Did you know that traffic tickets, arrest records, court dockets, marriage and divorce paperwork, professional licensing information and much more is all considered public record?
Up until quite recently, if you wanted to review public records, it required significant amounts of free time and patience. You would have to go down to the county courthouse, put in a formal request, go back home and wait for a county clerk to dig through a warehouse of files in order to find the information you requested. Retrieving information about someone was such a cumbersome process, it really wasn’t worth it. . . until now.
New breakthroughs in technology, and recent mandates requiring courts to make their records available electronically, are providing people with more and more ways to access valuable information about the folks in their lives. With new innovations in the field of data aggregating, online line background checks offer anyone complete access to public data—instantly. But who should you start background checking first?
1) Your Significant Other
Everyone is a little curious about their boyfriend/girlfriend’s past. It’s completely normal. Instead of rocking the boat and making waves in your relationship, just run a background check on them. It’s a great way to discreetly discover all the information you’ve been dying to know, but were too scared to ask. Find out if the one you love has ever been married, or see just how crazy the good old college days were by reviewing possible arrest records. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but fortunately, it’s harmless to humans!
2) Your Parents
You have no idea how satisfying it is to background check your mom and find out that she was arrested back in the 70s! Parents were young, crazy kids once too, and you never know what they might have been up to before you came along. It might lead to a lively conversation at the upcoming holiday dinner parties!
3) Yourself
It’s not vain, it’s normal! It’s important to check yourself out in order to know what your background check looks like to other people. It can be a fun, informative way to discover interesting demographic data derived from the census about the area you live in, and is a great way to stay safe by using the background check site’s sex offender locator to find out if there are possible sex offenders in your area. Background checking yourself is a great way to stay safe and informed.
4) Your Neighbors
Does the new guy next door seem a little shifty? All you need to run an online background check on someone is their first and last name. Find out if the folks you share a fence with have a criminal history. It may be the difference between that brand new grill you just bought being stolen, or staying safely locked in the garage. We all want to be close with our neighbors, but it’s important to think about the safety of your family and investigate the people in your community more closely before you invite them over for Christmas dinner.
5) Your Friends
Premium online background check sites will allow you to sign up for a subscription, instead of charging you for each report. This gives you unfettered access to public data and allows you to run an unlimited number of background checks on people. So why not check out your buddies? You’d be surprised at how many of your friends probably have criminal records, from that drunk in public debacle from college, to the accidental Vegas marriage they never told you about. You never know what your buddies might be hiding. Have fun discovering the dirt on your besties!
Kristen Bright is a copywriter for the popular online background check company, Instant Checkmate. Vist the website, and check out our blog to discover more reasons why you should background check the people in your life.