Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Free Illinois Arrest Records Search

By Jed Elaine

As the Illinois criminal records are part of the public domain, anybody interested in searching these records can be granted permission to do so. Even though these are public records, the use of any information derived from these is governed by legislation, put in place to protect the right to privacy all individuals are entitled to. If the information were to be used for a background check for employment or voluntary work for example, then the person concerned would have to give prior consent for the use of his or her information for this check.

First port of call for any search of Illinois criminal records would be at the Illinois State Police, were records of all information relating to criminal matters are filed. This is not a free search however. There is an administrative fee of $16.00. The states Circuit Courts also hold information regarding Illinois criminal records. Paid searches are available from the Jackson County database for a nominal $12.95 search fee.

All law enforcement agencies are required to keep their criminal record databases regularly updated and well maintained. Any information collected will usually be shared with other law enforcement agencies and, as is often the case, with courts and even certain individuals. Records are usually updated at regular intervals, quarterly, monthly or even daily, depending on the typical operating procedure of the person in charge of these updates. The quality of arrest records information will depend on how up to date the database is and how well this is maintained.

Statistics would indicate that Illinois criminal records show a higher arrest rate than the national average over the recent years. Despite this statistic, the overall number of arrests in the state has shown a decline. Despite this statistic, the overall number of arrests in the state has shown a decline. In rough figures, this is approximately a 28% decrease in the number of arrests made over a 12 year period.

Similarly to almost all information searches today, the internet is the most popular method to access Illinois criminal records. Government agencies inevitably mean long queues and time delays. An alternative to these delays are commercial information providers. Factor in the ability to access private networks over and above the public databases and these commercial providers soon become an attractive option. Search results are typically available for download within a few minutes of running the search

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