Sonoma County, California Criminal Records

Many companies, as a condition of employment, will have job applicants undergo a background check in order to glean information about their past for the purpose of gaining insight into their character. This background check will almost always consist of the human resources department using public records to obtain this information. The subsequent results of this background check is often the final deciding factor in whether or not to extend a job offer to an applicant. For example, a common form of a background check is to fingerprint the job applicant, and then run their information through a law enforcement database to discover whether or not they have criminal records. These records that are returned as a result of this query could quite literally be the determining factor in whether an applicant is hired or denied a job opportunity.

Court Records

Most criminal records requestors and researchers are going to use a county’s court records to make up a fairly significant portion of the information used in a background check. If you need to request public records from the Sonoma County Superior Court, the address is as follows: Hall of Justice, 600 Administration Drive, Santa Rosa, California 95403. The courthouse’s main telephone number is 707-521-6500. If you plan to visit in person, the court clerk’s standard hours are 8:00am – 5:00pm, Monday thru Friday. For information on the process of obtaining court records online, you can browse the court’s county webpage by clicking this link: http://sonoma.courts.ca.gov.

Public Records

A background check would be incomplete if only court records were looked up and viewed; a researcher would also need to check out the public records housed with that county’s sheriff. To search any records on file with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, you can travel to the sheriff’s office in person by going to 2796 Ventura Ave, Santa Rosa, California 95403. The sheriff’s non-jail telephone number is 707-565-1400. If you wish to quickly view pertinent criminal information, such as the most wanted in the county, you can find links to this information on the sheriff’s webpage, which is located here: http://www.sonomasheriff.org.

Online Resources

If you need to do a quick check of the California Department of Corrections online offender database in an attempt to rule out an individual being on parole, you can do so by clicking on the following link and reading the disclaimer: http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Reports_Research/Inmate_Locator.html.

For any reason, you can put in an order request of your own personal background with the California Department of Justice by visiting the DOJ online. Click the following link to go to the info webpage: http://ag.ca.gov/fingerprints/security.php

If you need to get an official fingerprint-based background check before you are issued a VISA or passport, you also order them from the California DOJ. The following webpage explains the process: http://ag.ca.gov/fingerprints/.

Any citizen for whom you are conducting a background will need their information ran through the DOJ’s Megan’s Law registered sex offender registry, which web user can access by clicking the following link: http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov/.