Frequently
Asked Questions

The short answer is no. There is no "single point" government sourced or supplied national criminal database available to the general public. 

The closest thing to a national or nationwide "criminal database" is the NCIC (National Criminal Information Center) database maintained by the FBI. This database was established in 1966 to assist law enforcement personnel in state and local jurisdictions in establishing one's identity, possible criminal history and fugitive wants and warrants on a nationwide basis.  

With very few exceptions, non-law enforcement or private individuals or organizations cannot legally access FBI (NCIC) or California Department of Justice (DOJ-CII) criminal records. Some of these exceptions are elder care providers and a very small number of private childcare facilities. 

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However -  as a general rule, these sources are strictly limited to authorized government agencies and law enforcement for law enforcement and authorized government purposes only. 

This will vary greatly depending on jurisdiction. It is a common misunderstanding that court and law enforcement records are limited to 7 years, or that they are one in the same. While it is standard practice that background investigations are limited to a 7-year reporting period; court, DMV and police records extend well beyond that. It is important to understand that courts, police departments and the DMV are entirely separate organizations, each having their own record maintenance procedures. For instance - in Los Angeles County, some court records from as far back as the 1930's are archived and maintained. 

This too can vary from court to court depending upon their record keeping systems, the volume of records maintained and their modernization or lack thereof. Even today, some courts still have not converted their files for computer access or to a centralized and consolidated digital system. Some have done so only recently, and many are still divided into separate systems, i.e.: felony, misdemeanor, criminal traffic, traffic, general civil, limited civil family, probate etc.

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As a general rule most court websites contain only a small percentage of the court's actual records. In the Los Angeles County system, for example, only about 20-25% of the courts actual or available records are accessible this way. 

There are currently 3142 counties, parishes or boroughs nationwide in the U.S. not including U.S. Territories and the Federal Criminal Intake System, each with their own records keeping systems.

Annual Arrests of all types in the U.S. run as high as 15 million per year - 1.5 million arrests in California and 250 thousand in Los Angeles County per year not including criminal citations. 

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The sheer volume of arrests, prosecutions and citations both nationally and locally is overwhelming even for the most up to date and well-staffed court systems. Adding to this, is the impossible task of separating accurate or relevant information from the bulk data "chaff" sold to wholesale data brokers. 

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Further compounding this problem is the fact that court records are not static and are generally exclusive to the originating judicial district. 

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Some courts update their records on a daily, weekly, monthly or bi-yearly basis depending upon their volume, system and staffing. Separating true names from alias, final dispositions, filed cases, unfiled cases, convictions, dismissed cases, purged, archived etc. is an impossible task even with the latest advancements in technology and computers.

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The limited amount of information courts routinely sell to internet data brokers regularly draw from these sources and is rarely updated, verified or vetted for accuracy. 

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Internet "background checks" are not a reliable option and never used by competent firms or government agencies. 

The basis for all background investigation begins with the subject's full name. However, this is rarely enough to positively identify a subject. Married names, maiden names, aliases and common names are all part of the equation. In order to separate these factors and positively identify the subject of the investigations, "secondary" identifiers are employed. These include, in order: date of birth, driver's license number and in some cases SSN.

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While names can and do change, birth dates, driver's license numbers and social security numbers won't A combination of secondary identifiers matched to a full name will eliminate any possibility of misidentification of a subject and consequent records.

Typically, most background investigations will include a criminal and civil records check., a driver or motor vehicle history, verification of the SSN or work permits, work comp history, prior employment and education verification, applicable professional licenses and certificates, web site and social media searches, sex offender registry and often much more.

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Criminal records are broken down to felony cases, misdemeanor cases, infractions, traffic matters, criminal traffic matters, exonerated cases, dismissed cases, reduced cases, purged cases etc.

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The key is examining each case on an individual basis and determining its validity disposition and relevance to the investigator.

Civil cases are usually categorized as genera and limited civil, small claims, probate, family etc. These present a greater challenger to the investigator, as they are filed by name only with no secondary identifiers. In case of common names, the true subject of a civil matter may remain uncertain.

However, depending upon the client's needs and budgetary concerns, each investigation can be all-inclusive investigations, or tailored to include only portions of the investigation of primary concern or interest to the client for any given employment level, i.e. criminal only, drivingly only etc.  

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It is important to consider all of these factors before conducting a pre-employment investigation, as labor statistics show that employers lose 72% of all negligent hiring claims, settle over 80% of all sexual harassment claims and find that 1 in 5 applicants have an identifiable criminal history or other disqualifying factor that would have prevented employment from the outset.

Legaly discloable information can vary by state and jurisdiction as provided by the law. As a gneral rule, most background investigations will unclude all discolable information for the preceding 7 year period. 

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In some cases, however, DMV or motor vehicle records and allowable consumer credit histories may contain information dating back further. In many instances the DMV will report DUI and other serious convictions for 10 years or more. 

We don't reach conclusions, we just provide the data.

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FBI UCR (Uniform Crime Report) data indicates that over 92% of all arrest and prosecutions occur in the subject's current or past jurisdictions of residence, employment or education. Of the remaining 8%, nearly 95% of these arrests take place in an immediately adjacent jurisdiction.

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Starting with all known and identifiable current and past jurisdictions and beginning at the county level and expanding the investigation from there is the gold standard for all background investigations.

Datafax Investigations has been in continuous operation since 1980 specializing in pre-employment and pre-placement investigations, at a time when background investigations were generally limited to law enforcement agencies and a few large corporations. At that time, a typical background investigation consisted of little more than verifying past employment or contacting personal references.

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Access to reliable court, police, MV and other pertinent information was considered to be too difficult, time consuming or expensive for most employers.

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Datafax Investigations follows law enforcement and government protocols more closely than any other agency when it comes to conducting background investigations. Our client base includes small business operations, Fortune 500 companies, private parties and individuals, as well as law enforcement and other government agencies.