Searches repositories, court offices, and watch lists across all 50 states. Built for pre-screening — not for replacing courthouse records.
The National Criminal Index is a database search, not a courthouse search. It is a powerful pre-screening tool designed to cast a wide net across multiple states and sources. But it is not a substitute for a county or statewide criminal search. Any record found here must always be verified at the county or state level before you can legally act on it. We handle that verification for you automatically.
The National Criminal Index pulls from statewide repositories, court administration offices, and Departments of Corrections across the country. It also includes nationwide sex offender registries and security watch lists covering agencies like OIG, OFAC, Interpol, FBI Most Wanted, and SAM.gov — information you simply cannot get from a county or statewide search alone.
Where it shines is breadth. A person may have lived in four states, worked in three, and picked up a charge at a college football game in a state they only visited once. A county or statewide search tied to their current address would never find that. The National Criminal Index can.
The average person moves 11.7 times during their lifetime.* A search tied only to their current address leaves a lot of history unchecked. The National Criminal Index is built to close that gap.
Searches repositories, court offices, and Departments of Corrections across all 50 states in a single request.
Covers OIG, OFAC, Interpol, FBI Most Wanted, and SAM.gov. These do not appear on county or statewide searches.
Paired with a Social Security Trace, the National Criminal searches all name aliases and past addresses tied to your applicant.
Any positive record triggers a supplemental county or statewide verification search. We find the cheapest path and handle it for you.
Teal sources are unique to the National Criminal Index and do not appear in county or statewide searches.
Update frequency varies by source, from weekly to biannual — which is why verification is always required before acting on any hit.
We search the full database on the same day you order. Results come back fast.
If the database returns a potential record, we automatically order a county or statewide verification search in the jurisdiction where the record originated. We find the most cost-effective way to verify it for you.
Only confirmed, verified records are reported. The National Criminal search itself will show as no record on your final report. The verified county or statewide result is what you act on.
Some database records are outdated. A conviction may have been pardoned, expunged, or removed under a state Clean Slate act. Acting on an unverified database hit without checking the courthouse first is a compliance risk and a potential lawsuit. We verify so you are protected.
The following data points are returned when available in the record. All positive results are courthouse-verified before delivery.
Any positive record found here is automatically sent for courthouse verification before it appears on your final report. You will never be asked to act on unverified database information.
This is one of the most common points of confusion we see. The National Criminal Index searches state-level records across the country. It is not a federal court search. Drug trafficking, wire fraud, bank robbery, and other federal crimes prosecuted in federal court will not appear here. For those, you need a separate Federal Criminal Search covering all 94 federal district courts. If you are not sure which searches belong in your package, just call us and we will walk you through it.
A client started running the National Criminal Index on their existing employees as part of a re-screening program. One employee came back with a criminal record from Florida. The employee had never lived, worked, or gone to school there. They had picked up a charge at a college football game during a weekend trip. There was no reason to ever search Florida, and a county or statewide search never would have found it. The National Criminal caught it because it does not care where someone lives today. It looks everywhere.
A Social Security Trace surfaces every name alias your applicant has used. The National Criminal Index is then run against those names — not just the one on the application. The county or statewide search verifies anything that comes back. Together, they give you the most complete picture available.
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