Public Records? Public Data?

[David Whatley]

I have a need to find out some information on someone and wondered if you have used publicdata.com or a similar service? Any recommendations? I would like to know as much as possible, such as, Divorce's, convictions, etc?
TIA

[KdLaneJr]

PM SteelSun

[ggeen]

A buddy of mine used publicrecords.com. He highly recommended them. You will get a lot of information including current and last known residence, aliases, any judgements, and any convictions. Sometimes includes marriages and divorces.

I've considered using publicrecords.com too. Just dated one too many married women. Oh, I'm divorced. Yeh right, show me the papers babe. </sarcasm>

[Steelsun]

I do this for a living (being a licensed professional Private Investigator).

I can say the following, honestly and without hesitation
No online database is gonna be anywhere near 100%
No $39.95 background is worth it
A good background on someone cannot be easily or quickly done by computer.
There is no magic database or site that gives you all the info (no matter what TV shows make it seem).

There are alot of facets involved in a background, such as knowing where to look, what info you have to start with, etc.

Publicdata.com is OK. Heck I use it as an extra bit of "let's see", but the info on there, particularly the criminal checks is very often erroneous. (Haven't checked lately, but a few years back even Resindo Ramirez - aka the railcar killer who was sentenced to death in Texas - was not even listed).

As a quick and simple check do this:
1) You need the person's full name and birthday. If you don't have it, try something like Publicdata.com and see if you can develop it from the driver license records.
2) Develop a list of previous addresses/locations for the person (a site like intellius.com might help)
3) Determine from those addresses which Counties the person has lived in.
4) Check those counties' courts for records (in Texas, each county has a County Court and a District Court, each need to be checked to be thorough, and each one has a criminal court and a civil court. So that is 4 courts per county. Also don't forget the Federal Criminal, Civil & Bankruptcy Courts - but these usually cover several counties).
The county checks may be possible online, some are some are not.
Usually you need to visit the courthouse(s) and do the checks there - criminal checks are by name and birthday, civil by name only (and if the person has a common name, might require going through tons of files to see if it is the right person).
As an example, Tarrant County only has one court online, the plain County Court (CCL) at https://odyssey.tarrantcounty.com/default.aspx
To search the district court for Tarrant, you would have to visit the courthouse (District cases are more serious than county cases).
Federal courts are also searched at the Federal courthouse or online if you are signed up to the Federal database (PACER).

All this would be a basic start for a simple check. More advanced work may include checking several databases that record some criminal records from all over the country (but not truly Nationwide - there is NO such thing, even the FBIs NCIC is lacking, and illegal to check unless it is law enforcement for a LE case). Or checking other counties that were not indicated in the original checks but developed through other info (databases, records, interviews, etc).

Then there are things that appear in other court places beside the civil & criminal courts - like Tax Liens, etc.

Some things you will NOT get without the subject's permission (because it is illegal) is credit records/checks, medical records, IRS records, or driving history.

[David Whatley]

Thanks Brian. I did a publicdata and not much came back at all. What I do have now is full name, DOB, address and DL#. I am mostly interested in any criminal record and marriage records. I guess its off to the county courthouse for me,.