Background Checks
Criminal Records
Criminal history searched where it is actually held - county by county, in the jurisdictions a person has lived and worked - rather than through a single database that misses most of it.
- #1 Private Investigator in Texas
- Texas License #12818
- Twenty-five years of experience
- Marine veteran owned
- Statewide Texas coverage
- Free confidential consultation
What this is
Criminal Records, in plain terms.
There is no one place in the United States where criminal history lives. It is held by counties, by state agencies and by federal courts, and a cheap online search queries a commercial aggregation of some of it. That is why those searches come back clean on people who are not.
A real criminal records search starts from where the person has been. An address history produces a list of jurisdictions, and each one is searched at the level the records are actually kept. It costs more than a website and it is the difference between a search and the appearance of one.
The work
What actually gets done.
- Build an address history first, so the search covers the right jurisdictions.
- Search county-level records where the person has lived and worked.
- Search state repository records where they are available.
- Search federal court records, which state and county searches do not cover.
- Resolve identity carefully, because common names produce false matches.
- Retrieve the underlying case documents rather than reporting a database hit.
Background Checks
Searched where the records actually live.
County by county, court by court, agency by agency. The report says which jurisdictions were covered and which were not, because a search without its scope stated is not a search.
What you get
At the end of it.
- A jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction report, including where nothing was found.
- Copies of case records where a record exists.
- A clear statement of the search scope and its limits.
- An FCRA-compliant report where the purpose requires one.
When people call
The three situations we hear most.
Somebody is about to be around your family
A new partner, a tenant, a caregiver. The common reason people call.
You are hiring
Employment screening is regulated. Tell us that is the purpose and the search is run to that standard.
The story does not match
A gap in a history, a vague few years, a move nobody explains.
Questions
About this service.
Why not just use an online background check site?
Because those sites query a purchased database, not the courts. They miss records, they report expunged and sealed matters they should not, and they routinely mix up people with similar names. If the answer matters, it has to come from the jurisdictions.
Can I use this to decide whether to hire someone?
Only if it is run as a consumer report under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which has requirements for disclosure, consent and adverse action. Tell us that is the purpose and we will handle it correctly. Using a general investigative search for an employment decision creates liability for you.
Will sealed or expunged records show up?
They should not, and a properly run search does not report them. A database scrape often does, which is one more reason not to rely on one.
Is the first conversation really free?
Yes, and it is confidential. You describe the situation, we tell you whether an investigation is likely to help, roughly what it would involve and what it would cost. There is no charge for that call and no obligation at the end of it.
More in this area
Other services in Background Checks.
Where we work
Four metros, and the rest of Texas.
Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio are where most cases start. Coverage runs to the whole state, and records and asset work is run nationally.
Free consultation
Tell us what is going on. The first call is free.
Describe the situation and we will tell you honestly whether an investigation would help, what it would involve and what it would cost. Confidential, no obligation, and no charge for the conversation.