How To Find Maryland Criminal Records

Understanding someone’s criminal history can be crucial for various reasons. Whether you’re considering a new employee, a potential tenant, or simply want to ensure your safety, knowing how to navigate Maryland’s criminal records is essential. Without the right approach, your efforts could lead to unnecessary expenses and frustration. Make sure you are well-informed to conduct an effective search that yields the results you need.

To ensure you avoid potential issues, follow these essential steps:

– Engage a licensed private investigator

Hiring a licensed investigator grants access to records and information typically reserved for law enforcement agencies. By choosing a licensed professional, you can expect a more comprehensive and current search of Maryland criminal records.

Exercise caution, as many websites claiming to provide criminal records searches are not operated by licensed private investigators. In fact, they often lack any investigative expertise! They may promise access to all the necessary information, but the reality is far from it.

Maryland Criminal Court Records

– Inquire about the resources your investigator will utilize

A reputable investigator will conduct your Maryland criminal records search manually. This is a significant improvement over automated websites, which lack the human oversight necessary to prevent false positives or inaccuracies.

However, your Maryland criminal records search will only be effective if your investigator examines:

– Records from the Maryland Administrative Office of Courts, which includes monthly updates on nearly three million individuals who have interacted with the state criminal court system. Your investigator will be able to obtain official details, such as a case number, tracking number, and CJIS code. Additionally, they can provide a description of the offense and the current court disposition.

– Records from the Maryland Department of Corrections, which includes details about the offense committed and the holding facility where the person in question served his sentence. Like the court records, this information is also updated monthly.

– The Maryland Sex Offender Registry, which includes bi-weekly updates on offenders and the offenses they have committed. These records also contain an absconder status — meaning the offender is in violation of his parole, probation, or other conditions.

– An entire index of prior criminal records searches, including those done at the state level and through federal requests.

– Records that detail certain traffic offenses.

Maryland Criminal Search

– Don’t waste your time with instant results

At first, it sounds like the perfect solution. After all, when you’re trying to out if someone has a criminal history, the sooner you get an answer the better. However, these instant results make it impossible for you to get thorough results.

How so?

In order to give you instant information, all of the data already has to exist on a server. And remember, these websites can’t access the same things that a licensed private investigator can, so there’s no way for them to have comprehensive, current information on their server. Instead, they buy up old public records and load them onto the server. Unfortunately, the results you’ll get from them are likely to be several years old!

– Don’t wait longer for answers than you have to

Just because you need to wait for a licensed private investigator to comb through a variety of resources by hand doesn’t mean you need to sit around for long. A good investigator knows how to make his search as efficient as possible so that you can get the results as soon as possible. Here at Docusearch, we can perform a Maryland criminal records search by hand and get the results to you within one business day.

– Find out about fees and costs before you commit to anyone

A reputable investigator is going to run an honest business — meaning he won’t sneak a bunch of hidden fees into his service. You’ll be asked to pay a one-time fee, your investigator will run the search, and then you’ll get the results. Easy, right?

Unfortunately, it’s not nearly that easy when you deal with most websites. They’ll reel you in with promises of very cheap — or even free — searches. But then when it comes time for you to actually see the results, they’ll ask you to pay an expensive fee or force you to sign up for a costly subscription service. In the end, dealing with one of these websites can cost you a whole lot more than hiring a licensed private investigator!

Looking for a great team to hire? Let the team of investigators at Docusearch handle your next Maryland criminal records search.