Have you just moved to a new neighborhood? There is the need to learn if any of your neighbors have any criminal history relating to sex offenders, theft or any other criminal activity. Some laws support this notion like the Megan’s law and Dru’s Law that requires every sex offender to register in the national database indicating their full names and addresses.
Since this information is supposed to be public record, you will be able to search for the sex offenders living around you. This way you will be able to know the felons in your neighborhood thus be able to keep yourself safe by being alert if need be.
There are various websites and applications designed to act as a search engine for offenders living close to you. They require you to provide your zip code and the database will retrieve any criminal records registered in that area. This is a great way to keep yourself aware of the environment and people around you.
- Family Watchdog
This website is free and you are supposed to input the zip code you are interested to know more about or the specific address you want to search. Colored squares will be used on the map to indicate all the offenders living around you. When you click on each single square you will be able to view the name, place of employment, image and number of convictions of each criminal. Any additional information about the offender is also provided for you to view. The main advantage of using this website is that you can sign up and provide your email address so that in case any offenders move close to you, you can receive a notification.
- Talking to the other neighbors
Sometimes neighbors know more about the people living around them than the information you can access online. If there is a criminal living in your community, your neighbors may know about them and thus sharing this information among one another is essential but only if you know who your neighbors are. You will also be able to identify and investigate any suspicious activities. For instance, you could form a neighborhood watch.
- FreeBackgroundCheck.org
FreeBackgroundCheck.org has millions of public records about people and you can check the background of your neighbors thus be able to identify any criminals that live close to you. Using this website is quite easy and it is very reliable. For information accuracy, we ensure to update the database about new or the already existent felons in your neighborhood. I find this as one of the best ways to know more about the criminals in my area.
- Local Police Blotter
Checking your local newspaper or your local news online and searching for their police blotter and local arrests. You can then see if a person is in police custody or if someone got arrested.
- Local County Jail Inmate Searches
Your local jail should have an inmate search so you can see who’s in jail and why. You can find out if someone has been arrested for a felony charge, misdemeanor and exactly what their charges are. Just search for your local county jail website and most will have an inmate search. This is a great starting point to see if someone has been convicted of a crime before.
While talking to your neighbors or obtaining firsthand information about the criminal records of the people around you, search systems are some of the most effective public data resources. You want to stay alert by being aware of the felons that live in your neighborhood and find out if your area is really safe. This way, you will be able to protect yourself, children and neighbors. You can combine all the above discussed resources of public records because the content available on each may vary a bit from the others. We advise that you consider connecting with your neighbors by for instance joining websites like NextDoor because you get to share information about any criminals close by or ongoing crimes.
