There are many reasons why you might need or want to check records online. You want to feel safer meeting someone from a dating site, you’re suspicious of a new neighbor, or there’s something off about your new coworker. The list is quite extensive. Likewise, there are many ways to perform a record search. This article aims to provide comprehensive information about your options.
BRB Search
The BRB is a free online database to find public record resources. You can search your city, state, county, or zip code. You can also run a federal search.
Background Check Report
You can request a background check report from a provider like check people. This will make a lot of information available, including any of the following: phone numbers, physical addresses, email addresses, properties owned, family members, businesses, bankruptcies, professional licenses, criminal history, civil judgments, and even sexual offenses. The service provider checks millions of public records and information from social media to offer additional information.
The Concept of Factual Research
Factual research, which is what we do when we search public records for additional information, can be interesting yet daunting all at once. It is not the same as legal research in a legal environment. It’s important to have a solid grasp of the facts of the circumstances before you can know what law governs them.
Factual research might involve doing due diligence research into future business transactions, partners, or clients. You may need to find out more about certain people or identify or locate them. At its most basic, factual research will involve verifying information you received and/or filling in knowledge gaps.
Finally, you might want to see if a business or natural person has assets for whatever reason, including if you’re suing them.
This type of research is needed in each one of the above situations.
When is a Public Record Search Near Impossible?
While it’s true that the term “public record” means you’re researching publicly available data, there are some things that “public” does not mean. It does not always mean “free,” “easy to get,” or “available online.” This kind of research can be extremely difficult to carry out because of the sheer multitude of public records out there. What’s more, their number is growing exponentially.
Under privacy laws, not all information can be made available to the public. Choosing the right service, department, agency, database, or search tool can help make sure you’re looking in all the right places. This will save you lots of frustration, money, and time.
You can search many databases for free, but you’ll get very basic information that way. Most will either want you to subscribe or pay a one-time fee to get more detailed information. A lot of records aren’t publicly available online, especially those predating the digital age.
You might need to call the office or agency maintaining them or even pay it a personal visit. Each US state and county can differ in how they define “public” and what’s made available online. Having reasonable expectations is essential to your outcomes.
That said, here are some other ways to perform a record search online.
The website Search Systems can help you find property, criminal, death, marriage, court, birth, deeds, mortgages, divorce records, licenses, and other resources for free, easily, and fast. It searches tens of thousands of databases by location and type to do this.
If you need information about assets, people, and businesses, KnowX is one good place to begin looking. The platform can help you find important relationships between these and other aspects. You use public records available nationwide and generated though official sources to run a background check on a company, examine property value, locate assets, and more.
Data Universe gets information from the Asbury Park Press. Different databases are linked by category. You can go to dmv.org to access reliable public records.
Observing Privacy Laws
People’s personal data is protected by a number of statutes. One example is the Drivers Privacy Protection Act (DPPA). The statute bars third parties from accessing all kinds of data. The DPPA limits personal data disclosure to that gathered by state DMVs. There are some exceptions. Law enforcement officials, companies requiring driver’s license certification, and others are allowed to access this data for different purposes.
