When most people hear the phrase free public records search, their first thoughts will likely be related to court and prison records. They are the most important and vital information that public institutions collect, store and sometimes publish for free on the Internet. Unsurprisingly, most of the public discussion about public records searches is concentrated in the courts. However, there is much more to public records than court decisions and our personal information. Anything you need to learn about the acts and omissions of any public institution or virtually anyone living in the United States is probably already openly published and available to you, if you only know where and how to find it.
The governments of US public institutions store an incredible amount of information about their decisions and US citizens. Most public records are now open to the public. As the popularity of the Internet grows, in many cases the information you are looking for is available online. The government hides little from us. Finding the information we need is the hard part.
Of course, there are several paid sites that offer public records searches based on databases purchased from courts or governments. Using them is an efficient, but rather expensive, way of searching public records. Anyone willing to do a free public records search needs a roadmap on how to do it or risk hours of days surfing the internet looking for specific information.
There are a few ways to conduct a free public records search. First, you can try using Google. Since this search engine hosts virtually every WWW page on the Internet, it’s very likely that you’ll find what you’re looking for just by typing the phrase into Google. One tip: try to use long sentences, in “” (exact form) if applicable; this will greatly increase the chance of finding what you are looking for. Also, take a look at the second and third page of results; you will often find the right website there.
Google, however, is not a perfect tool for that task. For one, they cannot access restricted databases or documents that will be sent to you only on request. A much more efficient method, although slightly more time consuming, is to find the website of an exact institution responsible for the registry that you need to access. An invaluable tool for that is USA.gov, an official government website as well as a large catalog and search engine focused on all things related to US government agencies. A word of advice: you’ll need to know which institution may be responsible for the information you seek. USA.gov is a great place to find the answer if you only know which agency is responsible for it. For example, you can’t find out anyone’s criminal record on USA.gov, but the site can take you to the correct court’s website. A free public records search will take some time, since you’ll probably have to visit dozens of different websites, but USA.gov will be very supportive in that task.
Finally, you can try using paid, not free, public record search engines like Pretrieve by using them in a free/trial mode. Many of the paid public records databases give you information for free first and ask for a fee only later when you want more detailed information. In some cases, even these few pieces may be enough for your needs.
Whatever you need for a free public records search, don’t be surprised if some information, especially personal data, won’t be available. It’s an effect of a wave of identity theft: Most courts and government agencies don’t provide some kinds of data about people. Information such as a social security number, minor run-ins with the law, charges against a person, or a current phone number often remains unpublished on the Internet.