Public criminal records can be accessed by any citizen without needing any government authorization. These are public records that can be obtained via the internet that runs on a fee-based system. We will take a look further into the whole world of criminal records to understand more for our work either as a private individual or investigative personnel.

A little bit of background on US public records. Basically, public records include government business contracts, birth and death, marriage and divorce, court, property, tax, driving, residential, phone number, occupational, meeting minutes, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records and more. These used to be archived in microfilm, or filed in folders. However, as time passes, these records including public investigative records are made available online over the past decade.

There are different record categories. While we are able to access public criminal records, state criminal records are not available in most instances since they are often kept in state depositories. Non-public records are held largely by the government. These are available only to agencies and criminal law firms with statutory clearance.

When talking about public criminal records, we meant records like victim and witness statements and other sensitive criminal information. Given the nature of such information, information of witness identities is often hidden from public eye and not revealed or placed in public online records in order to protect them.

Government agencies and courts therefore are selective in granting access rights to private individuals that can be accessed via online portals. Even government agencies enforce strict regulations on the use of such public records for investigative work or public reporting. Often, they are required to adhere to a confidentiality agreement not to publish the full details pertaining to the identities of the persons involved.

All these public criminal records can be accessed now easily from online public record portals for a low fee. Be sure to always check the terms of reference on each portal to ensure that you are not breaching any conditions or the law. There are a dozen of such services online. Find out from my blog instantly which are the most popular search portals for public criminal records among private investigators, law enforcement officers and law professionals.