Diggin in the Dirt of your past

Many churches pay a company $25 or more to check the details of a potential volunteer's background, but because we aren't a huge mega-church with deep pockets, we do our own background checks on our volunteers. Probably not as thorough, but we've done our due diligence so a court of law can free us from responsibility if something terrible ever happened (I hope).

Because I have this repressed desire to be a Private Investigator, I get to do the background checks. I get a weird feeling when I do them. I love to pry into people's pasts without them knowing. I am a true voyeur. But, I always feel a little dark after reading about how people used to... and in some cases still do live their lives.

Well if you want to do some PI work yourself, check out these links. Usually all you need is a name and at most a date of birth to accurately identify a person and their shady past.
I've discovered information ranging from "speeding 5-10mph over limit" to felony drug charges and domestic abuse. Each state is a little different in what they show. For example, Iowa gives speeding tickets, but Oklahoma gives divorce filings. Background checks are more interested in anything Simple Misdemeanor and above. But remember the simple misdemeanor of 4th degree theft can be stealing from a pharmacy, or it can be writing a check that bounces and then not being able to cover it.

Here's some links to states that I know most of my readers would be interested in.

Arizona
Illinois <-- pain to use - doesn't allow a comprehensive search
Iowa
Oklahoma
Wisconsin