Pointer File NY™ FAQ

Pointer File New York (PF NY) allows you to quickly assess when additional criminal record research is needed in New York State.  Pointer File New York positively identifies the subject.  This occurs because the data being searched usually contains two, if not all four main identifiers; name, date of birth, social security number, and address.  

Therefore, you know the data matches the subject before you incur any additional costs required to research the data at the primary source (court record) for the applicable conviction details.  Thus, eliminating costs incurred for name match only research.

If Pointer File New York reveals the potential for a criminal record, which happens approximately ten percent of the time, you can then, and only then, run the appropriate County or Statewide criminal record inquiry. This saves your clients the cost of running the OCA New York Statewide inquiry on nine out of ten applicants.

It also saves the costs of running non‐essential county criminal record inquiries. Most importantly, PF NY makes a 100% positive identification before additional inquiries are run.

This is done through name match and a match on at least one additional identifier, such as date of birth, Social Security Number and/or address. This eliminates unnecessary additional searches based upon name match only and allows for a very short turnaround time – saving time and money in this time deficient and cost conscious economy.

Pointer File New York is extremely comparable to the New York State Office of Court Administration (NYS OCA) inquiry in all respects except cost. Pointer File New York has been proven to be more effective than running county court criminal record inquiries in New York.

This is so because Pointer File New York contains levels of misdemeanor information, which is not usually found in New York County Court Criminal record inquiries. Pointer File New York contains local, town, village and city criminal data not found at the county level. It also contains some Federal criminal data.  

That being said, Pointer File New York is an exceptional value when compared to the New York State Office of Court Administration (NYS OCA) search where the state charges $95 per name plus financial transaction fees.

Pointer File NY costs $32.50 per name compared to $95+ for NYS OCA searches (plus additional transaction fees). Here's the breakdown:

• Pointer File NY: $32.50 per search

• NYS OCA: $95.00 base fee + transaction fees (often totaling $100+)

• County searches: Variable pricing, $0-95 per county

The real advantage: 90% of your searches will only need our $32.50 Pointer File screening. Only the remaining 10% that show potential criminal activity require the expensive OCA follow-up, meaning you avoid unnecessary OCA costs on 9 out of 10 applicants.

Pointer File New York is an inquiry exclusively covering New York State. We obtain compliant data on 57 of the 62 New York counties (5 boroughs of NYC excluded).

In most cases, yes, but with important strategic considerations. Pointer File NY provides statewide coverage (57 0f 62 NY counties) versus single county limitation, includes town, village, and local court data, arrest records and pending cases, federal criminal information, and multiple identifier matching rather than just name matching that county searches rely on.

The best practice is to use Pointer File NY as your primary NY screening tool, supplemented by targeted county searches only when PF NY results indicate the need for comprehensive court research. This approach provides superior coverage at significantly lower cost while ensuring you never miss critical criminal history that traditional county-only searches would overlook.