Question: Does Hawaii have an online rap sheet database? I read that 20 states have one. You can go online and see whether someone has a criminal conviction record. For $25 you enter a person's name and date of birth. You pay with a credit card.

Answer: The state of Hawaii has provided the public with such an online database since October 2005.

You can access public information on anyone found guilty of a crime in Hawaii or acquitted because of physical or mental reasons at ecrim.ehawaii.gov/ahewa. That's the Web site for Hawaii's Adult Criminal Information (eCrim).

In 2008 alone, “;We processed 552,019 requests through eCrim,”; said Liane Moriyama, administrator of the state Attorney General's Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center.

The center maintains the database, which does not include criminal records from other states or from federal files, nor juvenile records not transferred to adult court.

The database also does not have records of arrests that are still pending or did not result in convictions.

You can do a search based solely on a person's name, but that might not be enough information. It helps to narrow the search if you have a Social Security number, date of birth, etc.

There is a one-time, first-time charge of $1—payable only by credit card—to verify your identity, plus a $13 charge for each record that you view. That fee entitles you to a hard copy of the record, plus a PDF copy that will be sent to your e-mail address.

Q: Do you have any information about the state-required deadline for REAL ID cards for travel to the mainland or to another country? We are planning to travel overseas in a couple of months.

A: At this point you still do not need any special identification for travel out of state or out of country.

Hawaii is one of the states given an extension—until Dec. 31—to start implementing REAL ID security requirements as part of its driver's licenses.

State officials said they needed more time to comply with the requirements because Hawaii is the only state in which the state is in charge of issuing state ID cards, but the counties issue driver's licenses.

Congress passed the REAL ID Act in 2005 as a means of combating terrorism.

It requires airline passengers, and others, to present REAL ID-compliant driver's licenses as proof of identity.

Among the stricter requirements is proof that a person is legally a resident of the United States.

The deadline for Hawaii to be compliant is not necessarily the end of this year, because Hawaii could apply for a second extension.

If the Department of Homeland Security determines that the state is “;materially compliant”; in working toward implementing REAL ID security measures, then the extension could be extended to May 2011, Moriyama said.

Federal agencies will continue to accept current licenses for official purposes from those states that have been granted extensions, according to Homeland Security.