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Skip Tracing

Private investigators and law enforcement officials often have to track down people who are actively trying to avoid them. Of course, this can be a frustrating process for the investigators, as they have to play a sort of cat-and-mouse game with the people they’re looking for.

If a private investigator can’t find a person of interest easily, they might need to resort to skip tracing. Through skip tracing, it’s possible to track down a person even if it seems like it would be impossible to find them otherwise. However, the skip tracing process isn’t necessarily easy, and it can be a complicated thing to do on your own.

What Is Skip Tracing?

At its most basic, skip tracing is just the process of finding people who don’t want to be found. The name comes from the term “skipping town,” referring to the fact that you can use this to find people who have intentionally left an area where you might previously find them. Skip tracing is all about gathering enough information on someone to know where they are or where they might go next.

Why Is Skip Tracing Necessary?

Who uses skip tracing, and why do they use it? There is a variety of uses surrounding skip tracing and a surprising number of industries can utilize skip tracing tools. In fact, these are just a few of the reasons you might need skip tracing services.

  • Debt Recovery
  • Finding Witnesses for a Case
  • Due Diligence Processes
  • General Legal Work 

Debt recovery is probably the most common use for skip tracing, but other industries can also benefit from skip tracing, including law enforcement, government, and even legal officials like attorneys. If you’re interested in finding someone that’s hard to find, no matter the reason, skip tracing tools can help.

What Tools Do People Use for Skip Tracing?

There is a variety of ways that someone might be able to skip trace. The process isn’t just about doing a standard check on an individual through a public record search engine. Rather, it’s about doing as much as you can to gather information. That means skip tracing may include some or all of these steps. 

  • Asking friends and family
  • Talking to landlords and managers
  • Checking in with law enforcement in the area
  • Looking at social media services
  • Using public record search engines

Depending on which steps are best, there is a variety of ways to utilize skip tracing to benefit your company. Some skip tracing processes might be best for less difficult cases. Public record search engines, for example, can help you sort through many different cases, and personally talking to friends and family may be something you only have to do once you’ve gone through the public record search engine results.

How Can Enformion Help Me With Skip Tracing?

For many skip tracing cases, a public record search engine can be the perfect first step in gathering information. Even though you might have to comb through some pieces of information personally, a public record search engine can help you gather information like current and past residences and personal relationships. With Enformion, you can run searches for whatever you’re looking for, regardless of what industry you’re in or how difficult your skip tracing needs are.