Online Tools Can Help Make the Process Easier

Criminal background checks are becoming more necessary than ever. According to the U.S. Justice Department, an estimated 4.3 million violent crimes, 15.6 million property crimes, and 133,000 personal thefts were committed against U.S. last year. With more than one in thirty-seven people having served in prison in the U.S., businesses must take precautions to ensure that they are employing and conducting business with people of integrity. While various county, state, and federal databases contain information pertaining to background checks, using them can be time consuming and inefficient. Thus, using an online resource to assist with the task of a criminal check is often a cost effective and time saving way to perform them.

Criminal background checks can be employed for a variety of purposes - employment, real estate rentals, business transactions, law enforcement, gun ownership, and sex offender background checks, to name a few. Criminal checks also frequently become part of a broader, more comprehensive profile that includes employment and background history information, background investigations for department of motor vehicle history, credit reporting, drug screening, and other aspects of an individual's background.

In today's increasingly transient society where people are moving substantially more than they used to, it becomes increasingly important to be able to check a person's past based on their prior residences. Doing so can be difficult, because public records for criminal activity are managed at the county and state levels for the most part. Thus, a typical criminal check today requires checking multiple databases. This is where the value of an online service comes in. An online service is able to quickly and efficiently scan hundreds or even thousands of databases at one time to produce a composite criminal check on an individual. What is more, such services are typically inexpensive and provide quick turn-around time. A "no record" criminal background check involving checks with hundreds of databases can frequently be turned around in 48 hours or less.

Some online services are more effective and cheaper than others. Thus, it pays to do some comparison checking. There is also a high level of variability in the reporting of online criminal background check services, as well as the databases they search. Different sites offer membership subscriptions for usage, whereas others offer pricing based on number of times of use. The bottom line is that as with many things, it pays to shop around.

While some people may consider a criminal check a waste of time, it is an important mechanism to help businesses, lenders, and individuals know whom they are dealing with and provides security that is increasingly needed. The web has helped transform record checking such as criminal background checks, which helps makes the process far easier in today's increasingly complex world than it would be otherwise. Thus, in a world of increasing uncertainty, an online criminal background check can help provide comfort and assurance.