Have You Ever Check into Somone's Background?

Well, since hubs is a cop, if I ever needed to look up someone's background, at least I'll never have to pay for it! lol!

My brother and I investigated my dad's new wife. We used the investigator that his law firm uses. I get the feeling with the online places if it isn't accessible online it won't be in the report.

My husband's best friend is a cop, so yes we've had him run checks for us.
- Housekeeper (just handing over the keys to my house without knowing? No way)
- Childcare providers
- My childhood friend married a man who was a compulsive liar, bipolar and a complete sociopath. We all saw him for who he was, but she didn't believe anyone. We had a complete check done- wow. Apparently she was his 3rd wife (which she didn't know) and he had a history of prescription drug addiction.

I've used knowx.com successfully. It has been a long time since I used it but I got a lot of detail that was needed at the time.

I can't remember what service we've used, but we run anyone my step-daughter's mother is dating or living with. She's a real loser magnet with terrible judgment so it gives us good reason to put strict limits on visitation, etc.

No, but I've done background checks when I was running a children's religious education program. However, don't depend on background checks. A standard background check will tell you is whether someone has been *convicted* of harming a vulnerable child or adult. An extremely comprehensive background check will give you information about past employers, traffic tickets, credit ratings, etc. etc.

None of this will tell you whether the person is safe around children, with excellent judgement and excellent personal boundaries. Okay, yes, if they have six convictions for assaulting children you know they're not a good bet as a babysitter! But most people who are dangerous or negligent do not have a past history of convictions. On the flip-side, someone who got arrested in a bar brawl a decade ago may be a gem of a caregiver now.

If you feel better with a background check, go ahead and do one. It's a decent deterrent for people who have something to hide, and communicates that you are aware of the possibility that "nice" looking people can be unsafe. But please don't assume that everything is fine if it comes back clean. Follow your instincts, notice things, and ask questions. This will give you far better information in most cases than a background check.

I haven't used that specific website, but yes, there are ways to run backgrounds checks on people and yes, I've used systems like that before, but no, I've never had to pay for it.

My husband and I search all the public records on his ex wifes boyfriends. It shows all their court hearings and how they are fighting with their ex's. Very interesting info if you just spend some time on the internet. Good luck!

my best friend used to check case.net for possible info on her daughters' dates. She wanted to know if they had any legal action taken against them. Blew me away to think that she'd actually do that!

I have a couple of friends that work for city government and they reference ccap for wisconsin court records. If you enter ccap michigan it will bring up the site for Michigan and will show you all the public info that runs through the courts-so traffic tickets, felonies, divorces etc....It's public info so no harm no foul.

I have to imagine that every state allows access to this type of stuff.

I have not, but I do plan on paying for a background check on any future son or daughter-in-law if I have any sneaky suspicious feelings.

There was a post here a couple of years ago from a young woman complaining that her own parents had done so on her new boyfriend, and how appalled she was. I was thinking it was a pretty good idea. So, I got the idea from there, or here.

Oh, but I do google people all the time...some have very interesting news about them on-line. We had a neighbor once who was part of some big stock market scheme, he served time over...and not surprisingly was a real jerk.

i would criminally histrory check any guy through the states website my ex did to my bf before he met my daughter