text: isn't the local records free and oren to the general public and shouldn't have to pay to see but pay for copie i was looking for records about a person in my friends life that he had doubts about. he was told so many different things by this person and the end results in going to court never seemed to fit the crime. more or less, this is true. it can be a time consuming and stressful process dealing with bureaucrats though. for instance, if you are arrested in your city and then later the police decide not to file a report or charges and everything is dropped, this does not mean a record has been erased. it might have been erased at the city and state level but every arrest made, regardless or whether it is dropped or not, is sent directly to the fbi. since the boom of the internet search engine and skip tracing technology for the every day person, many private businesses can now get their hands on this information (sometimes done illegally)...but one private business that can access any fbi record is any business which issues credit or abides by the fdic ( and doesn't that include almost all businesses now)? the freedom of information act, which you might have been referring to,does exist (sorry if i got off the subject). but do a search on the internet and order one of yourself and see how confusing and complicated it is though.