What Types of Public Records Are Available to the Public?

Even as the search for public records has been increasing by the day, people in general have a very vague idea about such archives, their utility as well as the procedure to access them. In fact, a public record denotes data collected, categorized and filed by the government or its agencies regarding every individual. These records are preserved by the government authorities and made available to people on request either free or in return for an administrative and assist in conducting people search, criminal background check and the likes. However, the sole discretion of making the public records accessible wrests on the concerned authorities and also depends on the prevailing laws of any particular jurisdiction.
Public records comprise minute personal information and preferences of an individual and are meant to be made accessed by the people virtually without any cost, many organizations compile data base obtaining these records from different resources and use them commercially. Hence, accessing public records is not always easy, free or convenient. Many organizations offer public records online as well as in paper dossiers for a fee and they are frequently availed by professionals engaged in legal, government, corporate, law enforcement, scholastic market as well as risk management. While searching public records manually is time consuming and requires a person to personally visit various government offices, an online search is more feasible vis-à-vis time, efforts and money.
Nature of Public Records
Although the implication of public records remains constant, the types of public records made available to people in general depends on the prevailing laws in a particular jurisdiction. In general, public records refer to the following:
* People Search.
* Criminal Background Check.
* Records Checks.
* Birth Record Checks.
* Death Record Checks.
* Marriage Records.
* Market Research Records.
* Customer Safety Information.
In fact, a public record search is an effective manner to find out the bona fides of any individual. Depending on what one is searching, he or she may try to obtain the specific record from the specific source - be it a central or federal government department, municipality, church or any other source. One may even approach a private organization dealing in public records - whether online or otherwise like in the instance of a private detective. These organizations or individuals maintain data base from different private and government resources and help you to avoid personally visiting the concerned offices in return for a fee.
Popularity or dependence on such organizations or private investigators are increasing with the passing of each day as individuals, families, corporate firms and the communities at large are endeavoring to obtain information concerning people they are associated with or intend to build up a relation. These days, public records are vital as everyone wants to know every minute detail about the person they are allied with - they want to learn whether he or she has any criminal background.
Nevertheless, there is a lot of controversy regarding the searches for public records as many people are of the view that any such attempt is an invasion on their privacy and privileges. Although public records do not include an individual's bank or credit card details, many consider it to be a privacy theft and a reason for their economic losses. All these notwithstanding, public record checks have become a way of life, not only for the corporate firms that conduct them for commercial purposes, but also for the commoner who undertake such searches even before lending money to someone or arranging a marriage.