How To Find Illinois Criminal Records

No matter why you’re conducting an Illinois criminal records search, there are several things you need to know if you want your search to be successful.

The most important thing to remember? Hiring a licensed private investigator can really change the game.

Having a license allows private investigators to access information that’s off-limits to the average person. They can look into details that are usually only available to law enforcement! This means they can uncover the complete background of your potential tenant, employee, or anyone else you’re curious about.

So, what will they check during your Illinois criminal records search?

– The Illinois Sex Offender Registry, which has info on around 29,000 offenders. It not only lists the charges they faced but often includes the age of the victims. Plus, this Registry gets updated every two weeks, so your investigator will have the most current info.

– Data from the Illinois Department of Corrections, which covers every felon who has done time in an Illinois prison, as well as those on probation or parole. These records provide details about the charges, the county where the crime happened, an official case number, and the court’s decision. And guess what? These records are refreshed every month.

– Specific county-level court and criminal records for Adams, Bond, Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Champaign, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Coles, Cook, Crawford, Cumberland, De Witt, Du Page, Edgar, Edwards, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Franklin, Grundy, Hamilton, Henry, Iroquois, Jackson, Jefferson, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Lawrence, Lee, Logan, Macon, Macoupin, Marion, Mason, McLean, Mercer, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Ogle, Peoria, Piatt, Pike, Pope, Richland, Rock Island, Sangamon, Shelby, Stephenson, Tazewell, Union, Vermilion, Wabash, Washington, Wayne, White, Whiteside, Williamson, and Woodford Counties.

– Details about certain traffic offenses

Illinois Criminal Court Records

Best of all, a good private investigator will go through all of these records by hand. And, he’ll look closely to eliminate any false positives or any other less-than-accurate information.

That’s a big difference from most of the websites you see out there offering to do an Illinois criminal records search for you!

Because these websites aren’t run by anyone with a private investigator’s license — or anyone with an investigative background, period — they don’t have access to all of these things. The best they can do is buy some public records and upload them to their server so that they spit out information as soon as you type in a name.

If that sounds like a problem, that’s because it is!

Illinois Criminal Search

Since these sites rely only on what’s on their server, there’s a good chance you’ll end up with outdated info. A lot of them are pulling records that are years old! To make matters worse, they don’t have access to everything a private investigator can find, so you might miss out on some important details right from the get-go. Plus, there’s no one checking these results before they reach you. With everything being automated, you could accidentally get info about the wrong person.

In short, there are plenty of reasons why someone might show up as clean in these searches, even if they’re not.

To add to the frustration, many of these sites will charge you a hefty fee for this possibly incorrect information! They might advertise super cheap or even free Illinois criminal record searches, but what they don’t mention is that’s just for the search itself. If you want to see the actual results, you’ll need to cough up some cash first.

Another sneaky move these sites pull is claiming you can do unlimited criminal searches. What they conveniently leave out is that you have to sign up for a pricey subscription to access those searches.

Once again, this is where a licensed private investigator sets himself apart. Instead of hiding a bunch of charges in the fine print, a good investigator will tell you upfront what it will cost to take advantage of his services. You’ll pay a one-time fee, and you’ll get access to all of the comprehensive details that only someone with a license can provide. You can even call your private investigator on the phone to ask him questions — something that’s unheard of on most of these websites.

In the end, the only way to do an authentic, affordable Illinois criminal court record search is to have a licensed private investigator do it.

Let the team at Docusearch handle your Illinois Criminal Search, and you’ll get comprehensive results within one business day!