The Department of Justice database of lobbyists who work on behalf of foreign governments is now online. Search by country or registrant name to get the registration status. Some documents are also available.Reported in The Hill

A few months ago I wrote about the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control maintains License Query System. An added feature to the ABC site is daily, weekly and annual reports of new licenses, license status changes and actions taken against licenses including, revocations, suspensions, fines, and issuance or denial of licenses. The database of reports cannot be searched at the site. Search the archived reports from September 16, 2006 to the present by using this advanced search at Google. Replace “Safeway” with your company name, address or other key words.

safeway site:www.abc.ca.gov/reports/

Reporters and anyone compiling statistical data will be able to make use of the reports menu at the ABC site. Query the reports by location and license type to get a detail of all that meet that criteria. For example, find all the caterer licensees in Azusa.

Washington State law now bans employer access to the credit reports of employees or potential employees unless such information is substantially related to the individual’s current or potential job responsibilities. An exception is made if the employer has a “reasonable cause to believe” that the employee “has engaged in specific activity that constitutes a violation of law.”

Missouri private investigators are poised to receive the stamp of legitimacy with the establishment of the Board of Private Investigator Examiners, which will license and regulate private investigators. The bill is awaiting the governor’s signature, which is expected this summer. The Missouri Association of Private Investigators has worked diligently to secure state level licensing and soon they’ll be able to join the majority of states that license PIs.

New regulations for Indiana private investigators will go into effect July 1, including the replacement of the term “private detective” with “private investigator”.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court will decide whether property assessment databases created on behalf of municipalities by private companies are a public records.

Legislation introduced in Pennsylvania would make it a crime to obtain, sell or receive phone records of state residents without their authorization.

Google has expanded on its Google Maps feature with two enhancements: My Maps and Street View. Street View is street level photographs of buildings and intersections along the corridors of roads in selective cities. This will remind you city photo lovers of the much missed similar product, A9.

Enter an address located in San Francisco (and other Bay Area cities), New York, Las Vegas, Denver or Miami, navigate along the street in all 4 directions and rotate 360 degrees to view images available from one spot. Surveillance investigators can make use of this in their information gathering prior to an onsite surveillance. Google Maps Mania has links to videos and blog postings on this topic, as well as discussion of the new Mapplet tool that will allow developers to imbed multiple layers of data in maps. Read the Google Press Release

Google rolled out the My Maps feature last month, an easy tool to place icons of user selected sites on a Google Map. Gridskipper has more…

Search for other user created maps by topic, city or other tags at the Programmable Web. Here’s the list of crime maps.

The San Diego County, California Sheriff has launched a database of filed Protective and Restraining Orders - apparently the only one of its kind in the country - that can be searched by the name of the restrained party. A search by partial last name returns the full name, order number, issue and expiration dates, and court of filing. There are records still here past the expiration dates, but the overall dates of coverage are not clear. The San Diego Court Index is searchable by name but you can’t restrict the file type except by “civil”, “criminal” etc. San Diego doesn’t have court dockets online but in other counties which do you have to look at each case filed (yes, there is often more than one for the same person!) and scroll through to find an entry for a restraining order.

Some courts - the Chancery Court in Madison County, Mississippi is an example - have a selection for TRO or restraining order as a file type.

Do you know of other Sheriff or Court Web sites that have restraining or protective order searches?

Find recently added links at directories of public records and new databases of public records at these sources that list their updates. These links take you directly to the Web page of new links.

The National Archives - list on online databases - What’s New

Search Systems - New Sites

DataUniverse - New Jersey selective public records via APP.com

DataCentral - Iowa selective public records via Eastern Iowa newspaper, The Gazette

Ancestry - What’s New

RootsWeb - What’s New

Genealogy Today - New in genealogy

Family Search - News Releases - Popular web sites available for free through local Family History Centers

Appriss VineLink - County and State inmates - Scroll down the page to see the new media releases

VitalSearch - some birth, death, marriage and divorce records - additions are infrequent - What’s New

The Tennessee Supreme Court has overturned the law enforcement privilege in the state public records act, making police field interview cards, which The Jackson Sun newspaper had sought, available under the Public Records Act.

The Colorado governor will likely sign a bill next month that will enable people to seal their court records pertaining to charges that were dismissed, not filed or when the defendant is acquitted. The RCFP story

Proposed legislation in North Carolina would redact personal information from vehicle crash reports, make failure to disclose public records a misdemeanor, restrict from discovery prosecutors’ witness interviews and names of confidential informants, and open access to employment information on government employees but close personnel records.

Illinois has unveiled its Illinois Child Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry.

Search by name, city, zip code, county or offender status. Perhaps the kinks aren’t worked out, but I couldn’t get search results by any criteria. You can also map offenders, but only if you know the street address and zip code. Here’s what the database covers.

The CMVOY registry contains individuals convicted of specific crimes in which the victim was a minor, but the crime was not sexually motivated. The crimes – as defined by HB 4193, signed by Governor Blagojevich on June 27, 2006 – include kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping, unlawful restraint, aggravated unlawful restraint, and any attempt to commit any of these offenses when the victim is under 18 years of age and when the defendant is not a parent of the victim. Other offenses include forcible detention, child abduction or murder when the victim was a person under 18 years of age and the defendant was at least 17 years of age.

A Santa Clara County, California Superior Court judged has ordered the county to make its GIS property parcel mapping database available to the public at minimal cost. The California First Amendment Coalition took the county to court, upending the government’s myriad excuses for keeping the map data out of public reach. Reported by AP

A new Texas Administrative Rule institutes a prohibition in the recording of personal information by notary publics.

There’s been much debate in legislatures and government administration about which public records should be sealed. The Texas legislature is considering whether to withhold search warrant affidavits for 60 days from public view. The Nevada Legislature failed to set guidelines or restrict judges from sealing court records and now the state Supreme Court may establish its own requirements.

Iowa State regulatory boards that license professionals such as doctors, nurses, dentists and psychologists will be required to release the record of formal charges against medical professionals that stem from patient complaints.

Gifts, investments, outside income, business relationships and other economic interests of top public agency employees and elected officials of San Bernardino County, California are now posted online in a database. Search by filer name, filing date, position or department name. San Bernardino is the first California county to put these records online, according to a report in the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

The Statement of Economic Interests, California Fair Political Practices Form 700, is filed each year with the government official’s home county, or with the state Fair Political Practices Commission for state elected officers, legislators, judges and court commissioners, and members of the state boards and commissions.

The San Bernardino County filings begin with 2006; the home addresses are redacted from the forms.

Maryland law now allows people arrested but not charged to expunge their police records.

The Nevada Senate is considering AB600, which has passed the Assembly, a bill that will allow people to redact their personal identifying information from public records which they previously filed. The last 4 digits of the Social Security number are not personal information and will be allowed on public records. The 4 number identifier will be required on judgments.

The Idaho state Supreme Court ruled that emails sent between county employees are public records.

Even though federal law makes certain student records confidential that does not prevent the public release of redacted student disciplinary records, according to a decision by the Montana Supreme Court.

The interest in private investigators isn’t limited to just the USA or the UK, as Malaysia introduces television viewers to their own version of a PI.

According to Malaysia’s The Star Online, TV3 has started airing a new action and comedy series Kaber Hero Kaber Zero. This private investigator has super powers and the script takes him on what is best described as weekly zany adventures. The show also includes computer generated graphics to enhance the powers that enables the private investigator to leap off tall buildings, run at high speed and even walk through walls.

Fortunately, the show is so far from reality, one would hope that the average person won’t expect real life private investigators to perform any of these feats. However, there are those that will now expect us to compete with Superman.

Courthouse Direct has added a free bankruptcy index search to its collection of free public records, which now include nationwide (sort of) real property, many Recorder indexes, and Texas marriage, divorce and death indexes.

Search the bankruptcy records by name, date, filing state, type of filing, city, state or the the last 4 digits in the Social Security number. The asterisk wildcard can be used after a partial first name. The results list returns the court location, full name of the party, the date of the filing and the filing type. The filing type is not very useful because it describes the subject (defendant 1 or 2 or “other”), not the nature of the court filing. Further details are available for a fee, or you can go to PACER, which is less costly. The through dates are not specified, except that the party search is complete starting in 2001. I found California cases in one jurisdiction from 1985. Other states had filings from the early 1990’s but most seemed to be from the 2000’s. Courthouse Direct bankruptcy data comes from the commercial service AACER, which does not have a free lookup.

One caution: The bankruptcy search only works in Internet Explorer!

Visit this federal government site for a glossary of bankruptcy terms.