San Benito County, California Criminal Records

Whenever a job candidate applies for a job or position that requires a high degree of trust or integrity, the hiring firm will almost always conduct a background check. A background check is the process of obtaining public and private information about individuals through the process of examining public records. These public records could include criminal records, credit information, employment history, even military records. If the background does not unearth any major red flags, then an offer of employment may be extended to the job applicant. A private citizen may also wish to conduct a background check on someone if they have suspicions about that person’s past history. There are Internet-based companies that will conduct a background check for a fee; otherwise the researcher may piece together public records from various sources on their own.

Court Records

Most county courthouses have an extensive archive of case and criminal information contained in public records, and make this information freely available to the public. For San Benito County, you will need to request court records from the clerk of the San Benito County Superior Court. If you have to travel to the courthouse in person, the address is 440 Fifth Street, Hollister, California, 95023. The contact telephone number to the courthouse is 831-636-4057. The court also has a webpage set up with general information for web users at the following link: http://www.sanbenito.courts.ca.gov/index.htm.

Public Records

In addition to the county courthouse, you will find the San Benito County Sheriff’s office invaluable in compiling criminal records to be used for a local individual’s background check. To contact the sheriff in person, you can travel to 451 4th St, Hollister, California, 95024. The sheriff’s main telephone number is 831-636-4080, and the fax number is 831-636-4016. The San Benito Sheriff also has a county webpage that has information about local sex offenders, and individuals on probation. To view this information, go to the sheriff’s webpage, located here: http://www.cosb.us/.

Online Resources

While researching information in the state of California for an individual’s background check, you will want to rule out the possibility that the target individual is a recent parolee, or worse, a parole absconder. For this purpose, the California Department of Corrections has set up a website that has a search tool you can use to track local offenders. The free search tool is located at the following link: http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Reports_Research/Inmate_Locator.html.

If you are concerned about what your own background check may contain, you can order your own from the California Department of Justice’s website, which has an order form set up for web users. All you are required to do beforehand is submit a $25.00 fee, payable by major credit, and follow the instructions located at this webpage: http://ag.ca.gov/fingerprints/security.php.

You may also at some point be required to order your own background check to be used for official state or county business, and need to use the California DOJ’s website for this purpose. Click the following link for more information on the process: http://ag.ca.gov/fingerprints/.

You can also search Megan’s Law, the California DOJ sex offender registry if you need to find out sex offender information, by clicking this link: http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov/.