BRB's Public Records Blog

Wyoming Courts

Each county has a District Court of “higher jurisdiction” and a Circuit Court of limited jurisdiction. Effective January 1, 2003 all Justice Courts became Circuit Courts and follow Circuit Court rules.

Circuit Courts handle civil claims up to $7,000 and small claims to $5,000. The District Courts take cases over the applicable limit in each county.

Three counties have two Circuit Courts each: Fremont, Park, and Sweetwater. Cases may be filed in either of the two court offices in those counties, and records requests are referred between the two courts.

Municipal courts operate in all incorporated cities and towns; their jurisdiction covers all ordinance violations, DUIs, and some misdemeanors, but no civil jurisdiction. The Municipal Court judge may assess penalties of up to $750 and/or six months in jail.

Probate is handled by the District Court.

© excerpt from The Public Records Tips Book.

Airplane Registration Numbers

The International Civil Aviation Organization (www.icao.int) maintains aircraft registration standards for participating countries. Each aircraft (over a certain weight) must be registered with a national aviation registration mark and number. This registration is shown on the plane. Different countries have different registration schemes. For example, the U.S. uses an “N” followed by 1 to 5 additional characters as the aircraft registration number as follows:

·         N1 to N99 (reserved for only FAA internal use)
·         N100 to N99999
·         N1A to N9Z
·         N1AA to N9ZZ
·         N10A to N99Z
·         N10AA to N99ZZ
·         N100A to N999Z
·         N100AA to N999ZZ
·         N1000A to N9999Z

Each registration must start with a number other than zero, can not end in more than two letters, may not contain the letters I or O.

Private aircraft usually use their registration as their radio call-sign, but most commercial aircraft use the ICAO airline designator or a company call-sign.

Pre-1950s aircraft sometimes have a second letter in its identifier, but is not really part of the identification identifying the category of aircraft. For example, NC12345 is the same registration as N12345.

These categories may still appear on antique aircraft:

·         C = standard
·         L = limited
·         R = restricted
·         X = experimental

As mentioned, each country has its own unique registration mark scheme. For example, Canadian registrations start with C, Panama is HP, and Cyprus is 5B. For a list of country registration codes, go to www.icao.int/icao/en/anb/fls/alpha_State.pdf

© excerpt from the Business Background Investigations book.

Kosciusko County, Indiana Recorders Office Going Online

Kosciusko County, Indiana  announced it has a contract with Doxpop to provide county recorder public records online starting January 2009.  Fees have not been anounced but there will be a $1 copy fee passed back the county recorder's office.  The data will be available at www.doxpop.com and will also be linked from the county site www.kcgov.com

Canadian Criminal Court System

Canadian court records are public information. The court system in Canada is similar to the U.S. system in that there is a federal court system with a supreme court and there are provincial systems with upper and lower courts.

An informative resource about the Canadian Court System, including how organized, is the Department of Justice. Go to www.justice.gc.ca/eng/dept-min/pub/ccs-ajc/.

Below are links to the judicial systems of each province. The links will lead to extensive information about each province’s system including some online accessible databases.

Alberta – www.albertacourts.ab.ca

British Columbia – www.courts.gov.bc.ca

Manitoba – www.gov.mb.ca/justice

New Brunswick – www.gnb.ca/cour/index-e.asp

Newfoundland – www.justice.gov.nl.ca/just

Northwest Territories – www.nwtcourts.ca

Nova Scotia –www.courts.ns.ca/

Ontario – www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english

Prince Edward Island –  www.gov.pe.ca/courts

Quebec – www.justice.gouv.qc.ca/english/accueil.asp

Saskatchewan –  www.sasklawcourts.ca

Yukon –  www.justice.gov.yk.ca/prog/cs/courts.html

© excerpt from Business Background Investigations book.

About Searching for Criminal Records

There are two primary approaches to searching direct sources of criminal records – go to the courthouse or go to the state repository. There are pluses and minuses for each method.

Most criminal record searches performed by the public at the courts are “name searches.” This means a name is submitted or researched against a record docket index to determine if a record exists on the subject. Usually the DOB and sometimes the SSN is also provided or used by the requester when searching open records. Many courts provide public access terminal to search the index if they do not provide their personnel to do a look-up. A number of courts will not honor search requests by mail and certainly not by phone.

Using an exact name and a DOB gives record requesters a higher likelihood that the record found is that of the subject, opposed to name search with a partial DOB or to search with name only.

A smart researcher will search the record file and look for clues to identifiers that will confirm the record does indeed belong to the subject of the search, especially if the name is common like Williams or Smith. This holds true regardless if you are searching records at courthouses or at state agencies.

The “other” criminal records – incarceration, sexual predator, and from database vendors – can usually be searched with a name and some personal identifiers. However, if case details are needed, then an on-site search must be made at the appropriate court. Note that industry professionals generally consider these records to be supplementary in nature. They are certainly worthwhile, but professional researchers know these records should not be used as the only search source.

© excerpt from Business Background Investigations book.

About New Jersey's Promise/Gavel System - Beware of Shortcomings

Originally developed for county prosecutors, the Promis/Gavel is an automated criminal case tracking system that provides the function of docketing, indexing, noticing, calendaring, statistical reporting, and case management reporting, etc. Promis/Gavel is interactive with the courts as well as with the NJSP. But rules do not allow the public to access the complete Promis/Gavel system—only a filtered Promis/Gavel Public Access (PGPA) system is available to the public on the public access terminals in the courts. Also, the PGPA does not include contain offenses or petty offenses recorded in 530+ municipal courts, unless they are filed with indictables. The more serious of these petty offenses include drug offenses, violence, theft, sexual assault, and pedophilia. An AOC press release about the PGPA states, “The court records obtained from Promis/Gavel do not constitute a criminal history records check, which must be obtained through law enforcement.” 

However, because of the simplicity of access and cost, the PGPA is the system of choice for many pre-employment screening companies.

A quick "did you know" about NJ - Cape May County offices are located in the City of “Cape May Court House,” and not in the City  of “Cape May.”

© excerpt from Business Background Investigations book.

Alabama Vehicle Status Check

A new online service that we came across while doing research for the 2009 MVR Book is the Vehicle Information Check provided by Alabama Interactive, an affiliate providing a variety of online services for the state. The Check provides basic vehicle registration information including lienholder data. Requesters must enter either the title number or the VIN, there is no name search. The cost is $2.00 and use of credit card is required unless the requester is an existing subscriber to Alabama Interactive. Alabama Interactive is the official state online provider of driving records and UCC filings, among other items.

For more information, visit https://www.alabamainteractive.org/ador_vic/.