Searching For Inmates

Where To Find Inmate Locator Websites

Most states have online searches for inmates through their Department of Corrections websites. Here is the complete list (also includes county jail rosters) - Inmate Locator.

For California, the Department of Corrections has a 24-hour inmate locator telephone number of (916) 445-6713. You must have either the inmate's CDC number, or the inmate's full name and date of birth to receive information. The Inmate Locator will provide an inmate's location, mailing addresses and relevant phone numbers. They will not provide any future release date information.

Vinelink is another database that provides inmate information at the state and county level for most states.

If you are trying to locate an inmate at the Federal level, try the Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator page.

If the county or state department of corrections you are looking for does not have an inmate locator on the web, I suggest you call the prison directly. They will tell you if the inmate you are looking for is incarcerated in their facilty.

J R
www.calipi.com

How To Choose A Polygraph Examiner

The results of your polygraph test may change your life!

When choosing a polygraph examiner, price is the last thing you should ask about. In the polygraph profession, affordability does not always equal quality. Remember the old saying, "You get what you pay for."

It's up to you to be a smart consumer when choosing your examiner. When selecting someone to do your polygraph test, ask the person the following four questions. If the examiner doesn't answer "Yes" to all four questions, you may want to look for someone else.

1. Are you a member of one of the following National professional associations?
APA - American Polygraph Association
AAPP - American Association of Police Polygraphists
NPA - National Polygraph Association

2. Are you a member of a State professional association?
CAPE - California Association of Polygraph Examiners
List of All State Association Websites

3. Are you Certified? (In California, CAPE certification is best)

4. Do you attend at least 40 hours of continuing education seminars each and every year?

If a polygraph examiner does not answer "yes" to all four questions, he may not be good enough for you.

Additional questions to ask when selecting an examiner:

5. Have you testified in court about polygraph tests?

6. Are you an Officer or Board Member of a Professional Association?

7. Are you a teacher at an accredited polygraph school (accredited by APA, AAPP or NPA)?

8. Have you written articles about polygraph testing?

9. Do you have one or more college degrees?

Remember, your polygraph test may be a life-changing event. Don't put yourself in the hands of anyone but a highly-qualified professional!

J R
Our polygraph services page

Finding Hidden Assets

PayPal - A Viable Source

If you have a judgment against an individual, most likely you are not going to find any attachable assets by searching public records. Judgment debtors are smart. They know you are looking for their bank accounts. Most of them do not have open checking/savings accounts in their name.

In recent years, the internet has been a great place to hide money. PayPal for example allows individuals to have online accounts to either store funds or make business transactions. A high percentage of Ebay users have PayPal accounts. Many online businesses use PayPal as a form of accepting credit cards. If you believe your debtor has a PayPal account, here is what you do:

Have your attorney send a letter via U.S. Certified Mail or by courier service (Fed Ex, UPS, etc..) to PayPal with a subpoena (or writ of attachment if you have a judgment) to the following address:

PayPal
Attn: Legal Dept. - Civil
2211 N . First Street
San Jose, CA 95131

Make sure the subpoena/writ includes the debtors full name, address, social security number. It wouldn't hurt to include the email address of the debtor.

Another way to search for someone assets is to check their trash. I always tell my clients to shread their personal information before they throw it away. However, there are still many careless people out there who just throw away their bank statements, stock portfolio, telephone bills, etc...

In most cities it is legal to search through someone's trash as long as the containers are on the street or in the alleyway. I suggest checking with the city regarding their laws before you take someone's garbage.

There are many other creative ways to find hidden assets. I won't list them all here. The above steps are probably the best way to start when you need to collect on a sizable judgment.

J R
CaliPi.com

What are the Best People Finder Sites?

I thought I would post this on Valentines Day because this is the time of year I receive many requests to find "lost loves" or childhood sweethearts.

First, here is my disclaimer: I will not locate anyone unless there is a legimate purpose. Married people (and I get a lot of them ) should have no reason to find their high school boyfriend/girlfriend.

Okay, with that out of the way, let me tell you that the best FREE people finder site is Zabasearch. You can find the link at FreePrf.com's people finder page along with all the other free people finder links. Zaba publishes all of the listed addresses for an indivual for at least the past 10 years.

To be honest, as a private investigator, I rarely find updated addresses using Zaba or any other free search. For the general public, I suggest Intelius. For under $30, they will provide you with the most recent updated address of an individual.

The absolute best site to obtain adrress information and background information is Merlin Information Services. However, Merlin will only sell their data to companies such as private investigation firms, government agencies, collection agencies, large corporations, law firms, insurance companies, repossessors, process servers or any other business with a legitimate purpose under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

If you do not qualilfy to have an account with Merlin, then I suggest you contact a private investigator. My firm charges a flat fee of $250 to locate a person (higher for missing persons). Many times I receive calls from people who spend more than that using several online services and they come up empty.

All in all, I suggest you follow the above steps and if you strike out, contact me.

Thanks

J R
Calipi.com

Fingerprint Examination

The other day I received a call from a company that wanted to hire me to lift fingerprints off one of their laptop computers. I told them that I don't offer that service.

After I hung up the phone, I thought about it and said, "Why Not?" So, I did some research and contacted some of my colleagues, and I found the #1 fingerprint and document examiner (in my opinion) in all of Southern California. Kurt Kuhn, retired from the Beverly Hills Police Department will now offer his services to our clients. Please read our page on Kurt Kuhn- here

J R
CALIPI.com

How Can I Find Warrants?

I receive many requests to find arrest warrants. Unfortunately arrest warrant information in California is not public record to a 3rd party- except for San Diego County - Thanks to Paul Bush of Legal Dockets online for reminding me.

In some other states, warrant information is available online. Check this link of a City in Kansas - City of Rose Hill Warrant List

Another way to check for warrants is to run a criminal index for the individual. If there is a pending criminal case, contact the court to see if there is a "Failure to Appear." Most likely if there is an FTA, then there is a warrant. Also, run the individuals driving record. FTA's show up for traffic violations if the Subject does not show for his traffic court case. Law enforcement will only pick up that person if they are stopped for a traffic violation.

One other way to check warrant information is to check the County's most wanted list. Granted not everyone will be on that list, but some small counties will list everyone with a warrant. Try this link - Most Wanted Persons by State

J R
CALIPI.com

What Can't Be Used in an Employment Background?

You would surprised how many employers have no clue whan can or can't be included in a pre-employment background check. Today I received a call from someone who wanted arrest records of a potential employee. First of all, arrest records are not public records. The only criminal records that are considered "public" are misdemeanor and felony charges filed on a defendant.

Oddly enough, criminal records more than 7 years old (for California - other states are 10 years) cannot be reported by the agency conducting the pre-employment background. You can ask applicants the following: "Have you been arrested for any matter for which you are currently out on bail or have been placed on your own recognizance pending trial?"

The full Fair Credit Reporting Act can be read here - FCRA

J R
CALIPI.com

Cell Phone Privacy - Online Vendors Targeted

Over past couple of weeks there have been many articles and news stories(Read here) about online companies selling personal cell phone information to the general public. Congress is moving fast to stop these companies from selling cell phone information to the public. Read the latest letter from the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee.pdf format

I do not condone the conduct of these online companies selling to the general public. As a private investigator, I have many different resources for obtaining information. None of which are illegal. Most of the time I have to be creative in obtaining information on a subject of an investigation. Being creative does not mean that I am violating the laws or being unethical. These individuals I investigate are the subjects of an ongoing legal matter. My clients are either victims of fraud or trying to prevent being defrauded by having a "due diligence" investigation conducted.


We will see what happens with cell phone privacy legislation over the next few months. I will keep you posted.



J R
CALIPI.com

What Are Free Public Records?

I posted this on my Yahoo Group a while back and thought you may want to read this on my blog.

Many of you are wondering why certain public records are not free via the internet.
The answer is simple: Anything that is not considered a "Public
Record" is not usually free. For example, some of you want to find out
who a cell number is registered to - "for free." If the Subject's
cell phone is not listed in a public directory, then it's
considered "quasi" confidential. There are companies out there that
will "break" the cell phone number (for a legitimate purpose) for a mere $25
or so. I personally think that is extremely reasonable.

Regarding locating people: The free databases mostly have old
information gathered from "public records", ie.. telephone book. If
the Subject is not found through any of the "pay" online companies
that charge $29 or so, then the only way you are going to find that
person is by hiring an investigator. An investigator will only take
a case if there is a legitimate reason to find that person. For
example, wanting to find your high school sweetheart is NOT a
legitimate reason. Most PI's will tell the client that they will
locate her and let her know you are trying to contact her/him and
give that person your contact information. That way their privacy
is protected.

Regarding getting all of this information free: The confidential
databases are not free. Investigators, government officials,
insurance carriers, etc.. all have access to this database. The
database mostly consists of "credit headers." A credit header lists
all the names, addresses and birth dates used by a Subject when they
apply for credit or fill out a rental application. 9 out of 10 times
a person is found using this information. A credit header will not
list creditors or any debt information. Again, it is only used
for "legitimate purposes." The cost for these agencies to obtain
this information is minimal. However, you are paying for their
expertise. The cost to the public to locate someone using these
methods usually range from $75 to $250 depending on what information
you provide.

All in all, I suggest that you continue to use the free public
records searches first and then you may have to pay for the services
that are not free online.

I hope this helps.

J R
CALIPI.com

Welcome to Public Records Blog

New Public Records Blog Starts Today!


Today is the first day of our public records blog. I have been asked by many individuals to have a blog for public records information. So, let me begin by introducing myself.

I am a licensed private investigator in the State of California. As a PI, I was constantly bookmarking sites that would assist me in my investigation. After a while, there were many too many sites in the bookmarks. My wife asked me, "Why don't you create a website that has all these links for free public records and promote it to the general public."

Well, I took my wife's advice, and in the summer of 2000, I created a website called "PublicRecordFinder.com." The PublicRecordFinder.com site linked to free sites that provided online public records. I spent years gathering links and placing them on the site. In 2003, the site became one of the top sites on Google for finding public records. In the fall of 2004, I sold PublicRecordFinder.com to Intelius. Last year, I created another free public records site called FreePRF.com. Today, FreePRF.com is one of the most popular sites for finding free public records and can be found on "Google's" first page under the keywords "Public Records."

I spend about 10 hours a week updating the links and rely on your recommendations for adding links. You can join our Yahoo Groups forum to recommend links and discuss public records. There are over 3600 members in this group.

This blog will mostly provide information about conducting your own investigation, where to find public records that are not online and legislative news and information about access to public records. I can't guarantee that I will post everyday, but I will certainly do my best to inform you about public records.

Thanks for your support.

Jay Rosenzweig
www.CALIPI.com