In this world, there are very few things quite as valuable as the truth. We are bombarded with information from every direction at any given moment. You get a whole lot of information from people but also advertisements, cars, street signs, the list goes on. Everything in the world is trying to communicate something to you and it can be a little overwhelming when you aren’t sure what is true. For instance, maybe you’re curious about someone’s background? If so, you may want to do a public record search online. But will this kind of search provide you with the truth? It’s a fantastic question, and definitely, one worth asking.
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Why Does the Truth Matter?
If you’ve ever seen a courtroom drama on T.V., you’ve likely heard the phrase “do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?” This happens to be one of the few things that courtroom dramas get right. Go ahead and ask any lawyer about the inaccuracies of these kinds of dramas, you may be surprised. In any case, even in our legal system, or more so, especially in our legal system, the truth is incredibly important. Why? Well, for a number of reasons.
As human beings, we communicate countless things every single day. There is more than one way that we communicate ideas and feelings. Of course, we have our verbal communication. This type of communication is the entire reason that language exists in the first place. We also have non-verbal cues such as body language. Both verbal and non-verbal communication is important, and it’s a lot harder to be dishonest with non-verbal cues.
The reason why the truth is important is that, unfortunately, you can’t get the entire story from just looking at the way that someone is posturing themself. Of course, a trained eye can tell if someone is lying or being honest, but that alone doesn’t tell you all of the information that you need. Without knowing the truth, or even the entire story at that, you miss out on a lot of important details about any given situation.
For example, let’s say that you just got a new neighbor. They seem relatively cool in general, but there’s just something that seems off about them. You try to pry a little bit, but not enough to come off as rude, but you can tell that there’s something that they aren’t mentioning. At that point, you probably want to find out the truth. It could be something innocuous like their wife left them six months ago and they’re just going through a rough patch, or they could be a serial bank robber with multiple convictions. You can’t tell the difference based on body language alone, and at this point, you may want to find another avenue to find out what’s really going on.
Public Records and the Truth
Public records are an incredibly useful tool that is provided to us as American citizens. It allows us a peek into a great deal of information that we can use to make our lives easier and safer. You might be surprised at the amount of information that you can get from a public records search, and even more surprised at what can be considered public records. But will it reveal the truth? The short answer is “probably.”
Let’s follow the example that we went over in the last section. You need to find out what is off about your neighbor, but you don’t know how. You could try your local Sheriff’s Department website and check through, but this can be a little bit tricky. If you’re really lucky, your county will make this database easily available to the public and you’ll be able to get all of the information that you need for your county. But what about counties that you don’t know that this person lived in? None of these databases are connected, which means that if you don’t know where to look you might not be able to get the information that you need.
There’s also the issue of information availability. Not every county makes these kinds of databases available to the public, and some counties that do provide this information don’t regularly update their databases. That means that you could find missing, out-of-date, or even inaccurate information, assuming that your county provides this kind of information at all. If that’s the only place that you check for this information then, unfortunately, this kind of search might not provide you with the truth that you’re seeking.
Fortunately, if this is the kind of search you need to do, there’s a better way. Many businesses exist online specifically to help make this kind of search better, and these businesses are commonly referred to as personal background check services. Personal background check services are able to provide things like arrest records, active warrants, criminal records, driving records, court records, and a lot more in some cases.
These companies operate by pulling information from public records databases all over the United States. That means that you can get information from everywhere, from Alaska to Florida and even in territories like Puerto Rico in some cases. All you need to do is fill in a few pieces of information and the website will do the heavy lifting for you. After you’ve entered the required information you’ll be provided with your results instantly.
This method is the preferred method of most people that do these kinds of searches regularly. It’s incredibly fast, convenient, and accurate. It’s hard to find a method that’s as good as this one.
Why are Public Records Searches Helpful?
There are a nearly uncountable number of reasons why people use these kinds of searches, especially for people that are in their personal lives. Most of the time if someone is doing a personal background check it’s for safety reasons. There are many, many people all across the United States that want to make sure that they know who they’re talking to. Whether it’s just a date with someone they met on a dating app or someone who they work with, it’s incredibly difficult to know exactly what someone has done in their past.
Most people would prefer not to go on a date with someone that has a domestic abuse charge on their file, just like most people would prefer not to allow their children to be driven around by a reckless driver. Because of this, doing a public record search can prove useful. There are also government-run databases that have information about sex offenders, which means that finding out how many sex offenders are in your area is a breeze. That information makes it a lot easier to plan for sex offender safety in your community.
That’s not the only information that you can get from public records, and far from the only way that public records can help you. For instance, you can easily get real estate records from county websites. That information can help you get a better idea about a specific property in your neighborhood, and ultimately help you feel like you’re making a better, more informed decision.
Where did Public Records Come From?
Public records haven’t always been a thing. In fact, the first public records laws started appearing on the books in the 1960s. Since then, every state in the United States has its own set of laws that govern how public records are meant to be handled. The federal government also has its own set of laws on the same subject.
These laws were passed with government transparency in mind. Many lawmakers believe that it is the right of every single United States citizen to have access to information from the government. Of course, not every piece of information is available. Only documents that have been determined to not be classified is considered public records.
Fortunately, there is a lot of information that is not considered to be classified, and there are many ways to obtain this information. There are even specific ways for you to request for classified information to become declassified, and that tactic is often used by lawyers, journalists, and common civilians alike.
Make Sure You Get the Whole Truth
There is a lot of uncertainty both in this world and in this universe. While there are many questions that may forever go unanswered, there’s still plenty of information to answer a good deal of your questions. Thanks to the internet and the free availability of so many public records, you can always be sure that you can find the truth that you’re seeking with ease, no matter the time of day. Everyone needs to do a little research from time to time for one reason or another, and knowing the best ways to get the answers that you seek will ensure that you can spend as much time as possible doing more productive tasks.
***SpyFly provides consumers affordable, immediate access to public record information. Federal laws prohibit businesses from using SpyFly’s service to make decisions about employment, insurance, consumer credit, tenant screening, or for any other purpose subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681 et seq.***
