Hamden, CT Preserves Over 200 Years Of Land Records

Hamden, Connecticut has now brought their land records to the digital age, 15 years after the project started.  The ambitious plan to scan all of their land records brought Hamden back to July 5, 1786, when the first recorded land transaction took place in the town.  The project was made even more difficult due to the fact that 20 years of records in the 1900s were all handwritten, requiring manual data entry.

The Hamden land records office hasn’t made these records available online yet, and for good reason.  Land records can contain sensitive personal information like Social Security numbers so it’s important to keep unredacted records from the prying eyes of those who would misuse this data.

Other Connecticut towns, such as New Haven, have put their land records online, but not without redacting social security numbers and military discharge information, among other fields.

Last year, the town of Brookfield learned just how importance this vigilance is as municipal courts records posted online were found to contain Social Security numbers.  The town pulled the documents once they realized the sensitive information was available to the public.

While certain states and counties have passed legislation requiring that land records be made available online, it’s not a national requirement.  This means that individual offices must weigh the value of this access versus the cost and effort of making sure all sensitive information has been redacted.

At Extract, our machine learning–powered software identifies and redacts pieces of personally identifiable information for you, saving time and money in the process.  We strive to eliminate the manual processes that make the decision to bring land records online a difficult one.

If you’d like to learn more about our platform, please reach out today.