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Using The Web
This
will give you some insider tips that investigators use to find
people
or to find
out as much information about a person as possible. Oddly
enough I wrote this article for wiki how, but they have not
credited me for any of the content.
STEPS:
- Information - First, decide what it is you need to find out
about a person. Common information obtained from public records
can include simple things such as name, address and phone
numbers. In addition, birth, death, marriage & divorce records
and criminal, court, sex offender registries can be searched in
some areas. Licenses, property information and a number of other
records are kept by the government and certain organizations.
- Location - Find out what state, country, city, etc. you
believe have records on the person of interest.
- Free Searches First - Try whitepages and/or 411 for your
basic information like phone numbers or address. Most of the
information found at
411.com is free. For a paid
service use
DigitsDetective to perform a
reverse phone search and find out if any records exist.
- You may have to pay to see the results, but if a record
comes up, at least you know the data is available.
- Government Pages - Visit
USASearch to search 30 million
government pages. This won't give you access to private records,
however it will help you find the agency with the data you are
looking for. (e.g. If you want to find sex offender information
about someone from Arizona for example, you should arrive at
this page
Arizona Offenders and you will
find that there a lot of specifc information about registered
offenders upon conducting a search.
- A web site called
SearchSystems is probably
the best source for public records and online registries and
databases.
- Let's say you want to find driver's information in
California. You should visit
California DMV where there is a
request for records form. In this case you will notice a mere $5
fee to apply to search
The National Driver Register,
which is is a computerized database of information about drivers
who have had their licenses revoked or suspended, or who have
been convicted of serious traffic violations such as driving
while impaired by alcohol or drugs.
- If you live in Ontario, Canada, check out this page
Ontario Portal you can literally buy copy of car
accident reports and license history searches for $12.00. Each
state or province (especially in North America) has government
web sites with these types of records.
- For more driving record information, try
OnlineDMV.
TIPS
- Most records are held at the state or provincial level.
Each state has different levels of access for different
records. Try using a search engine to type "*State Name*
*Record Type* Record Search" (e.g. "California Birth Records
Search")
- Try searching each database using only last name (if it
is not a common one like Smith)
- Searching through public records can cost a lot of money. You
can also hire and investigator, which is probably better
suited to do the job, but that will probably cost you even
more.
- Most local police departments have records available for
viewing. However, most of them are not available online.
State and federal governments usually have records search
available online.
-
Ancestry.com has many genealogy databases that can be
searched through.
- There are many sites that have a membership and give you
direct access to many searches or databases.
DetectiveData
- Don't give up your search just yet. Write a list of all
the important things you do know about the person and then
what you don't know. Try to make a checklist, or in other
words, create a dossier on the person so you have ample
information on the individual.
WARNINGS
- When legal matters are at hand, leave the authorities
and law enforcement to take care of it.
- WHAT YOU KNOW CAN HURT YOU! Be warned finding out
certain things about people can be really scary and can
create a lot of trouble.
- Be careful when signing up for a so called "detective
sites" they can cost money up front then even more later on
as each search can cost you more any more.
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