White Paper

Closing the Case:
Solving Violent Crimes Quickly and Efficiently with Public Records

Use the power of public records to locate people, detectfraud, uncover assets and discover connections.
January 2010
This paper will discuss how public records can play a key role in generating leads to solve violent crimes. From childabduction investigations to homicides and robberies, this paper will examine some of the many ways in which officers
and investigators use public records information to make their neighborhoods safer. Public records information
streamlines agency processes, provides quality leads and helps keep officers better informed to minimize danger.

Risk Solutions
Government

Introduction
The job of a police officer is not easy. Tasked with apprehending criminals, maintaining public order and preventing
and detecting crimes, police officers put their lives in danger every day. In order to do their jobs well, officers needreliable information and plenty of resources. Yet, law enforcement agencies face daunting challenges: funding cuts,
outdated information and increasingly sophisticated criminals.
Adding to the challenges are the common assumptions that many crimes can be solved with the same cutting-edge
technologies people see on television. In many cases, however, these are “phantom” solutions that police officers
cannot access, even though the average citizen may expect it of them. While the entertainment industry has generated
unrealistic expectations about the speed and accuracy of some investigative tools, there are tools—such as publicrecords and systems designed to make use of them—that exist right now and can be used to develop leads for solving
crimes more quickly and effectively.
Nowhere are these tools more needed than in the area of violent crime. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice
Statistics, the violent crime rate, while much lower than its peak in 1991, is still significantly higher than the crime rate of
the 1960s and early 1970s. Furthermore, the decline in the violent crime rate appears to have stagnated, with statistics
from 2005 indicating the first increase in violent crime in fourteen years. The current economic downturn may further
exacerbate this problem as state and local governments may be forced to cut budgets while citizens commit crime tofinancially survive.
For these reasons it is critical that law enforcement personnel—at the federal, state and local level–understandhow public records data can help accelerate and simplify the investigative process, leading to faster, more
efficient resolutions. This paper explains why public records can and should play a key role in all law enforcement
investigations. It will show why, regardless of the crime, public records information is an important tool in assisting law
enforcement agencies, benefiting almost every point of an investigation, and will answer the questions:• What are public records?
• Who benefits from public records?
• How do public records fit into the different stages of an investigation?
• How do public records play a role in specific violent crimes, including homicides, robberies and missing children?

What are public records?
The term “public records” refers to information, such as corporate and property records, that has been filed orrecorded by local, state, federal or other government agencies. Public records are created by the federal and local
government (vital records, immigration records, real estate records, driving records, criminal records, etc.) or by
the individual (magazine subscriptions, voter registration, etc.). Most essential public records are maintained by thegovernment and many are accessible to the public either free of charge or for an administrative fee. Availability isdetermined by federal, state and local regulations. Although public records are indeed “public,” their accessibility
is not always simple, free or easy. Some states have separate policies that govern the availability of information
contained in public records.
Public records are used to solve a variety of societal problems and are being leveraged by financial services firms to
make improved lending decisions, collections agencies to support and refuel the economy, business and government
institutions to detect and combat fraud, waste and abuse, reduce identity fraud, protect our borders, identify andlocate sex offenders, and find and save missing children.

Closing the Case:
Solving Violent Crimes Quickly and Efficiently with Public Records
2

Public records have always been available in one form or another; however,
the ability to access and analyze this data has often been cumbersome,fragmented and expensive. Technology developments over the past decade,however, have enabled organizations to address this issue by centralizing thedata and simplifying the process of identifying and retrieving relevant records
at a moment’s notice. These developments have the effect of supercharging
the ability to use public records to quickly locate people, detect fraud,
uncover assets and discover connections between suspects, witnesses or
associates. While there are a variety of solutions that leverage public records
to solve a myriad of societal problems, one example common to police
officers is Accurint® for Law Enforcement from LexisNexis®.

Public records and the investigative process
The scope of an investigation varies depending on the size of the law
enforcement agency. Police departments across the country vary in size
and resources, and these variations can drastically alter how investigations
proceed. In a smaller department, a uniformed police officer may be
responsible for everything from traffic tickets to murder investigations.
Larger agencies have the luxury of offering specialized resources, such asline officers, investigators, and analysts, for each role in the course of aninvestigation. Regardless of the size of department, each investigation can beconsidered to have three key components:

According to the Officeof Juvenile Justiceand Delinquency
Prevention:• A child goes missing
every 40 seconds in
the U.S.
• In excess of 800,000
children are reported
missing each year.
• Another 500,000
children go missing
without everbeing reported.

• Initial police response: An officer responds to a call for service or isdispatched to a crime scene. Once at the scene, the officer takes an initialamount of information from witnesses and gathers evidence. In the case ofa violent crime, the officer must proceed with caution as the suspect may bearmed, dangerous and nearby.
• Investigative process: Investigators take the information and evidence
from the scene of the crime and follow up on leads. This stage often
involves tracking down witnesses and associates, knocking on doors,
examining physical evidence and verifying statements.
• Analysis: The analysis component is an in-depth process intended tomake connections and detect patterns. Analysts often work with outside
agencies and associations, using law enforcement data to identify patterns
and link cases. The analysis can be a time-consuming process involving
many pieces of data.
The main focus in solving any crime is getting the facts about what happened
and ensuring the accuracy of those facts. Public records play an importantrole in optimizing each step of the investigative process:• Initial police response: When a police officer responds to a call for service,
public records information is critical before the officer even arrives at thescene of the crime. If feasible, the officer should know who lives or works
at the address and any associated criminal records, as well as whether

Closing the Case:
Solving Violent Crimes Quickly and Efficiently with Public Records
3any guns are licensed to people at that address. It’s important to know
who is at the scene before the officer arrives, as the resident may havepotentially dangerous relatives or associates.
• Investigative process: On the investigative side, public records
information can verify information that witnesses provide, and draw
attention to additional current occupants who may have outstanding
warrants and other red flags, such as parolees or probationers. Using
public records also streamlines the investigative process, so officers
can identify relevant witnesses and associates, verify identifies, verify
locations, prioritize who to speak with first and provide best address andphone number information.
• Analysis: In the latter stages of the investigation, analysts can integrate
public records information with data from law enforcement databases
to create a comprehensive view of the crime, link individuals, assets andcontacts, and find conclusions that would otherwise be missed.
Law enforcement agencies don’t use crystal balls, and police officers are
not able to predict what will happen during the course of their day. Fromfinding missing kids to homicide to robbery, each investigation presents
its own set of challenges. The following scenarios illustrate how publicrecords information may assist in specific investigations of significant
violent crimes.

Finding missing children
The first minutes and hours following the abduction of a child are crucial,
as the chances of rescuing an abducted child decrease significantly after
the first 24 hours. The investigation commences with police officers
conducting a forensic investigation of the abduction site, while otherinvestigators are deployed to coordinate and track investigative leads. The
need for accurate information is critical as these leads can often numberin the thousands. When an officer brings back information, an investigatorbegins the process of verifying the facts. While not all child abductions
are violent, timeliness is critical: it has been estimated that 75 percent ofchildren who are murdered after being abducted by strangers are killed
within the first 3 hours after being abducted.
In the case of a missing child, officers follow protocol established by theFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to canvass the scene and find leads.
NCMEC analyzes and prioritizes leads for investigators using public andprivate databases, identifying patterns between cases across the country.

According to the
U.S. Departmentof Justice*:• 797,500 children(younger than 18)
were reported missing
in a one-year periodof time studied,resulting in an averageof 2,185 children being
reported missing
each day.
• 203,900 children
were the victims offamily abductions.
• 58,200 children werethe victims of nonfamily abductions.
• 115 children werethe victims of“stereotypical”
kidnapping (thesecrimes involve
someone the childdoes not know orsomeone of slightacquaintance, whoholds the childovernight, transports
the child 50 miles or
more, kills the child,demands ransom or
intends to keep thechild permanently).
*2002 statistics

Closing the Case:
Solving Violent Crimes Quickly and Efficiently with Public Records
4How public records can help

In addition to the numerous ways in which public records optimize
the investigative process, they play a uniquely important role in childabductions—especially when there is reason to suspect the involvementof a sexual predator.
In these investigations one of the first steps in the investigative process isto determine if any sex offenders have a relationship with any individuals in
the home of the abducted child. That step is followed by checking online
databases for registered sex offenders who may live in the vicinity. Police
officers should, and do, prioritize these offenders in their investigations.
However, there are serious shortcomings in the sex offender registrysystems of most states. For instance, these registries require offenders
to register themselves and update their registry when they move within or
between states. Individuals intent on abducting children have an obvious
motivation not to be found. Additionally, existing registry data may notinclude all known information about the offender, such as known aliases
and associates.
Public records can help solve this problem by enabling law enforcement
agencies to, within minutes, determine which registered and unregisteredsex offenders may have a link to the abducted child or may live close by, andwhether they have taken out a new public record at a location where they
are not registered. Using advanced technology, public records databases
can identify, in seconds, individuals with a prior conviction for a sex offense
whether or not those individuals have registered–as they are required bylaw to do–with their municipality. As a result, officers can respond more
quickly to child abductions, identifying addresses associated with local sex
offenders and prioritizing them in their investigations.

According to the U.S.
Department of Justice:• Most homicide victims
meet their demiseas the result of an
acquaintance. An
acquaintance can bea person they either
knew intimately orcasually, or had met on
previous occasions.
•S pouses and family
members makeup about 15% of all
victims, and about
one third of the victims
are acquaintances of
the assailant.
• I n more than one
third of homicides,
the victim-offender
relationship isundetermined, andin 14% of all murders,the victim and theoffender are strangers.

Homicide
Murder is the most egregious crime that can be committed, and homicide
investigations are clearly the highest priority for any state or local law
enforcement agency. Significant resources are placed into homicide
investigations and, because of the egregiousness of the crime, there is no
statute of limitations on homicide prosecution. Unlike sexual predators,
murderers are not required to register themselves in a database, so evenpreviously convicted criminals can be extremely difficult to track down.
In murder investigations, many agencies follow the 72-hour rule, in which
officers investigate the first 48 hours from the time the homicide occurs
and the previous 24 hours before the victim died. Most homicides are
precipitated by an event that occurred within the last 24 hours of thevictim’s life, so an effective investigative method is to dissect the last 24
hours of the victim’s life, then aggressively investigate leads within the first
24 hours after the crime has been committed.

Closing the Case:
Solving Violent Crimes Quickly and Efficiently with Public Records
5How public records can help

Time is of the essence in any investigation, especially homicide investigations.
Public records can enhance a homicide investigation in several key ways.
First, after any crime, the perpetrators need time to get their stories straight,
and it is critical for officers to reach involved parties before they have time
to coordinate stories and alibis, in order to prevent collusion. Public records
information can be used to verify stories, or find inconsistencies withinstatements and relationships provided by witnesses, suspects or associates.
Second, if a victim or suspect has never had contact with a law enforcement
agency (the individual has never been arrested, never filed a complaint, etc.),
then the agency will not have any records in its own database. Officers canthen turn to public records to obtain the most current information, suchas date of birth, address and driver’s license information. If the suspectis already on the run, officers can turn to public records information to
retrieve a comprehensive list of associates and relatives, enabling them toknock on doors, call persons of interest and generate even moreactionable information.
Third, the more interviews that take place, the more information is uncoveredthat can lead to a breakthrough in the investigation. Immediate family may
not know everything about a victim, but associates may be more willing todisclose hidden secrets. However, if the interviews do not result in strong
leads and potential suspects, police officers then focus on the victim. A“victimology” is a complete background investigation on who the victim
is, where he spent his time and who he associated with. Public records
information is invaluable in generating leads from this process. For example,
identifying previous places of employment can enable officers to interview
former coworkers. Additionally, a victimology can be informed by the typeof cars registered to the victim, the people he worked with, and businesses
and corporations related to him. This information can then be combinedwith information from a law enforcement agency database to create acomprehensive report, including actionable data points.

Robbery

The FBI’s Uniform
Crime Reporting (UCR)
Program compiles
crime statistics from
more than 17,000
city, county, state,tribal and federal law
enforcement agencies.
According to the 2003
annual report:• The UCR Program
estimated that nearly
30% (29.9) of allviolent crimes in 2003
were robberies.
• Robbery victims
collectively lostan estimated $514
million in 2003, anaverage dollar loss of$1,244 per offense.
• Offenders usedfirearms in 41.8% ofrobberies, strong-arm
tactics (hands, fists,
feet, etc.) in 39.9% ofrobberies, and knives
or cutting instruments
in 8.9% of robberies.
Other weapons
were used in
9.4% of robberies.

Every single component that goes into a homicide investigation also applies
to a robbery investigation. With most crimes, the severity of the crimeis the only differentiator in how much effort will be placed in the crime’s
investigation. With the exception of sexual crimes, most felonies follow thesame model in terms of investigative process.
The frequency of robberies can be hard to believe; 60 robberies can occur
per month in a single square mile area. The sooner an identification is made ina robbery case, the sooner officers can apprehend the suspect and prevent
future robberies. Serial robbers will continue to rob until they’re caught.

Closing the Case:
Solving Violent Crimes Quickly and Efficiently with Public Records
6

In fact, statistics show that just 6 percent of the criminals in America
commit 70 percent of the crimes. Identifying and incarcerating thesecriminals drastically decreases crime rates.

How public records can help

Robberies often have witnesses, and public records information is criticalto validating their information and finding additional leads. If a getaway car
is involved in the robbery, public records information can help identify thevehicle, its current and previous owners, and associated addresses.

The importance of accurate information
An incredible amount of time can be wasted during investigations
because of a lingering culture that doesn’t yet understand the importanceand value of public records. Although some agencies prioritize
information within their own internal data over public records, they are
doing themselves a disservice. This information should work in tandem
to allow the officers to work faster, more efficiently and safer. Rather
than compete, public records information complements existing law
enforcement records and contacts.
Law enforcement data applies more towards specific law enforcement
information, such as identifying patterns between crimes. Consider asituation in which a police officer is trying to identify a suspect in threedifferent robberies, and only one of the three robberies has strong
leads. Public records information can be leveraged to help identify andlocate the suspect from the leads in the first robbery, while internal law
enforcement records can link the three cases together. The combinationof public records and law enforcement data has helped solve all threerobberies, an outcome not possible without both sources of information.
Public records information can drastically improve the efficiency ofagencies by enabling them to accomplish tasks in one day that may havetaken several days and a significant amount of resources previously. By
enabling agencies to be just as if not more efficient with less personnel,
they can cut costs and reassign key personnel to other cases, leading tomore arrests, more cases cleared positively and an overall reduction incrime. It is up to all of us to challenge any remaining reluctance to embrace
new technologies and methodologies. When all agencies understandthe true capabilities of public records and utilize them more effectively
throughout their investigative processes, officers can solve more crimes inless time, making our neighborhoods and their enforcement activities safer.

According to the U.S.
Department of Justice:•O f the 272,111 persons
released from prisonsin 15 states in 1994,
an estimated 67.5%
were rearrested fora felony or serious
misdemeanor within
3 years, 46.9% werereconvicted and 25.4%
were resentenced toprison for a new crime.
• The 272,111 offenders
discharged in 1994
accounted for nearly
4,877,000 arrest
charges over theirrecorded careers.
• Within 3 years of
release, 2.5% of
released rapists wererearrested for anotherrape, and 1.2% of
those who had served
time for homicide
were arrested for a
new homicide.
• Sex offenders wereless likely than nonsex offenders to berearrested for any
offense—43% of sex
offenders versus 68%
of non-sex offenders.

Closing the Case:
Solving Violent Crimes Quickly and Efficiently with Public Records
7About LexisNexis
Every minute counts when you’re trying to solve a crime, locate a suspect or search for a missing child. LexisNexis
provides law enforcement officers with access to a full suite of advanced investigative tools to quickly locate people,
detect fraud, uncover assets and discover connections between suspects, witnesses or associates. Our solutions
leverage state-of-the-art fusion and linking technology to integrate agency and department data sets with authoritative
public records, identifying additional leads and enhancing complex investigations.

The company’s primary solutions for law enforcement include:

Accurint® for Law Enforcement, a cutting-edge investigative technology that expedites the identification of people
and their assets, addresses, relatives and business associates by providing instant access to a comprehensive
database of public records that would ordinarily take days to collect. Developed by experienced law enforcement
professionals, it enables law enforcement agencies to locate suspects, find missing children and quickly solve cases.
Accurint® LE Plus, which helps increase efficiency and save time by integrating a comprehensive suite of analytical
tools into one easy-to-use desktop application. Developed in response to the specific needs of law enforcement
investigators and criminal intelligence analysts, it builds on the cutting-edge Accurint® investigative technology togive investigators a new way to access critical information, visualize complex relationships, rapidly identify potential
investigative leads and more quickly solve cases.

For more information:

Call 866.242.1440 or visit
lexisnexis.com/government
About LexisNexis Risk Solutions
LexisNexis Risk Solutions (www.lexisnexis.com/risk) is a leader in providing essential information that helps
customers across all industries and government predict, assess and manage risk. Combining cutting-edge
technology, unique data and advanced scoring analytics, we provide products and services that address evolving
client needs in the risk sector while upholding the highest standards of security and privacy. LexisNexis Risk
Solutions is part of Reed Elsevier, a leading publisher and information provider that serves customers in morethan 100 countries with more than 30,000 employees worldwide.
Our government solutions assist law enforcement and government agencies with deriving insight from complex
data sets, improving operational efficiencies, making timely and informed decisions to enhance investigations,increasing program integrity, and discovering and recovering revenue.

The Accurint for Law Enforcement and Accurint LE Plus services are not provided by “consumer reporting agencies,” as that term is defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act(15 U.S.C. § 1681, et seq.) (“FCRA”) and do not constitute “consumer reports,” as that term is defined in the FCRA. Accordingly, the Accurint for Law Enforcement or Accurint
LE Plus service may not be used in whole or in part as a factor in determining eligibility for credit, insurance, employment or another purpose in connection with which a
consumer report may be used under the FCRA. Due to the nature of the origin of public record information, the public records and commercially available data sources
used in reports may contain errors. Source data is sometimes reported or entered inaccurately, processed poorly or incorrectly, and is generally not free from defect. This
product or service aggregates and reports data, as provided by the public records and commercially available data sources, and is not the source of the data, nor is it acomprehensive compilation of the data. Before relying on any data, it should be independently verified. LexisNexis and the Knowledge Burst logo are registered trademarksof Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used under license. Accurint is a registered trademark of LexisNexis Risk Data Management Inc. Other products and services may be
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright © 2011 LexisNexis. All rights reserved. NXR01195-2 0911