Are there any search engines on line that I can use to locate people
and find criminal records and any other search engine of this kind. I
found a few but they are expensive to use. Can you find me some free
ones. I heard that they are out there but I do not know where to find
them.
JIMNBAMA

Hi Jimnbama,

When I am not Google Answering, I spend many hours using free people
search engines. These are the most useful I have found to date. By
combining them, it can often be quite easy to locate someone.


Criminal Records
----------------

It is not possible to find criminal records online for free, however
some courts and most prisons have free searchable databases.

Links to courts which offer free, searchable records:
http://www.ncsc.dni.us/NCSC/TIS/TIS99/PUBACS99/PublicAccesslinks.htm

Links to inmate records - many offer historical details:
http://searchenginez.com/inmates_usa.html


Locating people
---------------

Any Birthday is a great starting point, especially if you know
someone's date of birth. Search for a name and get their date of
birth, and last known location (zip code). Because most names are not
unique, this is an excellent way of narrowing down the possibilities.
http://anybirthday.com/search.htm

If you know the county where someone lives, there are numerous ways to
find them using public records. My favorite is property records, but
you can also use professional licenses, marriage records etc. If the
person runs a business, it is worth searching corporation and company
details. Go to Search Systems and drill down to state and county
level:
http://searchsystems.net/

Alumni directories are very popular for people trying to locate old
school friends, and very useful for finding folk who weren't at your
school:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Reference/Education/Alumni_Directories/?il=1

It's the only site in the world where I have seen such a thing, but is
worth mentioning here - Harris County in Texas has a free database of
voters:
http://www.tax.co.harris.tx.us/voter/voters.asp#NSearch

If someone is a regular Internet user, there is a high chance that
they use a messenger service. AOL, ICQ, MSN and Yahoo all have
searchable directories of their users:
http://searchenginez.com/reverse_messenger.html

Don't forget Google! Many people have home pages, or contribute to
online discussions, or their employers have a web site. Try different
variations of the person's name within quotes and do a Google search:

"R Skelton"
"Robert Skelton"
"Rob Skelton"
"Skelton R"


Phone Directories
-----------------

Amazingly some folk overlook these, yet they are the quickest and
easiest people locators online. Note, however, that there is no way to
find an unlisted number for free.

Google Phone Directory - just enter a name and state, like Robert
Skelton, CA
://www.google.com/search?pb=r

Switchboard is the best if you do not know which state someone is in.
http://www.switchboard.com/bin/cgiqa.dll?MEM=1

Smart Pages use Infospace's phone directory, but their site doesn't
have pop-up ads.
http://smartpages.infospace.com/_1_24RUTTE03TFCTGM__yp.smart/people.htm?


I hope the above links help you. If you require some more information,
please request a clarification.

Best wishes,
robertskelton-ga