If you want to get criminal records then very first thing you will need to do is find out what the person's real name is, however it can be difficult to do this without sounding suspicious. You cannot just go up to someone and ask flat out "Is that your real name?" There are other ways you can get it without looking suspicious and without letting on what your real intentions are.

Many times someone with a criminal background may go by another name, often they will just go by their middle names which does you no good as you will not be able to obtain any information on them. One way that I have found to have worked in the past is to drop little things into a conversation. One such way is to say something like "That is an interesting name, how did you get it?" Nine out of ten times they will confirm it is their real name or may say that it is actually their middle name to which you can ask "Oh, what is your given first name?" This may not work all of the time so another thing I have tried is pulling out my own license and saying "Man, I take awful DMV pictures, how bad is yours?" Or you can say something like "I have never seen a license from California, what does yours look like?" This works if they are from a different state. Once they pull it out to show you it you can commit their full name and birthday to memory.

If you look at it too long say something like "You look much younger than you actually are" or "Wow, I didn't know you were that tall." The key is to get as much information as you can without looking suspicious. Taking the time to do this and get criminal records on someone could potentially keep you out of harm's way in the future.