SUFFOLK CIRCUIT COURT PULLS ITS ONLINE RECORDS SERVICE

Trying to do a background check? Interested in seeing who has filed for divorce?Until recently, it was easy to search Suffolk Circuit Court documents online.Those records were pulled off the Internet in early September, a week after a Virginian-Pilot story pointed out people whose cases were slated to be heard by a grand jury were showing up as indicted before the grand jury had met.Now, those who regularly check Suffolk Circuit Court records must call or visit the clerk's office to access those records.
This should only be temporary, said Randy Carter, clerk of the Circuit Court. His office pulled the records from the Virginia Supreme Court's Web site at courts.state.va.us in order to review what was being posted for the public to see.The records should be back online within seven to 10 days, Carter said. This time, the cases pending before the grand jury won't show up as "true bill," meaning the grand jury found enough evidence for the case to stand trial, until after the grand jury makes that decision, he said.Legally, the clerk's office isn't obligated to make case information available online. Files must be available for inspection if someone comes to the office and requests them, Carter said. The online service was provided as a convenience, he said.And it has been inconvenient for a lot of people who used the records since they were taken offline. Carter said his office fielded "quite a few" calls from companies that do background checks on potential employees, as well as from newspapers and lawyers."Make no mistake about it, it has been an inconvenience for us," said C. Phillips "Phil" Ferguson, Suffolk's commonwealth's attorney. "But we can work with it as long as it is temporary in nature."