Types of Criminal Background Checks

• County Criminal Records Check. This is a search of publicly available county criminal records including felony, misdemeanor, and pending criminal records. This search occurs based on information revealed from the National Criminal Database search or Address History search. Search methods vary depending on how the court maintains its records but can include a search of primary source electronic databases maintained by governmental organizations or use of a network of professional court and record researchers.

• State Criminal Records Check. This is a direct search of state criminal records databases. Due to varying data quality, some state records repositories offer incomplete court record data. Where the data is incomplete, a county criminal search will be dispatched to obtain full case information.

• Federal Criminal Records Check. This is a search of federal felony and misdemeanor convictions at the district level in the federal courts using the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) database.

• National Criminal Records Check. This is a multijurisdictional database search to locate potential records for the candidate that are then used as pointers for county or state level searches. It combines both publicly available and purchased criminal records compiled from a variety of state, county, and other proprietary sources.

• Global Watchlist Records Check. This is a search of various domestic and international governmental watchlists such as FBI Most Wanted Lists, Interpol's Most Wanted Lists, United States Drug Enforcement Administration Wanted Fugitive Lists, and various governmental sanctions lists.