Yahoo News (AFP, 29th February 2008) just reported the gravest incarceration numbers ever in the US. More than one in 100 US adults are behind bars, 2.3 million in absolute count, outnumbering even China which has a far larger population. In certain statistical sections, it's even worse. For example, one in nine African American men aged between 20 and 34 are held in cells. What's worse is that studies have shown that a high percentage of those behind bars are prone to return to crimes upon their release. We simply cannot be over-careful with people these days.

Of course, public measures are in place to tackle the problem of crimes but ultimately, the onus is still back on us to safeguard our own interests and loved ones. Different people deal with it differently. Some are even indifferent to it till too late. For those who are aware of how bad the rot is, there is fortunately a very practical and handy precautionary measure available to at least mitigate the threat, and it can even be done free of charge. Yes, check the police records every time we are unsure about anyone for free.

Public police records keep tabs of all police activities good, bad and ugly, not least in regard to those who end up in enforced custody. They can give a pretty good idea about anyone especially if the search on the individual finds existence of records. By conducting a police record search on someone, we can obtain more than just criminal information pertaining to the subject. Traffic violations, accidents, permits, emergencies, other incidents and so forth would all be unveiled.

Police records are basically free public records. However, there are variations in their treatment among the different state and county jurisdictions. Some are easy-going with them and some are tight although they are all technically public, with some requiring certain forms of consent, signatures or even fingerprints for release of information. That said, it must be noted that the use of free police record information is restrictive by law and can result in police action in itself if flouted.

Nowadays, it is quite convenient to retrieve public police records online. Many police departments run their own independent websites which are open to public use. However, it can be a bit of a challenge to assemble something from the records and reports of various different police departments. They are generally not standardized and some are even disparate in format and content. That's why paid version of online police records is also becoming popular with people going for no-fuss and ready-made answers. Many good record providers can be found on the web, it's easier to find one to do the work for us than to find all the records our self.