How to do a Background Check in North Carolina

North Carolina is considered a record state. What does it mean? The answer is that everyone without too much difficulty can track a person’s criminal history while enjoying full and almost unlimited access governmental databases on the Internet and outside the Internet. So how can you do a Background Check in North Carolina?

Using your County’s resources

When checking a person’s criminal history, the best you can do is adopting a ‘bottom-up’ approach; that is, starting with what the county has to offer before resorting to data banks managed by the state.

Sheriffs usually store data on all arrests made under their jurisdiction (In most cases, the sheriff is also the one who runs the local detention facility) in addition to warrants issued by the court. Hence, we suggest utilizing their resources.

Let’s take the largest county in North Carolina as an example. You will be surprised to learn how many resources for tracking a person’s criminal record in Mecklenburg County the local sheriff offers users.

On his website you can find an inmate search tool that shows people arrested in the county. This tool shows active and inactive detainees. You can also define the prisoner type you want your inquiry to include. The sheriff also has a simpler arrest inquiry tool showing people apprehended in the last 24 hours only.

Another electronic tool you can put to use displays the county’s warrants. By typing a name, you will we find out if a person is wanted by the police.

The state’s inmate lookup tool

Now, after you utilized local databases, it’s time to move on to running a more extensive search. The North Carolina Department of Safety maintains an inmate lookup tool that covers all of the counties in the state. You can utilize it to look for active and already released prisoners. It is open to the public without charging any fee.

Summary

In the United States in general and in North Carolina specifically, the information governmental bodies possess is mostly considered public records. That promises you easy access to data needed for a background check.

Searchers need not rely solely on governmental sources. There are also private online sources that offer criminal history data. These sources contain a search tool which can be used to obtain information such as arrest records, warrants and court dockets. For example, we recommend ncarrestrecords.org for a full and comprehensive background check in North Carolina.