Texas county offers free criminal background checks

the county’s district clerk offers free criminal background checks for the county’s residents. Because the county records are matters of public record, anyone could acquire this information by going to or calling the county clerk’s office. Now, you can simply go to hcdistrictclerk.com and cut out the middleman. The county has records from 1977 onward up on the website, though juvenile records are not included. More than 4 million residents call Harris County home. The ability to conduct local checks could help residents to ensure any contractors or service people they hire are reputable; residents can also ensure neighborhood safety or check out suspicious behavior. All that is required to look up a person’s criminal history is their name and the year they were born. While this service allows community members to conduct local searches, District Clerk Chris Daniel says that this service is not an alternate to federal or international background checks. When making hiring decisions, a nationwide, or even international, screening program or service would be a better option, as it can bring back records from other counties and states, and can provide information about any arrests and convictions that occurred outside the county. The website only includes records from Harris County, and does not include state records or those from any area outside county lines. Having this service available is a good option for Harris County employers to do preliminary background searches, but if you are seriously considering a new employee, especially in the childcare or service industries, you’ll need to dig deeper into a candidate’s history during pre-employment screening in order to ensure the safety of your employees and anyone who may be in your employees’ care. In addition, not all county records are properly reported, as was the case when ride-sharing service UberX discovered some of its drivers in Dallas and Chicago had passed employee criminal history checks despite having felony records. Be diligent in doing background searches on employees for your business’ sake. For more information about conducting county or federal checks, contact Mind Your Business.]]>