1. Harrison County Mississippi
On the 18th of February 2009 the Harrison County Circuit Clerk shut down the public access system for researchers. The clerk (Ms Gayle Parker, 228-865-4051) advises that the system will be down until 1 June 2009. Please expect delays on record research.
Reportedly, this shut down is for main maintenance, but it is believed that the court may be also redacting identifiers, including DOBs, from the public record.
Thanks to Mr. Jim Smith from Pro-Tech Investigations for this tip.
2. California State Offices
Beginning February 6, 2009 the DMV and many other state offices, will close the first and third Friday of each month. This closure is meant to help address the state's deficit of $42 billion.
3. Maine – Cumberland County Courts – Criminal Record Search
In Maine, the District Courts handle misdemeanors and the Superior Courts handle felonies. Recently, one of Cumberland County’s three District Courts merged its criminal record division with the county’s Superior Court. Records from Portland District Court - South 9 were merged with the Superior Court criminal record database. The new court is designated as the Unified Court. A criminal record search at the Unified Court will include a search of both courts. This merger does not affect civil or probate records held by the Portland District Court. Note the two other District Courts in Cumberland County (Bridgton District Court North 9 and Bath District Court East 6) each have a separate record database. Therefore, for a complete countywide criminal record search with misdemeanors, all three courts must be searched.
Thanks to Nils Nelson of Main Public Record Services for the heads up on this!
4. Indiana Counties and New Online System
A handful of Indiana courts are now displaying their indices on an open access system, known as Odyssey, via the Internet. The combined courts in Monroe County were the first in the state to go online with Odyssey, and it has been a less than stellar success. Conversations with a few deputy clerks and judges' clerks have confirmed that in the transition from one computer network (available in the clerk's office or by online paid subscription) to the Odyssey open network, cases were "lost" and other data were missing. Also, certain identifying information beyond the name was the address at the time of charging; we all know the limitations with that. After protests wide and large from the legal community, the DOB has reappeared with the defendant's name and address on criminal case chronologies, now known as "case registries." However, the missing cases and other data transfer problems remain. You can note the courts available through Odyssey at http://mycase.in.gov/ Courtesy of PRRN Member Don Johnson, Trace Investigations, Inc.
