Monday, February 11, 2008

Instant National Database Searches

A few days ago, a person posted a comment asking me about national, instant database that are developed by commercial operations. Please understand that I believe there is a purpose and use for such programs but I would not consider them to be very reliable. I have since found article that describes a study that the author did in assessing these databases.
BIS Research Exposes Holes in Instant Criminal Records Databases By Kevin Bachman


As I paraphrase from the article-
National Aggregated Databases are instant and inexpensive as they rely on various reporting agencies willingness to provide or sell data.  Such sources can include corrections facilities, some county courthouses and some state sponsored sites. 

Background Information Services, Inc. selected a database that had the most “shared” records. 

Of 651 known criminals randomly selected, only 200 could even be searched by this database; those records are just not available to be shared. For example, most records in Illinois, Ohio, New York, California, Missouri, Texas, Maryland, Massachusetts and Michigan are not available.
Of the 200 known criminals, more than 35% missed significant issues completely: Assault. Sex Abuse of a Child. Forgery. Kidnapping. Aggravated Drug Trafficking. Breaking and Entering.
Of the records that actually were found, 50% of the known criminal hits contained incomplete or inconsistent information when compared to courthouse searches.  
Lapse in time issue-  many of the records in a “National Database” updated on a weekly, monthly, or even bi-annual basis.

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