|
IRE:
INVESTIGATIVE BASICS
March
31--April 2, 1995
CHICAGO,
ILLINOIS
Paper
Trails
How
to Background a Person, Business or Politician in a Hurry
By
JAMES NEFF
Conducting
an information sweep on deadline is one of the most
exhilarating cheap thrills of journalism. Particularly
on a national story in which you're battling skilled
competitors. It's like the hurry-up offense in football.
You zing out phone call after phone call, and by the
minute or quarter hour, your murky unknown subject comes
into focus.
I think
reporters should have a two minute offense in place
before you ever have to use it -- to cover a plane
crash, assassination attempt or any other breaking
story. Most reporters have a few of these sources
already -- clerks at the courthouse, a police officer
who'll check a driving record -- but relying solely on
these is like hanging on to training wheels.
Here
are my Top 10 techniques and sources, some obvious,some
obscure, that you'll want in your repertoire. They are
especially useful when your subject is poor or an
average citizen, someone who would not necessarily show
up in Dun & Bradstreet, an alumni directory or your
newspaper morgue.
- Birth
certificate
- Death
notice or death record
- School
census card
- Worker's
compensation claim
- Civil
index of the county court system, especially
divorce.
- Criminal
index: misdemeanor and felony
- Auto
title.
- Criss-cross
directory.
- Drivers
license and violations Welfare records (not public,
you need a source)
The
best and least used are the School census card and the
death notice. These two yield family members. Family
members are key to understanding any subject.
So take
an hour or two over a few days next week to deliberately
run through these records techniques and cultivate the
sources who will help you with information over the
phone when you're up against the impossible deadline.
You won't regret it.
It goes
without saying that if your paper, station or magazine
is tied into any of information databases, you must
become an expert on what records are available. Nothing
can beat the speed and scope of a quick sweep through
databases such as Nexis, Prentice Hall Online, CDB/Infotek
and the many others.
Here
are a few more ideas for backgrounding an individual
using your computer:
Secretary
of state corporate records: abstracts of state corporate
and partnership filings are online in most states,
searchable by company name. In many of these states, you
also can search by name of officer or general partner.
Real
property and other assets: tax assessor records are
available in most states and the District of Columbia.
You can search by owner name, buyer name, mailing
address, and parcel numbers. County recorder of deed
information is available in some states, which can tell
you how much your subject paid for a piece of property.
Federal
civil and criminal lawsuits: PACER (Public Access to
Court Electronic Records) provides complete docket
information to U.S. District Court cases in many states
and U.S. bankruptcy courts in almost all states.
1-800-676-6856 to sign up. $1/minute while searching.
Unknown
address or phone numbers: Phonefile and Bizfile of
Compuserve service is a massive interstate phone
directory that can be searched by name or company name,
or by phone number. You can narrow searches by state or
even zip code. Metromail provides the same service over
1-900-288-.3020 for $3 the first minute. 8-9 thereafter.
Typical name search is about $5.
Next
Tipsheet
|
