Today, many people have been learning that criminal records are public and therefore can be easily accessed through the internet as a main source of searching. There are many different reasons to consider searching for criminal records. The main reason for criminal record searches today is based on more and more offenses that get closer to home. Whether you are worried about a new neighbour, a new nanny or people within your place of business or school, you can search through criminal records and background checks online to find out the truth.

There are several ways to go about searching for criminal records online: the free option or a paid membership through a 3rd party website.

If you have chosen to first conduct a free criminal search, what you can do is type in the full name of the person in question into a search engine such as Google or Yahoo. The more information you know about the person the better. For instance, if you know their phone number or birth date this can help narrow down the search and therefore increase your odds of finding the right person. By putting quotes around the text in the search box you are limiting your search yet again. Yes, it should be admitted that this can be a very time consuming process and there is no real way to know if you will find the results you are looking for.

There are literally hundreds of websites online today who have created databases of millions and millions of criminal records for you to search. Often these websites offer “unlimited searches” after you pay a fixed fee of around $30 for the average site. This will give you access to court records, jail records, offense records, indictments and felonies. There are some records websites that are not legitimate, it is important to check them out thoroughly before paying for your membership.

If you are not happy going through a third party website such as these, you can go directly to the National Sex Offender Registry to search through for criminal records of this nature. However the only way to search through other criminal records is to visit these 3rd party databases. Many people will tell you that the fee is more than worth it. With millions of records in one database your odds of finding the person you are looking for greatly increase.

There is one real reason to look for criminal records and that is for safety. Everyone wants to ensure that their loved ones are safe and even the slightest threat should be investigated thoroughly. Since there is nothing the police can do, why not check out their criminal records or if they have a criminal record. This can either put your mind at ease or at least increase your knowledge about the person. There is no reason to be in the dark about this information when it is open for the public to view.