Most employers have potential employees sign a release to have a background check done. This provides for a thorough search of the person's involvement with law enforcement agencies. As an average citizen you do have public record access to look up information on anyone, and you do not need to have his or her permission. It is an easy process that has become even more simple with the use of the internet. Public records access has always been available though court administration offices. Court administration offices are located where ever court hearings are held. There are local level offices as well as state and federal. In the past if you wanted to have public records access you needed to physically go to the site where a court hearing took place and request to see the file of the person. The type of information that is public record is any crimes that the person has been convicted of and the sentence they received. Crimes the person was arrested for or were talked to by the police about are not public knowledge. This is why when someone is arrested the media needs to make the statement that the person allegedly committed the crime.

Today anyone can go on the internet and have access to public records, as long as you have the person's name and date of birth. The site that holds this information is the bureau of criminal apprehension. Most states have this bureau. Other public information that is available through most government agencies are the tax records for property as well as the legal owner of property. This is important information to look up when purchasing property so that you know what the taxes are and to make sure that they have been paid. There are times when a home owner does not disclose the accurate amount of the property tax.