Locating Inmate Info

Soon, I'll be launching a website and this blog will be moving to a new platform through that site.
If you're with me on Facebook, you'll see I am indeed embracing this whole social media thing...
though like many people, I came to FB and social media, reluctantly.
And I'm still figuring it out.
There's one picture of me on my Facebook wall that's it.
And my back's to the camera.
How does a PI keep a low visual profile in cyber space?
It isn't easy...
yet somehow, it's working.

So as I was  packing up my gear, today, to head out in the field...
I checked the stats on blog readership.
There were many surprises there.
Significant readership worldwide, translated into many languages.
It's wild to know people in Australia, Japan and Siberia  are reading the words I type now.
And it's fascinating to see what blog posts people like... and don't.

Some blog posts are big reader favorites.
One of the biggest, from two years ago, was the Jail Exchange and Inmate Locator, which I'll link you to at the end of this post.

There are  many ways to get  free public info now on warrants, criminal records, mugshots.
Mugshots.com is a great site to get quick hits on known criminals.
http://mugshots.com

Jerry Sandusky's Mug Shot

Mugshots is a very broad site  and not highly accurate because each state has specific laws on whether they will release info.

So finding your subjects is challenging because the waters are muddied by an overflow of information filled with common names, multiple identities and catfish feeding everywhere.

Criminal records are equally challenging, because there is no single federal criminal depository of records the public can access.
The Feds have access to a national criminal database... even then it's highly restricted.
A police officer or federal agent couldn't use it for a personal or private search, these are protected national records.
P.I.'s subscribe to databases that allow us to pay for criminal records per search.
The accuracy of this info is still questionable, though more credible and can be verified with a deeper look, or hand-pull if necessary.

Free  criminal records are accessible...
however, every county, in every state has its own records.
And I personally question the validity of all records I find on line until i can verify them.
Records are only as good as the people entering them and filled with error.

So a criminal record search has to be done with caution and care...
plus knowledge of every place the subject has lived, passed through, may have been arrested.
Then every record in every state in every county has to be searched

So one of my first stops on a free  criminal search is "The Jail Exchange and Inmate Locator."
Sometimes I hit, sometimes I strike out.
Either way, it's a great place to start, to step up to the plate when running backgrounds, locates.
Here's a link to my post about this site from 2011...
http://diaryofaprivateeye.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-locate-inmates.html