The Nebraska State Patrol now offers online access for criminal background checks.

Gov. Dave Heineman announced the upgrade on Monday.

Nebraska State Patrol Superintendent David Sankey says automating the service will let Nebraskans obtain records faster. Prior criminal background checks could take three to 10 days after requesting to obtain.

Previously Nebraskans have only been able to request such records by mail, fax or in person.

Nebraskans requesting name-only criminal background checks can access the records online at www.ne.gov/go/crime_report . Each request costs $18 and must be paid with a credit card.

The Nebraska State Patrol processed more than 33,000 name-only criminal history background checks requests in 2012.