Some of our visitors may have heard of “skip tracing” or “skip tracer”, but do not really know what the term means. However, if you have ever Googled a person or searched for a past friend of family member online, you have already done some basic skip tracing work.

When people (debtors) change addresses and phone numbers without informing others (creditors) of their new contact information, then skip out on loan payments, they are known as a “skip”.

Skip tracing is the act of collecting information on the person to find out where they moved to.

Skip tracing can involve finding people owe a debt, owe child support, jump bail, etc. These people usually leave behind information that skip tracers use to find them.

Skip tracers can be licensed private detectives, but they do not have to be.

With the use of people searches, public records searches and other reference and contact information, anyone can do skip tracing work.

Not all people who are the target of a skip trace disappear on purpose. Estate attorneys will often use a skip tracer to search for lost heirs. Adopted children can use skip traceing to search for a biological parent.

Private investigators and professional skip tracers will often have access to more people search tools than the average citizens for finding a person. Some of these tools include private databases like Accurint that are very powerful for finding a person.

Bounty hunters also do skip tracing work to find people who have skipped out on bail.

If you are trying to find a person for yourself, there are a wealth of online public records sites that you can use to search for people.

You can search for people online with whitepages, reverse lookups, social networks, people search engines etc.

You can also access many court records and property searches online.

Here is a list of of people finder tips to help you find a person.

Google news is full of articles about family and friends who have been reunited after an online people search. Often times people find each other through one or more Google searches or Facebook profile searches.

In addition, you can also contact mutual friends or known acquaintances and coworkers to find information on the person.

Be sure to familiarize laws that govern the use of public records and people searching so you don’t violate any laws.

Google is still one of the best free people search engines online. With the right search you can find people from your past through a Google search. Some of the top people search results on Google include social network profiles from Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn etc.

Here are some tips for finding someone on Google:

– Start by just Googling the person’s name. This may be all you need to do to find contact information for the person. Often times a simple name search will return directory assistance listings, social network profiles or other contact information on people.

– If Googling the person’s name does not work, try a Google search for their name in quotes like: “James Smith” or “Mary Smith”. This type of name search will weed out a lot of junk search engine results.

– You can also try a Google wildcard search ( using a * ) to factor in a middle name or initial in your search: “James * Smith” or “Mary * Smith”

– Don’t forget to search for alternative names on Google – like searching Jim for James or Bob for Robert.

– Try your Google search with and without any known nicknames that the person has been known by.

– For married females, don’t forget to search using maiden names, if known.

– If Google returns too many search results for common first and last names, use personal identifiers in your search to zero in on the person you are trying to find. If you know the person’s city, profession, relatives’ names, colleges or schools attended, or any personal identifiers, include these words in your search.

An Ohio man has won a $1.4 million dollar lawsuit against the city of Bucyrus, OH.

The suit was filed against the city over public records that were destroyed from 16 years ago.

Edwin Davila filed the lawsuit in June 2009 because the city of Bucyrus could not provide 9-1-1 tape recordings he’d requested from February 1994 through December 1997, while doing research into 9-1-1 call systems.

Judge David C. Faulkner sided with Davila over the 31 destroyed recordings that were at the center of the suit. The recordings included over 11,000 public records that were destroyed due to repeated use.

Davila’s suit sought either the public records he had originally requested or damages of $1,000 for each record withheld, plus a civil forfeiture of $1,000 for each recording, original and backup, that he was not given.

Davila capped his claim to only 1,409 of the public records requested.

Bucyrus police Chief Ken Teets, claims the police department was not legally required to keep the recordings for such a lengthy time period.

The mayor of Bucyrus stated that the city will appeal the decision and said that Davila was taking advantage of a loophole in public record laws, noting that Davila has filed similar suits on other cities.

Davila is a former attorney from Stark County, OH.

[ Source: MansfieldNewsJournal.com ]

The Naples Daily News will co-sponsor a public seminar on Florida’s public record laws in September 2010 inform people about the state’s open records and open meetings laws.

The First Amendment Foundation and the Florida Bar Media & Communications Committee produce the Florida public records seminars that are held throught the state.

These organizations also produce an annual guidebook called “Government-In-The-Sunshine Manual” that explains Florida’s public records and meetings laws, rules for public meetings and what fees state and local government can charge for public records requests.

The seminar will start at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010. Cost and registration information will be made public next month.

Naples News

Millions of California public records have been destroyed over the past 10 years by counties and cities with little or no oversight on the process.

Most of the public records shredding occurs under policies enacted to shield county and city governments from lawsuits.

Although digital data storage has become cheaper, California counties, cities and other government agencies continue to shred public records that could shed light on the activities of public officials.

Some of the shredded records include handwritten notes that explain reasons for official decisions.

In addition, letters, expense records, audit records, employee records, government studies, meeting agendas, government press releases and official travel records have been destroyed under this fast and loose policy.

Even the official authorization records to destroy the public records have been shredded.

State level employees have even destroyed major criminal records.

After the murder of 17-year-old Chelsea King from San Diego, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had to put a stop to the practice of destroying the parole records of convicted sex offenders.

Until the girl’s murder, the California Department of Corrections only saved sex offender parole records for a year after the convict finished parole. King’s killer had been a paroled sex offender.

Not all public records in California can be destroyed so easily.

California laws mandate that local governments maintain public records for at least two years.

In addition, important documents like adoption records, criminal convictions, property title records, minutes of meetings, ordinances and general court documents must be kept permanently.

California public records are mostly destroyed in line with state policies that were written to protect counties, cities and government agencies from lawsuits.

However, a side effect of these policies is that wrongdoing by public officials and government employees can be covered up as well.

One anonymous government employee, who works directly with California public records and state shredding policies, stated: “It’s the legal issue. It’s about not having records if you get sued.”

California cities are required by law to publicly disclose which public records will be shredded by putting the issue on city council agendas.

However, the general counsel for Californians Aware, said these announcement are often hidden in with many other items on the consent calendar and the vote to destroy public records is usually done without debate.

Oversight controls on the destruction of public records seem to vary widely by city and county.

One city employee said that staff do not review the contents of each public record to make sure no unauthorized records are shredded.

However, a government employee in another California city stated that she and other staff review every individual record before documents are approved by the city’s legal counsel for destroying.

[ Source: VoiceOfOC.org ]