Thursday, November 7, 2013

Grab A Free California Criminal Records

By Ben Kingsley


Across the world, background screening is quickly becoming a standard practice in many workplaces and businesses. Doing a background check is an effective and easy way for organizations to alleviate their risk. In scrutinizing the background of an individual, the records heavily counted on are criminal records, although other records can be used as well. California criminal records can be obtained from the Department of Justice or from courts.

Pursuant to California's Public Records Act, any Californian has the right to access public information maintained by local and state government agencies, including the Department of Justice. California, however, restricts access to certain records such as criminal and arrest records to legitimate law enforcement agencies, authorized applicant agencies, and those persons named on the records only. Requests from people whose purpose is neither any of these will not be accommodated.

If you wish to obtain a copy of a criminal record in the State of California yet your purpose is neither any of the mentioned above, then you may have to settle for an informational copy. For background screening and genealogical purposes, the Department of Justice, unfortunately, cannot issue a certified copy of a criminal record as it is restricted by the State's law to authorized entities only. Unlike the certified copy, an informational copy cannot establish identity as it is not a licit document even if it contains almost the same information as that of a certified one.

Like any other record demands, an application form must be secured first and completed for the request to be processed. When appealing for a criminal record, you have to get a Live Scan form and fill it out with your significant personal information. Such form can be downloaded online or directly from the Department of Justice's website. Once the form is completed, it should be submitted to such agency together with an image of your Live Scan fingerprints. Fingerprint images are required since criminal record searches are fingerprint-based. Payment for the criminal record request must be through check or money order made payable to the Department of Justice. The processing fee is $25. The estimated processing time takes weeks to months. Unfortunately, such office cannot accommodate rush requests.

In California, doing a background check can be quite difficult as the state has imposed many rules with regards to the procurement of criminal records. In such case, if an informational copy does not suffice you, you can actually try retrieving the criminal record you need online.

The number of independent service providers online nowadays is relatively high. This, as a matter of fact, means that online users and customers are provided with many options to choose from. Service providers online range from free to fee based. Regardless of which type of online source you opt to resort to, they can give you the criminal or arrest records public you need in a much faster time compared to the usual turnaround time proffered by the aforesaid entities. Nevertheless, if you are concerned with the accuracy of the results of the record search, then you better choose the one that charges a minimal fee but yields precise and comprehensive results.




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