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It is now possible for any person to run criminal background checks. But how can you be certain that the results will be accurate and complete? For this, the checks must be performed correctly and effectively. Whether you plan to hire a professional service or to do the work yourself, you have to ensure that the following requirements will be fully met for getting the results which you require.
Accurate Search Information
In order for criminal background checks to be effective and efficient as well, the search must be based on as thorough and accurate personal information as possible. When you run a check on a particular person, it is best to use not only his first name and family name, but also his middle name. This will help to narrow down the search immensely, especially if he has a commonly found name.
You will benefit from using details on the person’s past whereabouts for performing the check. This will allow you to narrow down your search even further. You will not have to search national databases, but only regional ones. Still, if you do not have completely accurate information on where the person has lived and worked before, you may go through the national records just to be on the safe side.
Thorough Source Search
As long as all sources of official information are used, the criminal background checks will be completely effective. These include court records and the records kept by law enforcement agencies and other authorities. Any offender registries must be checked as well. This is helpful because these are easier and faster to search. If you find valuable information in these registries, you can use it for searching all other public records even more effectively.
The check which you perform on any particular person must cover his entire life. This is a simple yet important rule. You would not want to miss any criminal offences from adolescence.
It is best if you watch out not only for criminal sentences, but also for civil judgements against the person’s name. This will give you an even better idea about his honesty and trustworthiness. In general, the more details you can get about the person’s past the better. You may consider checking marriage and divorce records too, especially if they are easily accessible.
Finally, if some of the information which you find while performing criminal background checks is inconsistent or you have doubts about its accuracy, you should not hesitate to dig down further and to run cross references. You can make enquiries to the respective authorities responsible for the databases.