The Ins and Outs of an Arizona Criminal Records Search

Whether you want to see if a potential tenant has a shady past or you want to make sure that you look at court records before you take on a new business partner, there are tons of valid reasons to do an Arizona criminal records search.

But you’ll only be wasting your time and money if you don’t know all the ins and outs of these searches!

The biggest thing you need to remember? All of these searches are NOT created equally. You’ve probably seen websites that promise to churn out an Arizona criminal court records in mere seconds, but those websites are a classic example of being too good to be true!

Bottom line — if you want legitimate, accurate, up-to-date information, you need a licensed private investigator to handle your search.

Arizona Criminal Court Records

What information can a licensed private investigator access?

In short, anything that a law enforcement officer can!

When your investigator handles your Arizona criminal records search, he’ll go through the Arizona Sex Offender Registry, records from the Arizona Department of Corrections, records from Arizona’s Administrative Office of Courts, records pertaining to traffic offenses, and even county-level records.

For example, your investigator will be able to look through records from Maricopa County’s Justice and Superior Courts; Mohave County’s Municipal and Superior Courts; and Pima County’s Superior and Supreme Courts.   That way, if you know that the person in question has lived in a particular county, your investigator will be able to zero in on that area. Then, he can branch out to other areas of the state.

By the time all is said and done, your investigator will be able to tell you if the person in question has been convicted of a felony in the past 10 years. If he has, your investigator will be able to tell you when he was arrested, what charges he faced, what the case number was, and what the final court disposition was.

And, yes, he’ll go through everything by hand. That means you won’t be able to get the results instantly, but you’ll get them quickly. That’s because a good investigator knows exactly how to make his search as efficient as possible. (For example, here at Docusearch, we’ll get the results of your Arizona criminal records search to you within one business day.)

On the other hand, the bulk of those websites you see are simply data aggregators. They’re not run by anyone with a license (or even an investigative background!). Instead, they buy up old records, sync them to their computer system, and spit out information that may or may not be reliable. In most cases, these websites have records that haven’t been updated in several years, so they’re definitely not able to give you the full picture!

By going through all of Arizona’s records by hand, a licensed private investigator can make sure that you don’t leave any stone unturned. Plus, he can be on the lookout for any red flags, so that you don’t wind up with false positives.

Arizona Criminal Search

Is there anything that a licensed private investigator CAN’T tell you about someone?

Yes. If the person in question was arrested and convicted as a juvenile, your investigator won’t have access to those records. The same goes for any court records that a judge decided to seal. Those two types of information aren’t available to ANYONE!

What information do you need to provide before the search can begin?

Obviously, you’ll need to give your investigator a starting point. Luckily, though, you don’t have to hand over a dossier of information! Instead, all you’ll need to provide is the name and date of birth for the person in question. Having his Social Security number is helpful, but not mandatory.

How much will it cost to run a legitimate Arizona criminal records search?

The reputable private investigators will charge you a one-time fee. (For example, here at Docusearch we charge $45.) That’s a big difference from those data aggregator websites! They’ll grab your attention with a flashy promise — like free searches — but there will be plenty of hidden fees in the fine print. Usually, those free searches mean that you can look up a person for free, but if you actually want to see the results that come back, you’ll have to hand over some money. In some cases, you wind up getting sucked into an expensive subscription!

Now that you know how everything works, it’s time get your hands on some information! You can make your Arizona Criminal Records Search fast, easy, and affordable by turning to the team at Docusearch.