Virtual Gumshoe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Virtual Gumshoe is a free public record directory popular among private investigators and law enforcement. Virtual Gumshoe made its debut in 1996 under the name Webgator.com and carried the name until 2002 when a lapse of domain renewal resulted in a third party purchasing the name. Forced to relocate on the Internet, the content was migrated to its current location at Virtual Gumshoe.

The key feature of Virtual Gumshoe is the database of free public record sources that can be sorted by keywords or location. As the site grew to several thousand links to public record sources, updating and maintaining the accuracy of the URLs became an overwhelming task. The previous owner of Virtual Gumshoe realized the maintenance requirements had become too great to manage alone and offered to sell the site in hopes it would be maintained and improved.

Patrons of the site for many years, two investigators in Chicago by the name Brad Jones and Tom Kopecky purchased Virtual Gumshoe in early 2004. Since that time, Virtual Gumshoe has continued to grow in popularity and underwent a complete makeover. Virtual Gumshoe now contains over 4000 searchable links to free public information databases, a message board, store and publishes a popular newsletter for researchers of all types.

Background Screening Consultants LLC is the background research company founded by the Chicago investigators and whose staff assists in maintaining the Virtual Gumshoe site. "BSC LLC" specializes in conducting in-depth background research for corporations, politicians, and various investment groups.

Virtual Gumshoe has gained many valuable resources and expertise through its ownership consisting of law enforcement and private sector investigators as well as dedicated users willing to share their resources. The end result has been a longlasting useful resource for investigators and researchers on the internet.