Criminal History Employment Applicant Background Checks
An instant criminal search acquires criminal record data from hundreds of data sources provided by various county, state, and federal agencies. Criminal records and subject demographics will vary based on data sources. For instance, some data sources provide full dates of birth while others may only provide the year of birth or none at all. Information related to record disposition, degree of offense, etc. also varies. In some cases, the data source provides very obscure information such as “unspecified”.
As a responsible provider, Wienhoff Drug Testing always recommends using an instant database in conjunction with a traditional search such as a County Criminal, Federal Criminal, or Statewide search to assure greater accuracy. If you are interested in this expanded search, please let us know when you submit your sign-up form (below).
Criminal History Check FAQs
Q. Where does your data come from?
A. We obtain criminal records from publicly available sources. Our instant criminal data may contain information from county courts, state courts, the state Administration of Courts, and the state Department of Corrections.
Q. How current is your data?
A. We collect publicly available information from hundreds of data sources which include county courts, state Administration of Courts, state Department of Corrections, and many more. We have limited control in their update frequency as it is set by each data source.
Q. What are public records and publicly available information?
A. Public records are information that has been filed or recorded by local, state, federal, or other government agencies, such as corporate and property records. Public records are created by the federal and local government, (vital records, immigration records, real estate records, driving records, criminal records, etc.) or by the individual (magazine subscriptions, voter registration, etc.). Most essential public records are maintained by the government and many are accessible to the public. Availability is determined by federal, state, and local regulations.
Q. Are instant criminal searches accurate and thorough?
A. An instant search is only as accurate so far as the state, local, or federal agency reports the data. Instant database searches can be updated as frequently as daily or as infrequent as semi-annually.
Q. Do database searches provide Date of Birth and Social Security Number information?
A. No, Social Security Number information is private and is not publicly available. However, Date of Birth information is commonly found in public records. Many of our criminal record data sources include Date of Birth in the information provided.