Most often when people think of the term “Public Records” they think of what can be found at the local court house or municipal administration building. While this is true, public records are not just created by government institutions for legal use. 

The Most Common Use Of Public Records

Many people think that there are only a few ways to make use of public records; but with everything from court information to the telephone directory being in this category, this information can be used for many purposes. 

• Genealogy searches
• Background information
• Legal searches
• Information searches
• Location search

The Different Public Records Available

There are so many different types of public records available today. Most often we have these records available to use and don’t even realize it.  Here are a few of the many types of information and where they are..

• Property records – this recorded information is available from any county assessors office.
• Tax records – these you can easily get from the local tax office and will most often concern property taxes and assessment values, as well as taxes owed and by whom.
• Criminal records – most criminal records are made public and are available both online and from court records.
• Business listings – these are most often public records made available by the local chamber of commerce or through the phone directory.
• Birth and Death records – most often used by genealogists or someone looking up family history.
• Marriage records – also used by someone involved in family research or past history.
• Court reports – these public records are available from many offices within the various courts and also online.
• Municipal meetings – records of public meetings are often kept at municipal offices and while often free, there will usually be a charge for duplication or printing.
• Telephone directories – this is a type of public information which lists almost any person who has a land based telephone as well as their town of residence and sometimes the street address.
• Census reports – these records are free and more often online. These public records show the number of people in a region, their occupation, their income level, ethnic background, and other information.

In the modern world, most of the information contained in the category of information recorded and made public can be found both in physical form and online. Payments for information are usually involved when you want someone else to do the searching for you, or you need a great amount of information in a short time.

Search Public Records Here

Today there are laws that allow public criminal records to be available for general information. This allows individuals in the community to know what sex offenders are living in their neighborhoods, what the crime rate is in their area, and more.

Vital Information

For individuals who are contemplating moving to a new area, or who have been in a changing neighborhood, there is now the ability to simply type in a zip code and a list of all the sex offenders in that area to come up. There are usually maps that show precisely where the sex offender lives. These precautions allow individuals to take precautions, especially if they are women or children. 

It also shows what the individual was incarcerated for, so that it can be further determined what the risk factors are. For instance, young men who were convicted of statutory rape when they were eighteen and their girlfriends were not yet of age after the parents found out they were having sex is one end of the spectrum, whereas a serial rapist is at the other end.

The FBI an ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) Most Wanted are other public criminal records that are available. These records show the criminals that are still on the loose so that individuals can possibly recognize them and help to bring them to justice. The Drug Enforcement Administration’s fugitives are also available for the public’s viewing and help. Most wanted terrorists, especially in this day and age, are also available for the security of this country.

In addition to these lists, there is also a search for federal prison inmates, both past and present in public criminal records. Besides specific individuals who are in the system for crime, there is also an organized crime and crime statistics site that gives more general information about different communities. Help for victims is also available, such as the search for missing and exploited children, in which individuals can help to identify these children, as well as for parents who are missing their children.

Finally, there are other listings of most wanted individuals in public criminal records by different crime fighting organizations, some of which are not normally though to be a crime fighting organization. US Customs Service, US Marshall’s, and US Secret Service (Treasury Department) are more commonly thought to have a most wanted list for fugitives. The US Postal Service, those who serve in both rain and shine, also has a most wanted list of fugitives.

Search Criminal Records Here

There are infinite reasons why an individual may wish to access free public records. You can access free public records to see how much money your local government has spent this year and discover more about what new laws have recently been passed. You can trace your family tree by looking at birth, death, marriage and divorce records. It is also possible to conduct a criminal background check on another person or see if they have ever declared bankruptcy. You can even access free public records to find out more about the value of real estate in your municipality or any other neighborhood within the United States. There are all kinds of public records that anybody can examine if they have a reason for wishing to do so

Some Websites Charge For Their Services

Some websites that have a database of public records do charge a modest fee for the use of their services. Others will do a basic search for free but will charge a few dollars for further data such as a background check. Therefore if you are using the internet to find information be aware that many of the sites that claim you can access free public records are not always totally without charge. Nevertheless it is actually possible to access completely free public records, but only if you know where and how to look for them.

Find What You Need Without Paying

You can often access free public records simply by using an online search engine such as Google, which has a immense database. If, for example, you wanted to find out more about a particular individual you could try searching for their name in quotation marks and see what kind of results you get. Alternatively you could visit the United States Vital Records Information website or check out the FirstGov database, which has an extensive collection of public records from local, state and national levels of government.

If you are unable to find what you are looking for online you also have the option of contacting the nearest public office to your home by phone or email. However, using this method can actually be rather time consuming so it is probably worth paying the small fee many public records websites charge instead of going through all that hassle.

 Click Here To Visit One Of The Best Public Records Websites

Vital Information

For individuals who are contemplating moving to a new area, or who have been in a changing neighborhood, there is now the ability to simply type in a zip code and a list of all the sex offenders in that area to come up. There are usually maps that show precisely where the sex offender lives. These precautions allow individuals to take precautions, especially if they are women or children. It also shows what the individual was incarcerated for, so that it can be further determined what the risk factors are. For instance, young men who were convicted of statutory rape when they were eighteen and their girlfriends were not yet of age after the parents found out they were having sex is one end of the spectrum, whereas a serial rapist is at the other end.

The FBI an ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) Most Wanted are other public criminal records that are available. These records show the criminals that are still on the loose so that individuals can possibly recognize them and help to bring them to justice. The Drug Enforcement Administration’s fugitives are also available for the public’s viewing and help. Most wanted terrorists, especially in this day and age, are also available for the security of this country.

In addition to these lists, there is also a search for federal prison inmates, both past and present in public criminal records. Besides specific individuals who are in the system for crime, there is also an organized crime and crime statistics site that gives more general information about different communities. Help for victims is also available, such as the search for missing and exploited children, in which individuals can help to identify these children, as well as for parents who are missing their children.

Finally, there are other listings of most wanted individuals in public criminal records by different crime fighting organizations, some of which are not normally though to be a crime fighting organization. US Customs Service, US Marshall’s, and US Secret Service (Treasury Department) are more commonly thought to have a most wanted list for fugitives. The US Postal Service, those who serve in both rain and shine, also has a most wanted list of fugitives.

• Birth certificates
• Driver’s licenses
• Marriage certificates

Other than this information, searching public records is rather simple. The following sites are the easiest and the most commonly used.

Google And Yahoo

These are public search engines which provide the ability to search for public records for free. These are also two of the worlds largest databases of information. Each offers Reverse Lookup, Phone listings, and other relevant search aids.

United States Vital Records

This is a government run website which offers vital public records searchable links to every state office you may need. The site explains how to obtain the vital records for each county or territory of the United States. You can search the following public records at this site:

• Birth Certificates
• Death Records
• Marriage Licenses
• Divorce Decrees

First Gov

This is the federal government’s huge searchable database of public records. This site also has access to many local searchable public records databases. Any agency which handles public records in the United States can be found someplace within this site if you take the time to look for them.

DirectGov

This is the British version of the government searchable public records database. As with the United States site, this site lists any agency which handles public records and information. This is also a free public records search.

Census Finder

This is a free public records search for the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. This is one of the most used government sites for genealogy researchers. There are many census records which have been transcribed online. It will take time to search through public records on this site with the thousands of files in the database. This site covers all of the following:

• Census indexes
• Census transcriptions
• Census images
• Census categories and charts

Zabasearch

This last resource for searchable public records scours all freely accessible information and public records. This is a free service for the basic information, but if you want more detailed information like a background check, there is a fee for this service.