What really matters behind the numbers
Run the same test list with each provider and compare results one by one. The decisive question is whether the result includes everyone you expect or misses someone.
Record count and coverage measure different things
Coverage tells you where a provider searches. Record count tells you how many records remain under its counting method. Two providers can cover the same jurisdictions and publish different totals because one may add every jurisdiction entry while another reasonably deduplicates overlapping records.
Deduplication makes record counts more meaningful
The same person may have records in multiple jurisdictions. Simply adding every entry can make a dataset look larger without giving customers more people to find.
Why the same person can appear more than once
Registration can involve more than one jurisdiction when a person lives, works, studies, moves, or was convicted in different places. The federal National Sex Offender Public Website FAQ explains that its national search checks participating jurisdiction databases rather than maintaining one national registry.
Offenders.io coverage
Coverage shows where a provider searches. Record count shows the size of the dataset after its counting and deduplication choices.
Coverage is context. Expected records are the test.
Understand how each provider counts records, then choose the one that returns everyone you expect.
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