General Guidelines

General Guidelines

  1. The research provider will never falsify their research in any way, and will ensure actual research is conducted on each subject they are entrusted to search.

  2. The research provider shall refrain from conducting literal research wherever they have direct control over a search (as opposed to jurisdictions wherein clerks control aspects of the search), but rather shall pursue, within reason, similarities in any identifiers found.

  3. The research provider shall endeavor to become knowledgeable in their local area, including, but not limited to, a working knowledge of the following for each jurisdiction they directly service:

    a. Each distinct criminal court within that jurisdiction;

    b. Any rules, policies and procedures of each court that pertain to criminal record research;

    c. The Start Date and Through Date of each criminal index within that jurisdiction;

    d. Any peculiarities of each criminal index that, without knowledge thereof, could affect the accuracy of a search (e.g., how wild cards operate on that index);

    e. What constitutes the Central Court for that jurisdiction;

    f. What constitutes the Predominately Used Index (PUI) for that jurisdiction, and what it does or does not cover (e.g., are there remote or minor outlying courts, or certain types or levels of records, the PUI does not cover?);

    g. Where and how each criminal court maintains its records—including any archiving system, record destruction routines, et cetera;

    h. What would typically constitute Available Records and Non-Readily Available Records in each criminal court;