3 Tips to Make Your Michigan Criminal Records Search a Good One

Just because you pay someone to perform a Michigan criminal records search for you doesn’t mean that they’re going to do it correctly. In fact, with so many websites offering these services — but not having the necessary credentials to do the job right — your odds of getting inaccurate information are very high.

So how do you avoid that nightmare?

By following these 3 tips:

1. Hire a licensed private investigator

The data that you need to legitimately assess someone’s criminal background isn’t available to just anyone. Licensed private investigators can dig through information that’s normally just reserved for law enforcement, so if you want your Michigan criminal records search to be as thorough as possible, you’ve got to pay a licensed investigator to do it.

Unfortunately, most of the websites you see advertising out there aren’t run by licensed investigators. In fact, the vast majority of them aren’t run by anyone who has any kind of investigative background! So, no matter what they try to tell you about their services, you know they can’t give you the same caliber of information that a licensed private investigator can.

Michigan Criminal Court Records

2. Ask about the specific resources that are going to be used during your search

A licensed investigator will only be able to help you if he’s willing to dig through the right resources! And, of course, he needs to be willing to dig through everything by hand. Otherwise, you run the risk of getting information about someone other than the person in question — like someone with the same name or the same birthday.

In order to conduct a comprehensive Michigan criminal records search, your private investigator should go through:

– The Michigan Sex Offender Registry, which contains information about 46,000 offenders that’s updated bi-weekly.

– The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians Sex Offenders Registry, which contains details about offenders that may or may not be listed on the state registry.

– The Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS), which provides details about felons who are on parole and probation, along with felons that are currently being housed in a state correctional facility. Because OTIS does not have records of people who have been convicted but not sentenced yet, it’s especially important to look at the most current records. Luckily, OTIS is updated every three months.

– Specific county-level felony records for Antrim, Bay, Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Macomb, and Wayne Counties. Typically, these records include details about the crime committed, the plea that was entered, and the sentence that was handed down.

– Michigan Arrest Records, which detail county jail bookings. These records are provided at the county level, by the independent Sheriffs.

– Court records for the 67th District Court in Genesee County, the 61st District Court in Kent County, and the Circuit Court in Saginaw County. All of these records are updated monthly and contain specific details like case numbers, offense descriptions, bench warrant information, court appearances, and dispositions.

– An index of previous criminal search records performed statewide and also via federal requests.

– Records dealing with certain traffic offenses.

Michigan Criminal Search

Those other websites we’ve talked about don’t have access to this information — and they certainly aren’t entitled to current updates! Instead, the best they can do is to buy up old public criminal court records and upload them onto their server. Unfortunately, most of the records that are purchased this way are several years out-of-date.

By loading the information directly on their server, these websites can provide you with instant information. But now that you’ve seen everything that a licensed private investigator can search by hand, it makes sense that you wouldn’t get comprehensive results instantly. Even the best investigator is going to need several hours to analyze everything. (Here at Docusearch, our investigators can perform a Michigan criminal records search and get the results to you within one business day.)

3. Find out exactly how much it’s going to cost

Most of the websites that you see offering criminal search services brag about cheap or even free searches. However, what their snazzy sales copy fails to mention is that it’s only free to type someone’s name into the search box. Once the results are ready, you’ll have to pay to see them. In some cases, you’ll even be forced to sign up for an expensive subscription service just to see your results!

On the other hand, a good licensed private investigator will only charge you a one-time fee. You’ll pay, they’ll do the work, and then you’ll get the results. Sounds much less stressful, right?!

Make sure your Michigan criminal records search is a good one by hiring the team of licensed private investigators at Docusearch!