Accessing Public Records

Answer 1

Sometimes, people need specific records regarding a person or an event. Records pertaining to a person could include marriage and divorce records, criminal records, or death records. An event for which someone may need records for could include a court case, or events from certain other government agencies. Though many of these records are openly available to the public, there are certain steps that must be followed in order to view them or to obtain a copy of them for personal use.

Nearly every type of public records will require the inquiring party to fill out some sort of records request. These are sometimes available over the phone or on department websites, though some of them need to be picked up in person at the office where records are kept. Certain information, such as a case number or social security number, will make the request easier and the records easier to find.

For older records, the agency will have up to thirty days to access the records and fill the request. The thirty day time frame pertains to both records reviews and records requests. A review is when the asking party simply wants to look over the documents, and a request is when the asking party wants a copy of the records to take home with them. When a review is requested, there is no cost involved, but a records request can have costs associated with it.

Court documents and other public records will often contain sensitive information in regards to juveniles or other individuals. This information is protected at all times, so any mention of names will not be made available to the general public in these types of cases. This is done as a precaution to protect the identity and anonymity of certain groups of people.

When requesting public records, the individual will need to be sworn in by a court clerk. This is to protect the information from certain individuals and so the court can keep a detailed document of who has access to the records and to maintain a trail of where the information has gone.