My question involves criminal records for the state of: NEW YORK (WESTERN)
I do not live in New York State any longer, and reside in Arizona.
A while back I had a 'situation' that became a gigantic nightmarish legal mess. Certain agencies got involved and everyone got very angry. Luckily, I hadn't actually committed a crime in the letter of the law (long story) and the case was settled as Disorderly Conduct with the condition of sealing everything up and making it 'disappear'.
Here's my issue. I really, really want to believe this is gone from view for private sector employment screenings, but it's hard to have faith in the legal system after this quite frankly. I have to constantly freak out if I change jobs wondering if some record tied to this is going to pop on a radar if the investigating company hired does extra searching.
Specifically I am concerned about the arrest record. From what I can tell, there may or may not be a record of arrest at the local police department that is just waiting to be found by some vigilant PI or screening firm. I don't want to write "No Arrests" on employment applications in AZ (which does not prohibit employers from discovering arrest records like NY does) if it is going to show up.
At first I thought I could just do a direct request to the police department and see if they have the documents, but I realize now that the person in question who's record is sealed (Mine) is one of the few people that actually CAN request them. How do I verify this isn't able to be pulled by screening firms? I tried talking to PD Records and they can't do anything without me being in person they've said.
Sidenote: I am fairly confident the actual court case is sealed, I do criminal checks on myself every once in a while to double check and nothing has come up so far.
Hilarious part: I wasn't ever actually arrested (IMO). The judge, during session, decided I needed to go across the street and get processed 2 years after the incident before he'd rule to seal and close.

