A public criminal record search has become increasingly simple all through the past few years, mainly simple since in this area 2008. Advances in computing power, database efficiency, and information sharing web technology made a synergism of sorts, making public records checks virtually instant. The number of websites offering these services is staggering, and the information those websites allow access to includes numbers in excess of 300 million Criminal records alone. Additional, this number can only be expected to grow between the hard times upon us, and America’s ever increasing appetite for feeling secure.
Just to place this in perspective, allow me to impart a small personal history in regard to the growth of the public record search industry. All through the cycle leading up to and for a link years after the actions of 9-11, I worked with a series of contractors doing airport maintenance projects in both the public and military sectors. Prior to 2001, we as contractors and employees who were to have access to secure areas submitted a stack of paper and references for our criminal and social class information checks. Quite honestly, I recall that though it was all taken very seriously, the responsibilities of research and verification were handed off to a row of office workers with access to what must have been some of the leading phone bills of that time. In small, what information that was available on-line was expensive and full of holes, and seemed borderline primitive compared to what was to come in the next few years.
By 2003 and 2004, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and America’s and much of the World’s policy and resource were thrown at the now top-of-mind desire to know who was the person next to you, and what social class did they have. By the Summer of 2004, the stack of paper and references had shrunk, as had the size of the office staff to process social class checks. What once took two to three weeks when checking a social class, could be accomplished for a fee with a few keystrokes, and to a degree of accuracy that establish many an applicant in the follow-up stack, with a personal interview and explanation of something as simple as a one month discrepancy in address history two or three years prior. Quick forward to 2008-2009, and we have access in minutes to a nationwide criminal social class check on virtually anyone, from anywhere, in this area nearly anything that they have done that could be considered Public Record.
For example, just one supplier of these searches boasts they have handled Criminal records searches for over 500,000 customers in the last two years searching a database of over 300 million records. All that is needed are a Paypal or charge card, and a first and last name to start the search. The more information that can be provided, the tighter the search results, but it all happens in seconds and minutes now. And just as a side note, that 500,000 customers doesn’t count the 20 or so additional search categories they offer not related to criminal records.
So who are all these customers doing the searches? Nearly anyone with a security interest of any kind could be included. Security for one’s family or finances when hiring domestic help or contractors use these services. Even the dating world has caught on to check out that new flame, or as part of the marriage screening process. Employers who must be bonded or need bond-able employees, commercial drivers, people who handle hazmat under license, teachers, landlords, all of these groups and more are learning just how simple it is to limit risk and exposure that can come with a criminal social class.
The thought and process of a public criminal record search has come a long way in a few small years, and appears to be here to stay. With an Internet connection, a few dollars, and some basic information, a public criminal record search is simple.
