Finding information online and on paper

• Be sure to verify that it comes from an official source such as a .gov site. Be sure to cite your sources of information.

• You may be getting only summaries of the information, not the information itself.

• Day-care center and nursing home inspections summarize findings online. Paper records have the detail. Same with OSCN in many counties.

• If you have the time, it’s always best to pull the actual paper records.

• Give people a chance to comment on what you’ve found.

  
  

  Sample  records requests:

  Oklahoma Department of Human Services

  Juvenile records request

  Researching People

• Basic background checks:

• Criminal:

• Oklahoma State Courts Network

• On-Demand Court Records

• Oklahoma Department Of Corrections

• Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator

   People

• Criminal background checks and case statuses:

• www.vinelink.com

• Financial:

• Property records in your county

• Corporate holdings

• Secretary of State, search for corporation entities on this site. Search by entity name, service agent or name of person.
  

• Uniform Commercial Code filings by creditors of a debtors collateral (at county clerk offices)

• Bankruptcies through PACER: Public Access to Court Electronic Records

Paper documents to request or find online:

Civil:

•   Lawsuits

• Divorces, marriages
  
  Public employees

• Job title, salary, dates of employment

•  Employment application

• All disciplinary actions resulting in loss of pay, suspension or demotion

• Emails

Researching People

• Google (advanced searches and email alerts)

• Facebook

• Twitter

• AutoTrak (Lexis-Nexis)

• www.Veromi.net

• Death certificates and Social Security death index

• Public databases

• Public Database Reporter's tipsheet

How do I find …

• A state law
  

• A copy of a proposed bill (or various versions of legislation proposed in the past)
  

• Data on purchases by the state of Oklahoma 

• If the AG has issued an opinion or ruling on something 
  

• Officers of an incorporation:
  Secretary of State (Select corporations search. Advanced search allows searches by name.)

• Also call the Oklahoma Tax Commission and ask for Paula Ross: 405-521-3637

  How do I find ..

•  Info on filing a FOIA request
  

•   Background on airplanes
  www.landings.com

•  www.flightaware.com

•   http://report.myairplane.com/

•   A company’s OSHA record
  

• A company’s environmental record
  

•   Also request records from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality:
  Skylar McElhaney, DEQ spokesperson

•  405-702-7167
  

•  skylar.mcelhaney@deq.ok.gov

How do I find …

• An old version of a website

• Campaign contributions in Oklahoma

• Whether someone is a lobbyist and to whom they gave gifts:

• http://www.ok.gov/oec/

• Federal campaign contributions 

How do I find …

• Financial information on non profits: Look for the IRS 990 forms

• Oklahoma DHS Day-care center inspections

  But paper reports provide far more detail. Link at the bottom of the page gives contact info for DHS.

• Nursing home inspections

How do I find …

• An audit

• Audits of agencies that get federal funds:

• State audits

• School information

• Oklahoma State Department of Education

• Education Oversight Board: Oklahoma Schools Report Cards

• Oklahoma restaurant inspections

How do I find …

  Disciplinary actions against medical professionals:

• Doctors

• Nurses: Can verify license online but call Oklahoma Board of Nursing and request any disciplinary actions.

• Nursing home administrators 

• Dentists

How do I find …

• Information on Oklahoma companies

  Oklahoma Tax Commission: Call media office at 405-521-3637

  Can give you officers, date of incorporation, whether they are in good standing and whether any tax liens exist for Incs (not LLCs), also addresses of individuals who filed state taxes

How do I find …

• Social media

• Old Twitter posts searchable by sender, recipient, key word etc.

•  Facebook posts searchable by keyword

• Search social media mentions of a key word and measure influence