I guess the sex offender registries have been a sufficiently popular idea that states are continuing to create boutique criminal records databases. Baltimore, Maryland recently approved legislation that would create a public Gun Offenders Registry, requiring those convicted of gun related offenses register their name, address, and photograph with the police department. As yet, a Web database is not available.

California could become the first state to have a Domestic Violence Offenders Registry.

Minnesota, Tennessee and Illinois have Methamphetamine Offenders Registries. Montana includes convicted meth manufacturers in its Sexual and Violent Offender Registry. Oklahoma lists the offenses that require registration in its Sex and Violent Crime Offender Registry. Georgia, Kansas Kentucky and Connecticut briefly considered adding a violent offender registry to their roster of convicted criminal databases. Similar legislation is still alive in Hawaii.

The Illinois State Police maintains the Child Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry.

The flush of interest in drug dealer registration faded in Maine, New Mexico and Illinois last year, but is still alive in New York. New Mexico has a DWI Offender Database.

Find out if a Michigan drivers license is valid or has been suspended or revoked by searching the Repeat Offender Inquiry.

And, on the meth makers theme, the DEA National Clandestine Laboratory Register, “contains addresses of some locations where law enforcement agencies reported they found chemicals or other items that indicated the presence of either clandestine drug laboratories or dumpsites.”

The free real property databases are extending their geographical coverage and the types of features that delight investigators. Zillow has a fly-on-the-cyber-wall feature that will be appreciated by lawyers and investigators: number of total and recent month page views for a particular property. Find it at the bottom of the “Home Facts” detail page. The last sales date and sales price is available on both Zillow and Cyberhomes, but I found the data more often on Zillow. This site will also show a list of all houses on a specified street, with a link to the home details.

Cyberhomes has a more modern look, but if you’re not especially interested in comparables, Zillow probably offers more for an investigator. Cyberhomes does have an easy to find neighborhood snapshot of census-derived demographic data. The comps and photos, available at both sites, give a quick sense of the neighborhood economic profile.

Free registration at PropertyShark will get you 6 free lookups a day that return property owner name and last sales price. Unfortunately, the county Assessors’ Web sites often don’t provide the owner name, even though it’s a public record. PropertyShark may not have this for all addresses, so you might want to use the free owner lookup at CourthouseDirect.

View your selected slice of real estate on a map at Live, Google, Yahoo, MapQuest or TerraServer at PropertyShark. There’s also a link to the Department of Justice, National Sex Offender Public Web Site.

A few reminders: Not all regions or addresses are included in any of the free sites, which is true for fee-based databases, as well. Some Web sites are missing large geographical areas or addresses on a street. Also, if you’re searching property records as part of an investigation, utilize multiple sources - free and fee-based - and dig into the Assessor and Recorder supplied records. Check their online and onsite records. There are differences.

I wrote about PropertyShark and did another posting, also in 2006, which generated a number of valuable additions in the comments.

How have you used real property sites in investigations?

I was setting out to write about state lookup and registration of “Do Not Call” and “No Call” phone numbers. More on this in a moment. I’m diverging to mention a few voter registration lookup links. The Federal Voting Assistance Program, U.S. Department of Defense collects links to State Voter Registration Verification Web sites. The participating states provide this service for residents to confirm their voter registration status. The sites may variously require a name, date of birth, street number or address to verify whether the individual is registered to vote.

A few non governmental sites that collect links to public records have a category dedicated to voter records. Black Book Online has 63 links to city, county or state government voter registration lookup. Search Systems has some additional links, but there are variations in both collections. And neither has Southington, Connecticut Voter Registration Lookup included. Imagine that! Read my prior posts on voter registration verification.

Okay, on to Do-Not-Call phone lookup sites. The Tennessee Do-Not-Call Citizen Registration Lookup returns a street number match to the provided telephone number. The Missouri Registration Lookup for No Call List verifies whether a phone number is on the list and the date it was registered.

Do you know of other voter confirmation or Do-Not-Call registration sites?

The Colorado Board of Medical Examiners is expanding the range of information on doctors at its site. This data on new licensees is expected to be posted April 2008, but will only be gathered and posted for current licensees in 2009.

The following information will be disclosed:

* Name
* Aliases
* Current Address
* Telephone number
* Information regarding all medical licenses ever held
* Current Board Certifications
* Practice Specialty (ies)
* Affiliations with hospitals and health care facilities
* Current ownership interests in businesses
* Current employment contracts
* Public disciplinary actions against a medical license
* Agreements and Stipulations to temporarily cease medical practice
* Involuntary hospital or health care facility privileging actions
* Involuntary surrender of a DEA registration
* Criminal convictions or plea arrangements for felonies and crimes of moral turpitude
* Judgments, settlements and arbitration awards for medical malpractice claims
* Refusal by an insurance carrier to issue medical liability insurance

The Nevada Supreme Court has adopted rules for redacting and sealing court records. The court may order a file sealed or redacted for “identified compelling privacy or safety interests that outweigh the public interest in access to the court record.” The identity of the person who filed the motion to seal the court record must be recorded and kept a public record.

The Vermont Health Department is beginning the process of removing Social Security numbers from death certificates. In addition, proposed legislation would remove the cause of death from death certificates. Another bill would bar the posting of court cases on the Internet. Read all about it.

Here’s a very positive story about a PI firm in California that was working on a local case stumbled upon a teen MySpace cyberstalker. As a result of their investigation, Lee County Sheriff’s Office made an arrest in the Southwest Florida county.

The private investigators found a web page for a Southwest Florida teen who deputies say made some very serious threats. The web page was allegedly put together by a teen that goes by the user name, Bloody Bon3. The teen is now charged with cyberstalking for using MySpace to threaten other people.

More details can be read here.

Don’t mess with Louisiana private-eye Stephanie Ware. She received a ticket in the mail with the phrase “official government business” on the envelope. After further investigation she determined that the company who sent this notice was a non-governmental entity. This raised red flags for Stephanie and also for the US Postal Service. It is possible that this company may have violated a statute prohibiting mail that implies a false connection with the federal government as (39 USC Section 3001).

As a result of Stephanies complaint, it is being reported that the United States Postal Inspection Service is now collecting evidence to determine whether a photo enforcement vendor violated mail fraud statutes.

The Louisiana State Board of Private Investigator Examiners is also currently investigating whether Redflex has violated a state law requiring a private investigator licenses for anyone in the business of providing photographic evidence for use in court cases.

If you have been the victim of a similar notice by this company you can join the fight by visiting ReportRedflex.com

Bill Clutter’s work as an Illinois private investigator has helped to free two men and is a perfect example of the how investigators in the private sector are an asset to the public.

Bill is also the director of investigations for the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

“Most of the evidence was uncovered in the spring of 1992,” Clutter said, “It shouldn’t take this long to exonerate an individual. … The justice system did fail.”

On Tuesday, Herb Whitlock walked out of jail for the first time in nearly 21 years. A judge approved the prosecutors’ motion to drop charges against him in the slaying of a newlywed couple.

Whitlock’s release from an Edgar County Jail came 3½ years after prosecutors freed his onetime co-defendant, Gordon “Randy” Steidl, who had been convicted on much the same evidence but was able to file more timely appeals.

A Chicago Tribune article highlights the details of this case and feature’s Bill’s work as the main reason for the release of both men. My congratulations to Bill for a job well done and helping to further build the reputation of our profession.

Here we go again, another incident involving a private investigator that tarnishes the reputation of an entire profession all in the name of making a quick buck.

A local Ohio newspaper is now reporting that a worker at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has allegedly admitted to selling the Social Security numbers and other non-public personal information of injured workers’ to a private investigator.

The private investigator has not been identified, but the case has been referred to the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office for possible criminal prosecution.

While it doesn’t appear that the information provided was being used for identity theft, the bureau is still notifying 49 injured workers whose personal information appears to have been was compromised.

These incidents only provide legislators with more ammunition to exclude licensed private investigators from legitimate access to valuable personal information.

One can only hope that those PIs who are willing to break the law, or forget about professional ethics, are caught and punished.

What do you think about this incident?

An article by CFO.com reports that a recent Ernst & Young survey of more than 300 corporate-development officers and other finance professionals found that many companies use forensic techniques, including hiring private investigators, to learn more about local market dynamics and the people involved in a potential deal.

This is a great opportunity for investigators to locally market their investigative skills and international contacts to conduct international investigations.

Many private investigators who belong to international PI associations such as WAD - World Association of Detectives, WAPI - World Association of Professional Investigators, CII - Council of International Investigators, WIN - World Investigators Network, and many more. Their members already know the financial benefits of international networking.

Our world has gotten much smaller with the Internet and ease of international travel and trade regulations.

You can learn more about international investigative marketing from Jimmie Mesis at PI Magazine.

Here’s another example of a dumb criminal with a twist. It appears that two Mississippi men thought they could actually help free their buddy in a Wilkinson County jail using forged court documents with one of the men posing as a private investigator.

Now, the men are facing felony charges after their plan failed. It is alleged in a news report that Demario Walker, 23, of Prentiss told prison personnel Dec. 27 that he was a private investigator and offered a business card as proof. When officials at the prison run by Corrections Corp. of America asked for photo identification, Walker said he had lost it.

Correction officials were also alert to the fact that the two men were driving a 2004 Kia to supposedly transport the prisoner to another facility.

So, now we have to worry about criminals posing as PIs. It seems that everyone wants to become a private investigator. Who’ll be next?