted rape in Mansfield, Ohio. Eubanks shot the victim twice. He then returned to the victim's location and smashed her skull with a brick. At the time of the offense, Eubanks was on bail for another attempted rape.”

That’s absolutely horrible, but that isn’t the outlandish part. Eubanks is still at large, and as described above, he’s wanted for escaping from jail. The truth is, Eubanks didn’t exactly escape from jail. He escaped from a mall during a Christmas shopping spree. Here is the rest of the story, quoted verbatim from the FBI site:

“On December 7, 1973, Eubanks walked away from an honor assignment from the Ohio Correctional Center in Columbus, Ohio. Reportedly, Eubanks was taken to a shopping center in the south end of Columbus and dropped off to go Christmas shopping by prison officials. Eubanks failed to return to his scheduled pick-up point and was reported by prison officials as a "walkaway." Eubanks had been sentenced to death in the electric chair, and after three unsuccessful appeals, his death sentence was commuted to life in prison. This was due to a 1972 Supreme Court decision that ruled the death penalty unconstitutional.”

So first Eubanks catches a break when the death penalty is abolished in Ohio (Note: Ohio has since reinstated the death penalty, as evidenced by this list of current death row inmates). Eubanks then asks the warden if he can buy some Christmas gifts for his family. He catches another break when the prison officials “drop him off” at a shopping center and instruct him to return an hour later for his ride back to prison.

It is hard to believe that prison officials were so gullible.

The FBI bulletin about Eubanks sprinkles in other interesting facts about the fugitive. He was a former Air Force medic (possibly in the Vietnam War?), and held menial jobs after that. He holds a degree in martial arts and a black belt in karate, and is described as a practicing Baptist. The FBI site also indicates that Eubanks was living in California in the early 1990’s. So apparently witnesses spotted him two decades after his initial escape. A federal arrest warrant was put out for him in 1996 and there is currently a $10,000 reward for information leading to Eubanks’ capture.

So if you see Mr. Eubanks, at your local shopping mall or elsewhere, do NOT try to apprehend him. Report the sighting to the FBI.

Fishing for Debtors

noreply@blogger.com (Sean) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 23:01:00 +0000

We frequently get calls from lenders and debt-management companies that are looking for a resource to help them cast a net for all new debtors with judgments or tax liens. Often they notice our Bankruptcy, Judgment & Tax Lien pay database and inquire about the search criteria. Can they run a search by area and date and get a list of all debtors with recent judgments and/or tax liens?

Regrettably, the answer is No. While that database contains nationwide bankruptcy, judgment and tax lien filings going back ten years, and updated weekly, we can only query the database by Name, or Name and Address, or Social Security Number/Tax ID Number (although the last method is not recommended for judgment searches). So it is a great resource if you need to search for filings belonging to a specific person or company across an entire state (or nationwide). It is not designed to give you a list of all debtors in your city, county or state.

If you require a search for the latter, you might consider a few of these options:

1. The large legal research solutions like Lexis-Nexis, WestLaw and ChoicePoint often have judgments and tax liens in their mega databases. Those services can simultaneously search many different types of databases at once, by almost any type of term or keyword. Once you understand the search logic they employ, you can craft very targeted searches. The downside to using these mega services? Typically they require long-term accounts with very high monthly fees. Also, their data is often weeks old, as it must be sent in batches by the courts and other government agencies, then processed internally.

2. Some companies are able to set up accounts with specific county government offices, and pay a monthly fee to acquire direct data uploads on a regular basis. Essentially they have cut out the middle-men like Lexis-Nexis.

3. You can also try doing simple searches right at the county clerk-recorder websites. Often those online databases include tax liens and judgments, and allow a search by date range in addition to the traditional searches by name or filing number. Each county is different, so you’ll have to investigate them on a case-by-case basis. To find those types of recorded documents databases, use this directory, and select your state from the list under the “Categories” heading. Each state page will include a list of clerk-recorder links organized by county.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Jail?

noreply@blogger.com (Sean) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:35:00 +0000

Arrested June 3, 2010, but you may not have noticed. The incident did not garner much press. If a reporter had uncovered this arrest record and printed a story about the Lakers Star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar being incarcerated in Columbia County, Georgia, he or she would have been forced to print an embarrassing retraction.

Why? Go to the Georgia criminal records directory and click on the link for “Columbia County Inmates,” you’ll see that a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was arrested on June 3, 2010 for parole violation. If you look at the details, you’ll see the age of this suspect is 25. The very sad looking character is clearly not the same individual as the Lakers’ skyhook king who made wrap-around sports glasses look chic.

This illustrates just how imperative it is that when you perform a criminal records search that you check the age or birth date of the subject. Many names are common and even a highly unique name like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is not unique enough.

Another example is one of an unemployed man we’ll call George Smith who used our Premium criminal records search to perform a check on himself. He wanted an exact search of his name and exact date of birth, so he could print the No Results Found page to exonerate himself. George’s problem was that he applied for a job and when the employer ran a sex offender check, a record appeared for another George Smith born the same year. The employer didn’t bother to look at the finer details such as exact date of birth, and simply assumed the applicant was a Level 3 Offender. As our George put it, “They ran me out of their office with a stick!”

Researchers can cause damage and confusion if they mistakenly match a criminal record to the wrong person. So how do you avoid making this mistake? First of all, know the date of birth of the person you are searching. If you find records that don’t include a date of birth (many jurisdictions omit that information from their results), you need to dig further, perhaps at the county court itself, to either find the date of birth, or other information that will allow you to determine whether or not the record matches your subject. Often records will include an address or a physical description of the person.

In addition to our nationwide criminal records database we also offer an index to local government databases such as courts, sheriff departments, and corrections departments. Using those tools, you can research at the source to get the full truth.

When Criminal Record Searches Go Awry

noreply@blogger.com (Sean) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 23:21:00 +0000

One of our customers, whom we’ll call Ronald L. Smith, Jr., contacted us to seek help with a criminal record search in the state of North Carolina. Ron performed two searches on his own name using our huge Premium Criminal Record Database that contains over 400 million records. Neither search produced any results, and as Ron knows that he has criminal convictions on his record, he reached out to us for an explanation. Was the database flawed or incomplete?

As it turned out, it’s neither. The database is complete and the powerful search features offered by the service helped us to locate all of the records Ron was searching for. Here’s what happened…

On the first search he used the nickname "Ron" to search and checked that he wanted an "Exact" name search. The system then looked only for records that exactly matched the first name "Ron" (and a last name of Smith) and the results came up "no record" because they're listed in court records under the name of "Ronald Smith."

If Ron had asked for an exact name search and "Ronald" as the first name, or left the "Exact" name search unchecked, he would have received his records. We provide concise instructions and encourage people to read them before they do a search. It is best to search by full legal name, or do a partial name search if you aren’t sure of the name on record. So do a partial name search on “Ron” and you’ll get “Ron,” “Ronnie,” “Ronald,” etc. Or do a partial name search on “Ric” and you’ll get “Rick,” “Rickie,” “Richard,” “Ricardo,” etc. That way if someone does give a nickname to the court or the police, you stand a better chance of finding the record.

On the second search, Ron searched the same name, and this time unchecked the "Exact Name" box, which is the right thing to do if you're searching a partial name. But in the second search he added "Jr" after the last name. We strongly advise against inputting information such as Jr., Sr., M.D., etc, into a search field. Right above the search fields we state: "Please fill out the required fields below. Please DO NOT include suffixes such as Jr., Sr., III, M.D., and PhD in the first or last name fields." The reason we ask that people not to include suffixes is that most courts don't include suffixes when they list a court record. Electronic databases match the input information to database records. Since the courts didn't add "Jr." to the records, the search result came up "no records found."

We performed a statewide search ourselves in North Carolina and found a number of records for Ronald L. Smith, matching the customer’s birth date, which we forwarded to the customer. Our criminal records database offers powerful search features, but like any sophisticated tool, it demands a bit of respect and study before you use it. For more tips, use our Criminal Records Best Practices Guide. For a listing of the jurisdictions covered in each state, go here.

Want to know if they’re Wanted?

noreply@blogger.com (Sean) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 22:06:00 +0000

Ruth, a frequent visitor to our website, wrote to us with an interesting dilemma. She’d recently hired a handyman to fix a few things at her place in Nevada, and was considering him for a much larger job. The man asked to be paid up front, in cash. While the initial work met with Ruth’s satisfaction, her gut told her that she shouldn’t place too much trust in this new handyman.

Ruth knew that the man had recently moved from Arizona and she did a criminal background check on him in that state. The search returned no results. Still, Ruth was suspicious. She’d seen the man snooping around in the bedrooms and his story about his time in Arizona felt shaky to her.

I suggested that she perform a criminal wants & warrants search on the man’s name in Nevada and also in his home state of Arizona. While he may not have convictions on his record, he could have active warrants. That could explain why he moved out of state.

I showed Ruth how to reach our Criminal Wants & Warrants page, which lists several nationwide links, like the one for the FBI Most Wanted and Department of Justice Most Wanted. There is even one for NCIS Most Wanted Fugitives. The real fugitives, not the ones that Mark Harmon tracks down on television.

Also on that directory page are the state categories for wants & warrants databases. Ruth visited the Nevada Wants & Warrants page, but there are only links for the “most wanted” fugitives in that state. Smaller profile fugitives are not listed.

Ruth then tried the Arizona Wants & Warrants page and went to the link for Maricopa County, AZ. They have a handy active warrant search page that allows you to search for warrants by name, or simply click on alphabetical letters to display all active warrants by last name. The letter M has 5249 active warrants alone!

Ruth was not surprised to find that her handyman did have an active warrant. She even used the “tip tool” feature on the Maricopa County database to send in details about the handyman, including his present whereabouts. As it turned out, he never showed up the following week for the big job. Perhaps he was picked up by local authorities and shipped back to Arizona to face the music? I told Ruth to check the active warrant site again in a week or so and see if his name had been removed.

Ruth is now looking for a more qualified handyman. If you can recommend one, let us know.

There Goes the Neighborhood

noreply@blogger.com (Sean) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:14:00 +0000

Another one from our customer service archives…

Dear S.,

Hope you are well. I have another question for you. We are looking to buy a new house. We'd hate to move next door to someone who had barking dog complaints filed against them... or people who were reported for loud music, etc. Any way to research an address and find out more about the neighborhood?

Hi J,

Good luck on the possible new home purchase. A surveil of the neighborhood would be a good move. Do you have a particular house in mind or neighborhood/town/city? You can look in our directory to see if that city's police department posts a "blotter" of incident reports. In big areas like LA and its suburbs, these incident reports are likely to contain only the more dramatic incidents, like burglaries, arrests, etc. But you never know. In more rural areas of the country, where the police have more time to update their websites, and less crime going around, you may find incident reports about noise complaints, altercations, or even runaway goats. Here’s one example of a police incident database, from Little Rock, AR. This site allows you to search by date, address, and incident type.

Pasadena, CA has a daily crime mapping site but I suspect it only reports major crimes. Still, you might want to find that neighborhood on this map and see if it is getting any unwanted "action".

To see if your city has a site like that, click on the United States Free Public Records by State heading on our home page, then select your State. On the state page, you’ll see a link for Cities & Towns. Another way to get to links for your city is to use the “By City and State” search field in our Free Public Records Locator tool menu on the home page.

Once you're looking at a specific home on the market, I might suggest taking a walk around the block at various times of day. Afternoon, after dinner, etc. That will give you much more observations about the street than just driving by. If dogs are a concern, you might want to walk near the house with your own dog (or borrow a friend's). That will get every dog on the street out to the side gates, barking at you. Then you'll know where the loud dogs are, and whether the owners keep them indoors or outdoors. There is a difference between a good guard dog and a yappy nuisance, so take that into consideration.

Another idea, if you're bold enough, is to knock on a few doors and introduce yourself as a potential neighbor. It would take tact though, to ask about noisy residents on the block, as the person you're speaking with might BE the noisy one. One idea is to ask around if the street has a Neighborhood Watch program and find out who runs it. Talk to that person and you'll have a line in to all the gossip in the neighborhood. We have a person like that on our street and she knows all the issues between all the residents.

Professional Licenses

noreply@blogger.com (Sean) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:19:00 +0000

Eddie, a new visitor to the Search Systems website, wrote to us today with a question about Professional Licenses in New Jersey. Eddie is thinking of putting his house on the market but has a few qualms about working with realtors based on his last tumultuous property sale. He wanted to know where he could review real estate licenses to be sure his new realtor was qualified, licensed, and had no black marks on his or her record. Was that information available to the public and could it be found on the Internet?

I told Eddie he was in luck. License information is provided in New Jersey, and in most other states, through free online databases. By using our “By Type of Record” tool in the Free Public Records Locator box on our home page, we selected “Licenses” and then selected “New Jersey” from the list of states on the Professional Licenses page. We scrolled through the many pages of licenses listed there for New Jersey – a total of 113. On Page 3 Eddie found a link for Real Estate licenses and another for Real Estate - Disciplinary Actions.

Eddie was able to verify the licenses for a few potential realtors, and he also checked to be sure they did not have disciplinary actions on file. When Eddie returned to the New Jersey licenses directory page, he discovered many other types of licenses he could verify. Contractors, electricians, home inspectors… even locksmiths and alarm installation companies. He was determined to screen everyone that he might hire to fix up his property prior to the listing.

What’s Vital in Rhode Island

noreply@blogger.com (Sean) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 17:02:00 +0000

Mary called us today in regards to a genealogy project. Mary’s family is largely based in Rhode Island and she is trying to obtain vital records documents from that state. Mary needs death records for a few family members, birth records for a few others, and a couple of marriage license copies and divorce records as well.

First I directed Mary to our main Rhode Island Vital Records page. This page explains where the various vital records are stored. In addition to linking to our directories for births, deaths, and marriages in Rhode Island, the page also lists seven main resources for vital records. For a state as small as Rhode Island, that is a remarkable number of statewide resources for vital records.

The page tells us that the city and town clerk offices are the best places to find vital records, but you need to know the specific city or town where these events occurred. If Mary had that information, she could use our Birth Records directory, Death Records directory, and Marriage Records directory for Rhode Island. Each directory has statewide and local links in those categories.

For a search of older records statewide, we recommend a visit to the Rhode Island Department of Health, where you can find Birth Records since 1899, Death Records since 1949, and Marriage Records since 1899.

Another resource is the Family History Center, run by the Mormon folks at the Church of Latter Day Saints. The Family History Center has all vital records on microfilm from the colonial times to the present except divorce records.

On our Vital Records page, we list an address for the Rhode Island State Archives, where you can research birth, marriage and death records since 1853. Some older records are available there as well.

The Rhode Island Historical Society also offers many vital records from the time period covered by the State Archives, but it also claims to have divorce records as well.

Additionally, for divorces prior to 1962, you can turn to the RI Supreme Court Judicial Records Center. For divorces after 1962, you can research at Family Court in Providence, RI.

With so much information available from so many resources, Mary is sure to discover many interesting facts about her family members.

Day of Judgments

noreply@blogger.com (Sean) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:08:00 +0000

A customer named Dan called us after paying for a $5.00 Bankruptcy, Judgment & Tax Lien search through our Premium service. His search in Nevada brought up a 2010 judgment for the subject “EDWARD L. STEVENS” but it did not return a result for a 2005 judgment that Dan found using another online service.

Dan explained that the 2005 judgment in Clark County, NV against Edward Stevens was for $2,250, and awarded to Players Place, LLC. Dan wanted to know why our system didn’t show this judgment. Ours only showed him the 2010 judgment in the amount of $500, awarded to a medical office. We added that there were actually two questions we needed to answer: 1) Why isn’t the 2005 judgment in our database? and 2) Why isn’t the 2010 judgment in the database of the other service Dan used?

We explained to Dan that both online services he used are third party vendors. Search Systems gets the bankruptcy, judgment and tax lien data from the county courts at regular intervals. To uncover the full truth about both judgments, we should look at the source of these filings – the Clark County Clerk-Recorder’s Office.

Using our free public records directory, we visited the Recorded Documents page for Nevada and clicked on the link for Clark County Recorded Documents. That brought us to a search page, where we input the name of the defendant: “Edward Stevens.” Scrolling through the results, we found both judgments and verified their filings numbers with the results Dan had from his pay searches. As it turned out, the County showed us that the 2005 judgment was satisfied and the 2010 judgment was still open. The reason the 2005 judgment did not appear in our pay database is likely because it was satisfied and the court amended their data upload to us, removing the record from view.

So why did Dan’s first pay search at the other online service not show the satisfaction of the 2005 judgment? Why did that service not show the 2010 judgment at all? As we’re not privy to the details of the other company’s database we can only make an educated guess. We believe their judgment database is outdated and static. If they aren’t receiving regular updates from the sources (the courts), then satisfied judgments are still showing as outstanding. And more recent filings do not appear at all.

By using both the pay search and the free directory at Search Systems, we were able to get the full picture on the debts owed by Edward Stevens. This is a good reminder about how important it is to make sure your sources are giving you current, complete information. Otherwise, you could make the wrong judgment about your research subject.

Criminal Records – The Beast with 12 Heads

noreply@blogger.com (Sean) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:17:00 +0000

The most common misconception about public records is that “Nationwide” criminal record services (even ours) provide access to ALL records in the United States.

The truth is, each jurisdiction, county, and state has different rules and opinions about what records should be accessible, who may access criminal records, and if they will provide the public access at all. In fact, NO ONE has access to all of the criminal records nationwide, aside from the FBI. So unless you have a friend at the Bureau, you must face the beast with 12 heads. One head is the states like Massachusetts, California, and Louisiana that don’t allow the general public to have access to statewide criminal records. Another head is states like New York that do allow statewide access, but only through an expensive New York State service; no one else may provide access to their records. A third head is jurisdictions like Washoe and Clark Counties in Nevada who provide access to their records online for free—but like New York make sure that they’re the only online providers. The list goes on and on. Get the picture?

We helped a customer who was frustrated after paying to access a few reputable online criminal background databases, only to wind up empty handed. He knew the subject of his search had convictions in the state of Michigan, yet his Nationwide search at one service turned up nothing.

It is easy to understand why the customer was frustrated. We had to reveal the truth about the beast with 12 heads. You cannot enter the Gorgon’s lair with eyes averted and slay the beast with one swing of your sword. You have to go after each head until you know you have dispatched them all.

We put on our research helmets and asked the customer for details on his subject. The man with the criminal record – we’ll call him EDDIE SMITH – was born on January 1, 1970. The customer was certain that Eddie served some time in jail, and was convicted of a felony in Genessee County, MI. The customer needed proof, which is why he paid good money for online background searches.

The first thing we did was bring up the Michigan coverage page for our Premium Criminal Record database. Michigan provides us with data from their OTIS system, which is a tracking database of prisoners, parolees, and probationers who have spent time in the Michigan State prison system. We noted that the OTIS system does not include records for persons who spent time in county jail. That is a different system. The Michigan State Department of Corrections runs the state prisons. Each county runs their own jail. This is true for most U.S. States. If Eddie Smith was sentenced to county jail time only, then OTIS would not have records for him.

That was the situation with state prison records. What about county records and county court records?

Genessee County’s 67^th District Court does provide records to outside agencies, but only the misdemeanors. Felonies are not included. This explains why Eddie’s Genessee County felony did not show up.

We assured the customer that paying for a statewide criminal search in Michigan was not a complete waste of time… if Eddie Smith had other types of convictions in Genessee County or other counties in Michigan, the statewide search might have brought those to his attention.

We pointed out to the customer that he could complete his search of Genessee County by using our free criminal records directory, which provides links to databases maintained by the county courts. Using the directory links, he could find other records not included in the statewide databases, like arrest records, jail records, inmate records, etc.

We walked the customer through the steps needed to find those web links on our directory. Starting with our FREE PUBLIC RECORDS LOCATOR tool box on our home page, we asked the customer to use the drop-down menu of the “By Type of Record” tool, where he then selected “Criminal Records.” At the following page, he selected “Michigan Criminal Records” from the list of states. On the Michigan Criminal Records page, we pointed out the link to the Michigan State Police service, where he could pay $10 for an “Official” Michigan criminal history.

Scrolling down further on the page, we found the link to the Genessee County 67^th District Court site, where we ran a free search for Eddie Smith. This court site includes both felonies and misdemeanors… and there we found the record for Smith’s felony conviction, which indicated that state prison time was not required. The customer printed out the details for free.

Feeling empowered now with his free SearchSystems.net membership and newfound knowledge, the customer thanked us and went on to research criminal records for other subjects in his file. There may be 12 heads to this beast, but we provide the weapons to find and strike them down.

A Murder in Texas

noreply@blogger.com (Sean) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 00:50:00 +0000

Today a customer wrote to us, perplexed at the results of his Premium Texas statewide criminal records search. This customer, whom we will call “Frank,” expected to find a number of criminal records for “BOBBIE RAY TATES,” including a notable conviction for the murder of wife CAROLYN TATES in August 2006. Instead, Frank’s search results came back saying “No Records Found.”

We double-checked our criminal record coverage for Texas and confirmed it is one of the best states in which to research criminal records. We have information from almost all of the county courts, and also statewide records from the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which include court records and inmate records. So why didn’t anything for Bobbie Ray Tates turn up? Frank was certain about the murder conviction.

We wondered if Frank was as certain about Tates’ legal name and date of birth. Bobbie could be a nickname for Robert. Birth dates can be transposed by accident. We asked Frank if he knew the county in which this supposed conviction occurred. He believed it was Brazos County, TX.

Again we checked our coverage in Texas and determined that Brazos County contributes records to our Premium database on a monthly basis that include both felony and misdemeanor convictions since 1988.

Using our directory page for Texas Criminal Records, we clicked on a link to Brazos County Inmates. At that county site, we searched the name “Bobbie Tates.” Lo and behold, a list of 10 jail records appeared. Most were overnight jail stays courtesy of Tates’ frequent DWI arrests. The most recent record was a 2-year sentence for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Tates was convicted on August 26, 2006, and according to the jail record, was released on February 25, 2008. Could he be walking around free? Was he not convicted of murder?

Or were we looking at records for the wrong man? The name listed on the jail records was “Bobbie Ray Tates” with the date of birth July 9, 1953. We checked the search query done by Frank on our site. He searched for “Bobbie R. Tates” and used a year-of-birth search, plus or minus 3 years in either direction. The year Frank typed in was 1961, so his search covered 1958 through 1964, and missed 1953.

Or was it still possible that Texas had two convicts with the same name? An online people-search could have given Frank a free preview of all persons named Bobbie R. Tates with address histories in Brazos County, TX… and even given approximate ages for them. We tried the same and discovered – free of charge – that the family of Bobbie and Carolyn Tates in Bryan, Texas (Brazos County) included two persons with the name “Bobbie R. Tates” – one age 57 and another age 36. The younger could be a son, or even a typo. Age 57 sounded about right for a person born in 1953.

Using our Texas Criminal Records page, we clicked on the link for Brazos County Criminal Court Records. We searched “Bobbie Tates” there and got a few additional records that did not appear on the county’s inmate search. We found a November 2006 murder conviction for Bobbie Ray Tates, born July 9, 1953. Now we were certain that we had found the correct record and that the man Frank was searching for was actually born in 1953.

The lesson here: In a state like Texas, you can search the county court sites for free and find records using only a first and last name. On the other hand, if you want to do a single statewide search, you will need to know the correct birth date for the subject. Otherwise, you may be chasing records for the wrong person, or not finding them at all. The criminal records retrieval system presented by the counties and states is far from perfect. A savvy researcher needs to use more than one tool from the drawer.

But this puzzle was not yet complete. We were still curious as to the present whereabouts of Mr. Tates. Was he really released in February 2008 after completing his sentence for the assault conviction? Or was that a primary sentence that became a longer stay once the murder conviction was handed down in November 2006?

Frank used our Texas Criminal Records page to find the link to a database of Texas Death Row Inmates, but Bobbie Ray Tates was not listed among those unfortunate souls. We checked the VineLink website for Texas statewide inmates, but it brought back no results for “Bobbie Tates” or “Robert Tates.” Then we noticed that VineLink’s Texas page has a disclaimer that it does not include records from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). That is a very large omission.

Using our Texas Criminal Records page, we used the link to the TDCJ website search page, where we searched the name “Bobbie Tates.” After a significant wait time from their server, we found the answer to the final question: Tates is presently incarcerated in the Stiles prison facility in Beaumont, TX, doing a 40 year stretch for murder.

If Frank had run his Bobbie Tates Premium search with a 7-year year of birth range that included 1953, he would have found not only the current TDCJ inmate record for Tates, but all of his state, county and local criminal records over the years, including the tragic 2006 murder of his wife.

Searching for someone?

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Koster) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:33:00 +0000

Locating people may be challenging, but it can be easy and fun. Think of it as a puzzle with more than one solution. The trick is in knowing where to start and what steps to follow. Here are some basic tools to help you locate someone:

People Search

The quickest, easiest, and informative place to start is a People Search service. Your People Search report will include (when available) phone numbers, age, birth dates, address history, household members, home value, income, and more.

This is a great starting point to identify the right person and find their most recent address.

However, this alone does not guarantee that the person still resides at the most recently reported address as he or she may have recently moved.

Search using Public Records

Before the Internet became popular the easiest way to find someone was with Directory Assistance. All you had to do was pick up a phone and dial. It still works—though less so each year as more and more people request unlisted or non-published numbers.

No country does a better job of providing easy and inexpensive access to public record information than the United States. The amount of online information available is dizzying. And no web site has done a better job of finding and organizing access to these databases than SearchSystems.net.

We’ve been searching for and building our directory of public record databases since 1996, so feel free to use them to aid you in your search.

Where to start? Here are some suggestions:

The most useful government-held data about citizens is kept at the county level. To find what public record databases are available in your county, go here and click on your state, then click on your county.

Know the name of the city, but not the county? Use the “By City and State” field. Once you start typing the city name it will finish the city and state for you. Then click “Go” to get a list of public record databases available for that city and county.

Or try using the “By Zip Code” field. Type in the zip code, press “Go,” and it will give you the city and county public record databases that are available for that zip code.

Once you find what public record databases are available, check each database to see which ones might be helpful. Here are the ones we find most useful:

1) Property Records

Many counties will still allow you to search by name, as well as by address, or parcel number. Access to name searches is becoming less common though. But if you have an address you can still use it to check to see if the person you’re trying to find still owns it. Or if the county provides owner histories, you can tell from that when that person might have moved. Some areas (such as Virginia and many of the New England states) provide property record information at the local level, so don’t forget to check what’s available for your city as well.

2) Recorded Documents

Recorded Documents are generally considered to be deeds, mortgages, liens (of all sorts), and judgments, but the counties that provide access to them often provide so much more. You can find military discharges, bonds, trusts, child support enforcement, dba’s, power of attorney filings, financing statements, trusts, partnership documents, leases, and wills. Some counties also provide birth, death and marriage certificates, and quite a few will give you copies of the documents online. Try it yourself at the Maricopa County, Arizona Recorder’s database: http://recorder.maricopa.gov/recdocdata/. Or try the Cuyahoga County, Ohio Recorder’s offering found here: http://recorder.cuyahogacounty.us./Searchs/GeneralSearchs.aspx. Compare the two and you’ll find that many of the documents they provide are the same, but each provides additional categories that the other doesn’t offer.

Our SearchSystems.net Directory of public record links includes a category for Recorded Documents, organized by state and county, to help you locate the link to the appropriate clerk-recorder database. Many counties offer searches free of charge (document copies often cost extra).

If your subject owns property, you can verify the ownership and address using the clerk-recorder’s records. If the subject is renting, you may still be able to bring up owner information. Try Directory Assistance to locate a phone number for your subject, or for the property owner. A friendly phone call may provide the next clue in your quest.

More information on how to use recorded document information can be found here: http://publicrecords.searchsystems.net/articles/article-4.htm

3) Voter Registration

Some counties and states offer free websites to verify voter registration. This can help you match a name and address. We have links to these sites in our Voters category on our Directory, organized by state and county. Some states even have a statewide voter registration database, making your search that much faster.

4) Professional Licenses

If you know that your subject is a contractor, accountant, attorney, doctor, security guard, or other licensed professional, you have another tool at your disposal. Many occupations require licensing at the state level. Most states provide free online databases for all types of professions. We have links to these databases in the Licenses category on our Directory. A search here may give you a current home or office address, and possibly a phone number for your subject.

5) Are they Deceased?

The best place to determine if someone has passed away is Social Security Administration Death Records. But they don’t have every death record in the United States. There are a number of reasons why people may not appear in that database. To be thorough, click here to check to see what other death record databases are available in your state.

6) Did they get Married? Divorced?

See if you can find marriage and/or divorce records. If you are searching for a woman by her maiden name and she has recently married, she may be using a new last name. Alternately, a divorced woman may resume using her former last name. Our directory includes categories for marriage and divorce databases. Typically these records are found at the county level.

You can also use Intelius to search for public records in these categories.

7) Relatives, Roommates, Neighbors

Your “People Search” or other research results may include relatives, roommates or neighbors. Most people want to help others reconnect, so a phone call or letter to one of these people might produce the missing link if you have not been successful in locating your subject. Try Directory Assistance if you don’t have a current phone number for a relative or friend. Or try any of the other tools described here.

8) Post Office

You can also put the postal service to work for you. Simply write a letter to your subject at the last-known address and below your return address, write "Address Service Requested.” You may also write it above the delivery address, to the left of or below the postage area.

This instructs the post office to send your envelope BACK TO YOU if the address written on the envelope is no longer current for the subject and they still have a forwarding address. If there is a forwarding address, the Post Office is supposed to put the new address on a sticker, put it on your envelope and return it to you.

The Postal Service does charge a fee for this, which you pay when you receive the new address.
If the post office for that address isn’t far away, you can go there and complete a “Freedom of Information Act Request Form” to obtain the new address.

Without that “Address Forwarding Information Requested” notice, the Post Office simply forwards mail on to the recipient and the sender has no idea it has been redirected to a different address.

For more information from the USPS about this topic, go here: http://www.usps.com/ncsc/addressservices/moveupdate/ace.htm

9) Other Avenues

There are so many more ways to locate people that it’s best to just explore our web site to see what you can find. Try starting here:

Search Public Records by Type of Record

Try searching “Unclaimed Property” if you don’t know where to start as that may give you an old address. Try court and criminal records, business filings (corporations, fictitious business name filings, LLC’s), or Uniform Commercial Code filings. Some cities and counties provide building inspection databases, or even online access to utility information.

There are many more ways that you can find people. Try calling the local moving companies, or check (nicely) with neighbors. If the person you’re looking for lived in a rural area, try the local grocery store or bar (we found someone once who lived in a cave in the Sierra Nevada Mountains—his buddies at the local bar were happy to tell us how to reach him).

Social Networking Sites

Every day more people join social networking sites and post data about themselves. This is becoming a very useful tool to find and connect with people. Below are links to a few of the more popular sites, where you can search for names. Viewing full profiles and sending messages may require registration with these sites.

Don’t forget that many people have created Google “Profiles.” Check there as well.

And keep checking back at SearchSystems.net. We continually hand-search, add (and verify) our links to public record databases daily. We’ll also be adding more helpful guides and additional useful “Premium” databases to make it easier for you to find the information you need.

Free Public Records by Type of Record

noreply@blogger.com (SearchSystems.net) — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:35:00 +0000

SearchSystems.net offers free criminal records, free court records, free public information, property records, deeds, mortgages, professional licenses, warrants, unclaimed property, free birth records, free death records, free marriage records, free divorce records, court records, free vital records, and much more. Click on the categories below to access free public records by type of record.

United States Free Public Records by State

noreply@blogger.com (SearchSystems.net) — Tue, 11 May 2010 00:43:00 +0000

SearchSystems.net free public record service offers the public the chance to get the facts on people or businesses. Researchers can access a directory of criminal record databases, verify contractor and professional licenses, check out corporations, and look up property records and business permits. The site provides access to marriage records and death records, the location of offenders, and much more.

Alabama Public Records

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USING OUR DIRECTORY OF PUBLIC RECORD LINKS

noreply@blogger.com (SearchSystems.net) — Mon, 10 May 2010 22:40:00 +0000

publicrecords.searchsystems.net is designed to make it easy to find public records. We started this project in 1996 and have worked since then to search every national, state, county, local, and international government web site to find just where to go to get the information you need. You can begin your search for public records now by utilizing our up-to-date link database.

Of course you can always use search engines to find online public record information. The problem with using search engines is: 1) you don't know if the information you want is even available online; 2) you may get so many results that it would take hours to sort through all the results to find what you want; and 3) the link you find may not be current.

The information you'll find here is current. We run a program daily that tells us if there are any dead or broken links on the site, and we work each day to find the new links or locate an alternative resource. Once you get to the database you want, you'll find that it's the most current information available, as it is provided by the public entity that gathers it.

The Free Public Records Directory is easy to use. It's organized primarily by geographic location, so if you're looking for free public records in Ohio, use our new search features in the blue box in the center of the page. Use the drop-down menu called "By State" to select Ohio Public Records. Or, scroll down to the directory in the lower half of our home page and click the section titled "United States Free Public Records by State." At the next page, click on "Ohio Free Public Records." The links there are statewide resources. If you're looking for information in a particular city or county, use the links at the top of that page.

You can also Find Free Public Records in Ohio by clicking on the Directory heading "United States Free Public Records By State."

Local records such as property, deeds, mortgages, etc. are usually found at the county level. If you're looking for property in the city of Cleveland, you'll find it in the Cuyahoga County Free Public Records page. From the Ohio page, click on the subcategory "Ohio Counties Free Public Records." At the next page, you can scroll through a list of Ohio County directories and click on "Cuyahoga County."

With our new search features, you can locate the county directories even if you don't know the corresponding county for a city. To do this, use the search field called "By City and State" inside the blue box in the center of the page. Type in "Cleveland, OH" and click GO. The next page will have links to both Cleveland city databases, and the corresponding county databases (Cuyahoga County).

We've also taken the most popular categories of public records and put them into a section of their own called "Free Public Records by Type of Record." So if you're looking for professional licenses in Nevada, go to the free public records directory in the lower half of the page and click on the heading "Free Public Records by Type of Record," then click on "Licenses," then click on "Nevada." Similarly, if you're looking for property records, use the "Type of Record" directory and click on "Property Records," then select a state and you'll be taken to a list of all the property databases that we've located in that state since we started this service in 1996.