Soundex Searches

Soundex is a search function that seeks records by the phonetic sound (in English) of entered search criteria as opposed to the traditional letter order type of search. For example, if "Cain" is entered as a last name in a Soundex search, along with all records with a last name of "Cain", the following records will also return: "Kain", "Kayne." Obviously, Soundex searches are more efficient in situations where the spelling of the sought after record is not definitively known.

In NCAWARE, four searches utilize Soundex:

• Search for a Business

• Search for a Law Enforcement Officer (LEO)

• Statewide Person Search

• Search for a Gang

All other "name" searches in NCAWARE use the standard letter order search function (either Exact Match or Begins With).

Soundex in Statewide Person Search

The Statewide Person Search  section of NCAWARE also displays the Soundex Score, which is a percentile rating of a return's accuracy calculated against the entered search criteria. Returned records with the highest score are listed first in the STATEWIDE SEARCH RESULTS screen, as in the other Soundex-enabled screens.

Another Soundex function in Statewide Person Search  is the ability of the user to set the accuracy of a search through the Search Level field. More exact settings will limit the number of returns but may exclude the searched for name. Conversely, less exact settings may return large numbers of Person names. These are the available levels. Click a link for information on that level:

1- Near-Exact Match/fixed name order

2 – Soundex/fixed name order (Default)

3 – Near-Exact Match/variable name order

4 – Soundex/variable name order

5 – Broadest Soundex/variable name order

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