In the United States, each of the 3,000+ counties across the country make their own rules and regulations as it relates to public record access with the standards and provisions of these laws varying considerably across jurisdictions. 

While some jurisdictions make public record access easy and free, others counties charge up to $95 per individual search. Some jurisdictions also redact personal identifiable information (PII) such as someone’s date of birth from certain public records making it very difficult to identify individuals with generic names from one another.

There are many problems with public records (we have a full blog post about this), and local governments limiting access, redacting information, and putting expensive paywalls on life-saving information is a growing issue.

Garbo believes in being transparent about what counties we have coverage in and what types of records we have access to in each county to help you be informed. If our system has detected an individual has previously lived in a county where we don’t have access to a certain type of record, you will receive a notification on your search. 

Being able to access information about someone's history of harm saves lives. We are working with legislators around the country to fix public record laws to find the balance between privacy and protection. If you want to learn more about what we’re doing and how you can help, please contact us at hello@garbo.io

Please note - our system may misidentify or not have a full location history of the individual you searched.