Saturday, September 6, 2014

Searching For Free Criminal Records

By Claire Dowell


The office of the Central Repository under the Pennsylvania State Police is the one that handles the PA criminal records. Such record is stored electronically using the Pennsylvania Access to Criminal History Records also known as PATCH.

The state of Pennsylvania uses PATCH to store and monitor the reports that the state receives. This includes the police arrest records which are generated by the officers for people who violated the laws. The online system of Pennsylvania even caters to users who have not registered to the system allowing authorities, organizations and even private individuals to access the records. Although, access to the arrest records of the state is open to the public, the information obtained from a public file is limited because of the criminal laws that the state of Pennsylvania has implemented.

The limitation simply means that, although everybody has the freedom to access the arrest records of the state, not everybody would be able to get all of the information pertaining to the recorded incident. A good example of this is the records of minors. Juvenile records are kept confidential and are only available to those who have the authority. Being a public file means many can see what is stated on the file, this increase the risk for the witnesses as well as the investigator. Such sensitive documents are only available to the public after the case has been resolved.

Resident of Pennsylvania is only allowed to obtain a copy of their personal file. This means that one has to have authority in order to access the records of other people. Owners of businesses or companies and organizations as well as the local authorities are just few of the people who are given access to the documents. One has to pay $10 in order to search for the record of interest using the name. A $15 processing fee is required for a fingerprint search. Unfortunately, a fingerprint search can only be done by authorized individuals.

Aside from the online system, one can personally request it at the State Police Central Repository office of the state. Before going to the office, the state recommends downloading the form online to help speed up the process. The form has to be submitted to the said office and payment has to be made with a check amounting to $10 only or a money order. All of the necessary information has to be indicated on the form which can aid in the retrieval process. Also, the one who requested the file will be required to provide their contact details as well. This will only be used to track and document the access to the file.

Now that the Internet is used to easily get information, criminal records are now also very easy to obtain. The search online can minimized the need to go to the government office. A lot of websites offer to retrieve a copy of a criminal recd while some of this website would offer criminal records free to public users. Websites offer their free service to get more attention and convert visitors to potential customers.




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