This search retrieves the name and address records associated with the individual’s SSN in consumer reference files (credit reports, public records, and other commercially available information). This is sometimes referred to as an SSN Trace or, less accurately, as an SSN Verification.

Imperative’s analysts will individually review this information to corroborate the identity information provided by the applicant and determine under which names and in which jurisdictions criminal research should be conducted.

If the provided identity information is inconsistent with the results of our research, the report will be placed on hold and the issue brought to the client’s attention.

Because the information found in consumer reference files comes from a variety of sources and often contains errors, the results of this research are not included in reports. This information is only a guide to determine under which names and in which jurisdictions criminal research should be conducted.

This is not verification that the information provided matches the records of the Social Security Administration or any government entity. To verify that the provided name, date of birth, and SSN match official government records, a Consent-Based SSN Verification may be requested.

This is a search of a privately-maintained database of criminal records from jurisdictions across the US under each name associated with the individual.

This expanded search of the multijurisdictional criminal records database will yield all criminal records in the database, regardless of age but subject to legal reportability.

Sometimes referred to as a “national” or “nationwide” criminal history search, this database contains millions of criminal records, sex-offender registrations, the Office of Foreign Asset Control’s (OFAC) list of identified terrorists and other international criminals (often referred to as the Patriot Act list) and other sources.

Some jurisdictions provide limited or no information for inclusion in this database. Half or more of the available criminal records in the United States are missing from this database.

To ensure maximum possible accuracy, any records found in the database are verified with the originating county prior to inclusion in the background report.

This is a search of the misdemeanor and felony criminal court records in each county associated with the individual in the past ten years.

Each search will cover a minimum of ten years of criminal records in that county, if available – most will cover longer periods.

Counties and names included in research are determined based upon information provided to Imperative by the individual and other information developed during the address and social security number trace.

All Minnesota county searches will be conducted directly with the public access terminals.

Many counties have decentralized court records systems and each city or town in a county may have its own separate system for maintaining records of citations and low-level offenses.

Research is generally conducted using the records of the primary county-level criminal case indices and may not reflect cases in municipal or other low-level courts not included in the primary indices.

All research in New York is conducted through the New York Office of Court Administration and will be reflected under the statewide criminal searches.

This is a search of the available statewide criminal records databases, prison records, and sex offender registries in each state associated with the individual in the past ten years.

Any records found in a state’s records will be verified with the originating county prior to inclusion in the report.

Most state’s sex offender registries are included in the criminal records database, as well, though it may not reflect all current registrations.

Due to the very high fees for access to criminal records charged by the State of New York, an additional fee of $95 per name researched plus a $4 processing fee will be added for any New York research. As this will not be apparent until after you have paid for the background investigation and your applicant’s identity research has been completed, we will contact you for authorization and payment before proceeding with any New York research.

This is a search for criminal records in each federal district associated with the applicant in the past ten years.

Jurisdictions and names included in research are determined during Advanced Identity Research.

Minnesota federal district courts will be included in all reports.

While federal court records account for only 2% of the criminal records, they are often items of interest. Federal criminal offenses can include bank robbery, insurance fraud, interstate drug and gun crimes, child pornography, kidnapping, and conspiracy.

The indices for federal court records include only the defendants’ names. They do not include defendants’ dates of birth or other identifiers. This means that most records initially identified by searching a common name are not actually associated with the individual.

When a possible case is found, additional research to determine if the case is associated with the individual will be conducted. This typically only delays completion of the report by a couple days.

However, on occasion, this may require more time-consuming effort such as retrieving records from the federal archives or processing a request through the Department of Justice. In exceptionally rare cases, this additional research may take three or more weeks.