Background Check Directory (BCD)

PeopleSearches.com - Largest People Search Site in the World

2010-05-19T17:28:00.001-07:00

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PeopleSearches.com is much more than a search site; People Decision Engine. This is a website with a difference as it helps users to make quality people search. Users get the unique opportunity to search for people and any kind of information related to them. It is easy to make searches in this website. Users need to type the required personal details, in a required form, such as first name; last name or the State.

PeopleSearches.com maintains a high standard database that is a comprehensive store of personal data records, with updated information. With this technologically advanced website, searching has become easy and hassle free. It is much easy to reconnect and even search for personal details of anyone you are looking for, especially for investigative purposes.

PeopleSearches.com is a user-friendly website, where the users are required fill out a form with required information and start the online search. Once this is done-the search is easy. There are more services offered by the website, which includes investigation related services. The website also wishes to provide public record users. This will consist of complete profile of the person, along with public records that are very helping in any kind of background check information.

Through this website, PeopleSearches.com helps people to reunite and also in useful investigative services. Other useful services offered by the website include sex offenders list, criminal records search and also a business search option, using the state-of-the-art database of the website. PeopleSearches.com with its high quality services is truly a revolution in online search technology.About PeopleSearches.com

PeopleSearches.com - is great way to find family, old friends, relatives, and just about anyone! A People Search report includes phone number, address history, age, birthdates, household members, home value, income and more.

For more information about the website and related information visit http://www.PeopleSearches.com
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in reference to: People Search and People Finder, Background Checks, Criminal Records (view on Google Sidewiki)

Intelius Blog is Journalism First, Marketing Second

2009-05-14T18:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.peoplesearches.com/news/
Easton at BusinessBlogWire writes a review of the Intelius corporate blog today. Like Easton, I have some quibbles with style (the posts are awfully long). But it's a great example of the kind of "journamarketing" you could be doing.

Intelius helps people get access to public information through personal background checks and other services. They deal with a lot of complicated issues, and the people who work there become experts in that space. So they're using their blog to explain some of those complicated issues. It's really nothing more than journalism. There's no overt sales pitch for Intelius. For example, the blog has entries about what kinds of mistakes you might find in public records -- and whether it's a good idea to publicize the names of people who've received concealed-weapons permits.

You might think this is a silly thing for them to spend time on. But when people want to dig into public records, I'll bet they almost always go online first. So building a repository of information, dedicated to helping people track down public information, will pay off in the long run with more referral traffic and a better online reputation among people who might use Intelius' services.

Information about Intelius, Founded by Naveen Jain

Founded by Naveen Jain, Intelius well known in the information commerce industry helps clients make intelligent decisions about assets, people, and businesses. Intelius applies advanced heuristics to public and publicly-available information, delivering it on-demand and online to consumers and businesses to facilitate a more informed decision-making process in business and life.

Intelius ranks among the top 100 most trafficked Websites, with an average of one million unique visitors daily. The many products and offerings of the company include a set of comprehensive and customizable pre-employment screening services, a consumer-facing people search service, list management, and an award-winning identity theft detection, prevention and insurance service.

Intelius’ background checks have helped consumers make better decisions about the people, businesses and assets in their world, from potential dates to new neighbors.

People search by Intelius, has reconnected thousands of people with friends or relatives with whom they’ve lost touch. In the HR world, Intelius’ employment screening services enable companies to analyze candidates’ professional backgrounds, from drug testing and fingerprinting to criminal records, professional licenses and education verification, plus a best of breed SSN verification service.

These services have helped create leads and confirm data for millions of customers, in addition to giving them peace of mind and the ability to make better decisions by making use of valuable public information. The Intelius executive team consists of IT and Internet professionals, technologists, business providers, and security specialists, and is led by Chairman Bill Owens and CEO Naveen Jain.

Intelius makes security available at multiple levels, including the personal, technological, and operational levels. Intelius also protects customers’ personal names, credit card numbers, and social security numbers. Intelius’ Verisign certificate signals safe and secure web transactions.

Reference: Intelius.com
http://www.peoplesearches.com/news/

A Little Background Check Goes a Long, Long Way

2008-10-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

Everyone has some kind of secret in the past. It may be something harmless but embarrassing, like working part-time as a mascot for a fast food chain at sixteen. On the other hand, a secret can also be serious, like being fired from previous jobs due to excessive absenteeism. Indeed, there are some secrets that are darker than most.

If you are an employer, part of your task is unearthing your potential employees' skeletons in the closet through a background check.

Doing a background check doesn't mean that you have to know all the intimate details of an applicant's life. But this also doesn't mean you need to take at face value everything he wrote in his resume and said in his interview.

A thorough background check determines whether or not his credentials are true. It will also inform you if the previous companies he worked with only have good things to say about him in terms of character as a person and performance as an employee.

Does the applicant have a criminal record? If yes, how serious is it? As an employer, you are responsible for keeping your employees safe, and one way to do that is ensuring your workplace is free from unreformed criminals. Without a background check, you risk hiring a convicted murderer who escaped prison. Sounds paranoid?

Maybe, but that scenario is not impossible if you skip on a background check. It's better to be safe than sorry.

Aside from fishing out even the most-hidden criminal records, a thorough background check also weeds out liars who embellish their resumes. An applicant may think a few exaggerations and fabrications in his resume are harmless, but what does that say about his character?

A background check will identify the person who truly fits the job you're trying to fill in and differentiate him from someone trying to get in under false credentials.

After all, you want a qualified position for the job to make sure that it gets done right. Besides, how can you trust a liar with your company's sensitive data and processes? This alone should give you a clear picture of how important a background check is.

When doing a background check, you can verify information such as criminal records, official transcript of records, character references, certificates of employment from previous employers, and even credit score. A credit score at first may not be an obvious choice to be part of it, but a good score is a good indicator responsibility and diligence.

Most of the pertinent information you need to include in your background check is usually public information anyway, so there's no excuse for you to skip on doing a background check.

You should hire the applicant under no false pretenses, and this can assure you that you've done so. If you do a thorough background check on applicants before you hire them, you will have a safer and more secure workplace filled with competent and trustworthy employees.

Reference: EzineArticles.com

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Now, Small Firms Do a Background Check before Employing

2008-08-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

A small financial company in Jaipur recently hired an experienced financial hand from Mumbai as its chief financial officer.

No sooner had he joined, they had to fire him. He was found to have hidden the fact that his previous employer had sacked him for incompetence.

Small companies across India are facing difficulty in finding the right people who can manage their growing businesses as the fear of picking up the ‘wrong’ guy is also on the rise.

The Jaipur Company was lucky in the fact that the employee in question had conveniently forgotten to submit a relieving letter from his last employer. When a referral check was done, out came the shocker.

Background screening—or reference checks of prospective employees—is a normal practice among the big firms, especially multinationals. But stung by recent occurrences, small companies too are resorting to it.

Background screening, although in the nascent stage, is already an Rs 500-crore business in India. If small companies get involved, it could be a much bigger business, say experts.

According to a research conducted by First Advantage, one of the biggest players in the space in India, more and more executives are falling prey to fraudulent methods to get jobs.

The research mentions that security services saw most people (66.67%) trying to get jobs through misrepresentation, followed by the education business (44%).

“Most of these firms are small emerging firms,” says First Advantage MD Ashish Dehade. Interestingly, this is also fallout of the downturn. People who are getting sacked are resorting to fraudulent practices as job opportunities are becoming scarce.

Such frauds are also occurring in banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), consultancy services and FMCG sectors.

“There has been a phenomenal increase in people trying to hide information like criminal records, their being sacked from previous organization. As the slowdown in the Indian economy increased so did the people trying to fake it to get a job,” says Dehade.

The report suggests that the number of people misrepresenting the facts have shot up almost 100% over the last year. The maximum increase has been in the FMCG, BSFI and consultancy, says the report. Some time back, a senior executive was caught by a background screening organization who had faked IIT and IIM degrees.

Most organizations, however, try to put these incidents under the carpet than allow it to come in the public scrutiny. “Recently we had approached a background screening company, and we were shocked to find out that many of our existing employees had misrepresented facts for getting a job.

We had asked those employees to leave but did not report the cases anywhere in the police or made it public,” says CEO of an emerging IT company based out of Bangalore, who requested anonymity. There are around 200 players in the background screening business, most of the players being emerging companies.

Reference: economictimes.indiatimes.com

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Court: Some Teacher Records Exempt From Public

2008-08-03T21:01:00.000-07:00

The state Supreme Court ruled today that school districts do not have to disclose the names of teachers who have unsubstantiated allegations of sexual misconduct made against them.

In a 6-3 decision, the court found that releasing the names would violate the privacy exemption of the state's Public Disclosure Act.

School districts still must release records related to unsubstantiated cases so the public can judge how school districts handled allegations of sexual misconduct, the court said. "The identities of the accused teachers will simply be redacted to protect their privacy interests," Justice Mary Fairhurst wrote for the majority.

Names of teachers must be disclosed only in cases where sexual misconduct has been found or some form of discipline has taken place, Fairhurst wrote.

The ruling drew a stinging dissent written by Justice Barbara Madsen, who declared, "It is important to bear in mind that unsubstantiated does not mean untrue."

Madsen said the public will not have access to information necessary to determine whether school districts satisfactorily deal with allegations of sexual misconduct.

"As a consequence, predatory teachers may go undetected and unpunished," Madsen wrote.

The case stems from a 2003 investigative project by The Seattle Times that found 159 coaches in Washington were fired or reprimanded for sexual misconduct, ranging from harassment to rape.

The Times report found that school districts often failed to investigate complaints against coaches, and didn't report them to law enforcement or the state education office.

While researching the series, The Times filed public-disclosure requests with Seattle, Bellevue, Federal Way and seven other school districts for records relating to allegations of teacher sexual misconduct in the past 10 years.

The Times argued that regardless of the outcome of an investigation, the names of teachers alleged to have committed sexual misconduct was of legitimate public interest.

The newspaper's request was challenged by 37 teachers.

A King County Superior Court judge found that the districts must only disclose the names of teachers whose alleged misconduct was substantiated, resulted in discipline or if a district's investigation was inadequate.

A state appeals court overturned most of the decision, ruling that districts could only withhold records relating to teacher sexual misconduct when the allegation was "patently false."

In today's ruling, the majority said, "Making a distinction between 'unsubstantiated' and 'patently false' is vague and impractical."

The appeals court provided little guidance on what should be deemed false as opposed to unsubstantiated, the court said.

"When an allegation is unsubstantiated, the teacher's identity is not a matter of legitimate public concern," Fairhurst wrote.

The adequacy of an investigation should not affect a teacher's right to privacy, because the accused has no control over the investigation, she added.

Madsen, in her dissent, wrote that teachers do not have a right of privacy because allegations of sexual misconduct fall within their public duties. The allegations do not involve intimate details of their private lives, as required by law, she wrote.

Madsen said the court's ruling will allow school districts to manipulate investigations to avoid disclosure of teacher names.

"A school district can effectively control whether an accused teacher's identity must be released by reaching an agreement with the teacher exchanging resignation for silence," Madsen wrote.

Chief Justice Gerry Alexander joined the majority, along with Justices Susan Owens, James Johnson, and Bobbe Bridge. Justice Tom Chambers also signed the majority opinion, but wrote that he agreed "in result only," with no further comment.

Madsen's dissent was joined by a Justices Charles Johnson and Richard Sanders.

Toby Nixon, president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, blasted the decision in a written statement.

"This is yet another example of exemptions to public records disclosure being created by the courts rather than by the legislature," Nixon said. "School districts often hide evidence of patterns of misbehavior by teachers, coaches, and staff to avoid lawsuits.

It's one thing to expunge allegations shown to be false from a teacher's record, but we know from sad experience that where there's smoke there's usually fire — and now parents will have a harder time becoming aware of continuing patterns of accusations."

As part of the ruling, the majority also found that school districts do not have to release the names of teachers who received letters of direction, or guidance, when the letter doesn't identify an incident of substantiated misconduct and no discipline or restriction is imposed.

Reference: seattletimes.nwsource.com

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Some City Licenses Cost to Rise Due to Background Check Expenses

2008-07-24T06:34:00.000-07:00

It will cost more for certain businesses and occupations, such as taxi drivers and pawn shop owners, to obtain operator licenses in Rapid City because of a new ordinance approved Monday.

The ordinance is designed to recover costs of conducting criminal background checks on applicants.

The new fees will help the city recover fingerprinting costs and labor to process license applications that require a criminal history review by the state Division of Criminal Investigation.

The new fee will add $20 to cover the cost of the DCI's charge for conducting background checks, and $15 for the police department's additional labor both for new license applications and annual renewals.

Currently, there are 273 beverage, 377 security, 16 secondhand shops, seven pawn shops, five gem and metal dealers and 47 taxi drivers who have a license from the city.

Alderman Sam Kooiker and other council members believe the city must lengthen the period of time licenses are valid to lessen the impact of the fee increase.

"This is going to create sticker shock. It's the kind of thing that causes inflation. I think it warrants more discussion," he said.

Police Chief Steve Allender said new requirements from the state will increase time and labor for the police department to process license applications and then to forward results to the state for background checks. The ordinance is designed to recover those costs.

When informed that people will be required to be re-fingerprinted every year to get licenses renewed, Kooiker was incredulous.

"People's fingerprints aren't going to change unless they burn them off, right? I mean, in all seriousness, does this make sense?" Kooiker asked.

"No," Allender answered.

But the city must adhere to federal and state regulations regarding background checks, he said. The DCI will not do a criminal history check on an applicant without a set of fingerprints to ensure the identity of the person.

"This has got to be one of the dumbest things I've seen in government to do a set of fingerprints on everybody every year," Kooiker said.

Some council members believe the so-called "sticker shock" of a $35 increase to get a license in the city could be reduced by requiring a renewal every two years instead of annually. Alderman Bob Hurlbut said delaying the renewal would reduce administrative costs but still allow for full background checks.

City attorney Jason Green said another ordinance is in the works that will describe which licenses will require a background check. He said the council could also discuss license time periods as part of that ordinance.

The background check issue arose earlier this year when some council members sought to require mobile ice cream vendors to be screened for criminal history due to the proximity those businesses have with children. Ice cream vendors are likely to be included in the upcoming ordinance.

An attempt to postpone the issue for a month failed. The council then voted unanimously to approve it. The companion ordinance may be introduced as early as the July 30 legal and finance committee meeting.

Reference: rapidcityjournal.com

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Expert says FBI Checks Needed for Youth Pastors

2008-07-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

A national expert recommends more stringent background checks of youth pastors.

David Allburn, executive director of Safe Harbor Resources and the National Foundation to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse, is critical of the process, although background checks are required for youth pastors.

"The scope and content of the checks is usually superficial," Allburn said. "Faith groups are especially vulnerable to cherishing the myth that 'it can't happen here,' so their leaderships usually feel that background checks are a routine to be accomplished as fast and cheap as possible."

Former Mansfield youth pastor John Picard, 40, was arrested Thursday in Springboro on 10 counts of sexual battery reportedly involving a teenage parishioner. He is accused of having sexual relations with a girl starting in 1992, when she was 13, and continuing until she reached adulthood. Picard was a youth pastor at Grace Brethren Church on Marion Avenue at the time.

Mansfield police said Picard has not been involved with Grace Brethren Church for about four years.

"Allegations started surfacing," Lt. Allen Vandayburg previously told the News Journal. "The ministers decided they didn't need his services anymore."

The Rev. J. Hudson Thayer did not return a call seeking comment.

Allburn recommends having youth pastors undergo an FBI fingerprint check.

"It exposes arrests from all states at once, going back more than 50 years, and revealing all fake names the sexual predator provided police when arrested," he said. "Actually, nobody knows for sure what an individual's name is, and, in fact, we might not care.

"He can call himself Donald Duck if he wants to because the FBI fingerprint check tells if that person was arrested for anything more serious than traffic and minor misdemeanors, no matter what his name."

According to Mansfield Municipal Court records, Picard had nothing more than a handful of traffic offenses before Thursday's arrest. He has no felony record in Richland County.

Police said they think there are more victims. Detective Jeff Shook opened the case in 2005. He said some of the alleged abuse occurred in the church, while other reported incidents happened at Picard's 419 Sloane Ave. residence.

Vandayburg said Picard has worked in Springboro for a steel company for some time but moved there only three or four months ago.

Anyone with information relating to the Picard case is asked to call Shook at 419-774-3533.

"The goal is to make this case so devastating to him that it stays out of the courtroom for the protection of these girls," Vandayburg said.

In a 2001 case at Grace Brethren, Michael Sloan was charged with sexual contact with seven teenage girls he met through the church. He pleaded no contest to five counts of sexual imposition and two counts of importuning -- all misdemeanors -- for inappropriately touching or soliciting the girls. He was given a one-year diversion sentence.

Reference: mansfieldnewsjournal.com

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Google Background Check as a Tool for your Research

2008-07-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

Many of us preferred Google as our source of information available in the web.

Even in doing a background check it’s a known fact that even judges use search engines. Google search directs someone to find the background check info that the person may be looking for or guidance for handling a case.

A report on News.com stated that a government employee, David Mullins, complained that his “right to fundamental rightness” is violated. He was then suspected of misuse of government vehicle, time and travel card and falsification of official travel document.

Valerie Capell was the one who weighed the allegations against the accused. She, herself discovered that Mullins was twice removed from a job (with the Department of Air Force and with the Smithsonian Institution, respectively).

Ms Capell’s decision to fire Mullins from the job doesn’t affect the Google search. In fact, when Capell discovered Mullins losses of job, she had already 102 specifications that would support the allegations against Mullins.

The government agent has the right in conducting a background check. It is a process on which the company can check either the employee has a clean record or has a questionable reputation before.

It just only justifies the decision of Capell that firing Mullins is right. With the substantial evidences recorded and known and procedures according to law, the decision made no prejudices.

Google search, as part of a background check, is not a question.

It can be a reliable resource of information. Though it is not used against a person to judge per se, a background check is used to identify one’s identity to have a fair judgment. And definitely, a background check is used not to harm others but a useful material for any decision.

Reference: detectiveunlimited.com

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Background Checks Now Easy as ABC

2008-07-09T17:47:00.000-07:00

Joanna L. Krotz, who writes about small-business issues for the Microsoft Small Business Center, tells a sobering story to illustrate the logic behind employee background checks.

The tale begins in a California home, where robbers caught ransacking the house responded by shooting the homeowner.

Investigation revealed that the robbers hadn't expected anyone to be there, and knew a lot about the home's content, layout and security system. Why? Because they'd spent a lot of time in the place, cleaning carpets for a company that catered largely to the rich and famous.

It turns out the carpet cleaners had felony records before they were hired, Krotz writes. The homeowner eventually recovered sufficiently to sue the cleaning company, alleging negligent hiring. The company paid $11 million in damages.

With that story in mind, a $25 background check looks like a bargain.

Maury Mitchell hopes the same $25 check will become a moneymaker.

Mitchell is the director of the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center, the agency that collects, stores, retrieves, analyzes and distributes criminal justice data on behalf of the state.

Law enforcement agencies and the courts have long relied on the information generated by the ACJIC. But under a new program, businesses now have access, offering them a secure and up-to-date check of an applicant's or employee's Alabama arrest and conviction records.

To use the Alabama Background Check, or ABC, system, employers must meet certain basic qualifications, Mitchell said last week. They have to have a signed waiver from the individual whose background is being examined, which they must retain, as a paper record, for three years from the date it is used. The employer is also limited in the use of the information obtained and can't resell it.

The information the agency compiles is "a valuable asset, and we've been limiting its capability," said Mitchell, who adds that at least 22 other states offer some kind of backgrounding service.

The background checks cover a seven-year window and do not include either juvenile or youthful offender records.

Alabama law currently sets the $25 price for the checks, but Mitchell said he hopes to have legislation approved that gives him a bit more flexibility in offering price breaks to customers who run lots of checks, or perhaps to nonprofits. He said he's hoping the ABC system generates some money that can be used to enhance the capabilities of the agencies involved.

ABC is a joint effort of the ACJIC, the state Department of Public Safety and the state Administrative Office of Courts.

Granted, the $25 background check is somewhat limited because it is based solely on Alabama records. But Mitchell and Avery Morris, manager of the ACJIC's information integrity division, said the agency's checks do offer a couple of distinct advantages.

One, the information is updated almost instantly. And it offers a record of arrests as well as convictions, something other background checks might not generate.

"This is the official state background source," said Morris. "It is up-to-date and basically the same information state law enforcement is given."

Reference: al.com

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Background Check: Employment Background Checks

2008-07-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

Why do employers want to check your background? It could be for one of several reasons. If government security clearances are required for the job you are interviewing for, an employment background check may be required. The employer may want to make sure you are telling the truth. It's estimated that up to 40% of resumes can contain false or tweaked information, so, employers want to insure that what they are getting in an employee is what they were promised. The employer may perform a background check to find out whether actually graduated from the college you said you did or to confirm that you worked at your previous employer(s) during the time stated on your resume or your job application.

Background Check Information:

What's included in an employee background check? The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) sets the standards for screening for employment. The FCRA defines a background check as a consumer report. Before an employer can get a consumer report for employment purposes, they must notify you in writing and get your written authorization. If the employer is simply conducting inquiries (rather than running reports) they should also ask for your consent. That way you could withdraw your application if there is information you would rather not see disclosed.

If an employer decides not to hire because of this report, they must give you a pre-adverse action disclosure that includes a copy of the report and a copy of your rights. They must then give you notice that they have decided not to hire you and let you know the name and address of Consumer Reporting Agency and information on your right to dispute the report.

At a minimum, a background check will verify your social security number. At most, it can include an analysis of your work history, the people you know, along with a full credit report. It can also include your credit payment records, driving records or criminal history. The inquiries should be related to the job. For example, if you are hired to work in a bank, it would be reasonable to find out if you have a history of embezzlement or theft.

Background Check Privacy:

What can't be included in a background check? There is some information that cannot be disclosed under any circumstances. School records are confidential and cannot be released without the consent of the student. You cannot be discriminated against because you filed for bankruptcy, however, bankruptcies are a public record, so, it is easy for employers to obtain the information. Laws vary on checking criminal history. Some states don't allow questions about arrests or convictions beyond a certain point in the past. Others only allow consideration of criminal history for certain positions.

Employers cannot request medical records and may not make hiring decisions based on an applicant's disability. They may only inquire about your ability to perform a certain job. The same holds true for Worker's Compensation. The military can disclose your name, rank, salary, assignments and awards without your consent. Driving records are not confidential either and can be released without consent.

Be Prepared:

The best way to prepare for a background check is to be aware of the information that an employer might find. Get a copy of your credit report. If there is erroneous information, dispute it with the creditor. Check your motor vehicle record by requesting a copy of your record from your state Department of Motor Vehicles. Ask your previous employers for copies of your personnel files. Make sure you know what your references are going to say about you.

Most importantly, make sure your resume and job applications are accurate and truthful. If you lie you might not get caught right away, but, you will probably get caught at some point. It's not worth not getting hired, getting fired and ruining your employment history because your thought your resume might need some enhancing!

DISCLAIMER:
The private web sites, and the information linked to both on and from this site, is opinion and information. While I have made every effort to link accurate and complete information, I cannot guarantee it is correct. Please seek legal assistance, or assistance from State, Federal, or International governmental resources to make certain your legal interpretation and decisions are correct. This information is not legal advice and is for guidance only. I-9 Form Requirements

When hired for a new job, employees are required to prove that they are legally entitled to work in the United States. Employers are required to verify the identity and eligibility to work for all new employees. An Employment Eligibility Verification form (I-9 Form)2 must be completed and kept on file by the employer.

In addition, employees must present original documents, not photocopies. The only exception is an employee may present a certified copy of a birth certificate. On the form, the employer must verify the employment eligibility and identity documents presented by the employee and record the document information on the I-9 form.

Acceptable I-9 Documents:

Employees are required to present either one of the documents from List A or one of the following documents from List B and one of the documents from List C.

List A (Documents that establish both identity and employment eligibility):

United States Passport
Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Receipt Card (I-551)
Temporary Resident Card (I-688)
Employment Authorization Document (I-766, I-688B, or I-688A)
Foreign Passport with temporary I-551 stamp
For aliens authorized to work only for a specific employer, foreign passport with Form I-94 authorizing employment with this employer

List B (Documents that establish identity only):

Driver's license issued by a state or outlying possession
ID card issued by a state or outlying possession
Native American tribal document
Canadian driver's license or ID card with a photograph (for Canadian aliens authorized to work only for a specific employer)
School ID card with a photography
Voter's registration card
U.S. Military card or draft record
Miltary dependent's ID Card

List C (Documents that establish employment eligibility only):

Social Security account number card without employment restrictions
Original or certified copy of a birth certificate with an official seal issued by a state or local government agency
Certification of Birth Abroad
US Citizen ID Card
Native American tribal document
Form I-94 authorizing employment with this employer (for aliens authorized to work only for a specific employer)

No I-9 Documentation?

An employee who fails to produce the required document, or a receipt for a replacement document (in the case of lost, stolen or destroyed documents), within three business days of the date employment begins, can be terminated. An employee who shows a receipt has ninety days to present the oringinal documents.

So, before you start your job search, make sure you have all your paperwork in order!

DISCLAIMER:
The private web sites, and the information linked to both on and from this site, is opinion and information. While I have made every effort to link accurate and complete information, I cannot guarantee it is correct. Please seek legal assistance, or assistance from State, Federal, or International governmental resources to make certain your legal interpretation and decisions are correct. This information is not legal advice and is for guidance only.

Reference: about.com

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Don't Rush Checks: The United States needs to do Thorough Background Checks of Would-be Citizens

2008-06-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

A group of Muslim immigrants is suing the federal government, claiming it is taking too long to perform the background checks necessary before they become citizens. They want a judge to enforce time limits on the checks. Their claim should be rejected.

In the age of terrorism, this nation needs to be more careful about whom it allows into this country and to whom it gives citizenship. Now is not the time to limit background checks and impose a time limit on them.

The 33 plaintiffs came to America from Afghanistan, Bosnia, Egypt, Pakistan and Somalia, among other countries. They now live in Missouri and have filed their class-action lawsuit there.

The suit claims that some of the immigrants have had to wait months and even years for their background checks to be completed by the FBI before their citizenship can be processed.

They say the delay keeps them from voting and makes it difficult for them to travel abroad and get back into this country.

That is true, but it is also part of the price of coming to this country and trying to become a citizen.

The FBI receives requests for 4 million name checks each year. Half of them come from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. Clearly the workload is heavy and takes time.

Most Americans, even newcomers, eager to protect this nation, will recognize the necessity of checking the backgrounds of those who want to live permanently in this country, to come and go at will.

It is likely that background checks on some applicants take longer than others, and it is likely that background checks on citizenship applicants from the Middle East are given special scrutiny. That's not unreasonable. It's common sense.

It's crucial for those who want to become American citizens to wait for this nation to find out all it needs to know to determine whether it wants to grant them citizenship. The alternative to taking that time is not to force this nation to rush its checks and grant citizenship before it is ready. The alternative is not seeking citizenship or coming here at all.

This nation faces real threats to its security and has a right to minimize those threats by investigating those who want to take up permanent residence and citizenship here. Prospective citizens should show more concern toward the interests of their new home than to demand that security measures be rushed for their convenience.

Reference: goupstate.com

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Police Doing Deeper Background Checks

2008-06-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

Mesa police will get a better look at a person's criminal history with extra background checks that began this week.

The two police unions don't agree on whether officers can complete the checks and still have time to cover the streets.

"It is really taking it to the next level," Mesa Police Assistant Chief John Meza said. "If I am going to interview someone on a stabbing, I want to know as much as I can about them."

Most officers already conduct checks for warrants along with their department database, but since Monday they have added a national criminal convictions database check on anyone arrested, cited and released and on any juvenile referrals. The checks are not done for minor traffic citations.

The mandate could prevent criminals from falling through the cracks, provide investigative leads for police, help solve and build stronger cases and make sure people who shouldn't be released aren't, police said. Police conduct about 24,0000 checks each year.

Mesa Police Association President Fabian Cota says he thinks the checks are a good idea but is worried they are time-consuming and will take officers off the streets for long stretches. He said the checks are cumbersome and take about 30 minutes.

"There are logistical and efficiency concerns. It would be better if there was the infrastructure in place," Cota said. "In theory, it's a good idea, but in practice we are not ready."

Officers can go to their district station or the booking jail to use computers to make the checks. If they are citing someone, they must call the records department to do the check.

Meza said the department has reduced the overall number of calls officers respond to and have shaved considerable time off how long it takes to book prisoners. He says the new checks can run 4 to 30 minutes depending on the length of the criminal background.

The department is working with the Arizona Department of Public Safety to get more computers to make the checks and hopes officers can perform the checks from their car laptops by December.

"It's about time we do them," Mesa Fraternal Order of Police President Bryan Soller said. "We have made mistakes in the past where people were let out and we find out they lied to us or were wanted somewhere else and it didn't show up in the system."

Soller says the check isn't an in-depth background check and he doesn't think it will overburden officers.

He also believes that knowing a person's background, including whether they have a history of attacking officers, will improve officer safety.

Reference: azcentral.com

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E-Verify Faulted for Lack of Resources, Protections

2008-06-12T03:25:00.000-07:00

To successfuly screen employees of all federal contractors, E-Verify needs more resources and protections from theft and errors

Critics weighed in on the mandatory use of the E-Verify employment verification system to screen employees working for companies that hold US federal contracts Tuesday, noting that the federal government lacks the resources to implement the requirement, the system does not protect against identity theft, and errors in federal records could lead to disciplinary action against innocent employers or employees.

President Bush signed an executive order compelling the use of E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of federal contractors on June 6. The US Office of Management and Budget concluded a review of a proposed rule to implement the order Monday.

Resources
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency responsible for using the program, does not yet have the resources to implement mandatory E-Verify screening on its end, Richard Stana, director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) told a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday. The agency would need somewhere between $765-840 million to implement the program over the next four years.

Likewise, the Social Security Administration (SSA), which provides the data used by E-Verify to confirm employee identities, would require $281 million and 700 new employees over the next four years, Stana added.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has requested only $100 million for E-Verify in fiscal 2009, as the secretary confirmed at a press conference Monday, but he believes that is enough money to start expanding the program.

Identity Theft
Stana added the system has poor protections against fraud at present.
"E-Verify may help employers detect fraudulent documents thereby reducing such fraud, but it cannot yet fully address identity fraud issues, for example when employees present genuine documents that may be stolen. USCIS has added a photograph screening tool to E-Verify through which an employer verifies the authenticity of certain documents, such as an employment authorization document, by matching the photograph on the document with the photograph in DHS databases," he said in a statement.

That concern has driven the HR Initiative for a Legal Workforce, an advocacy group based in Alexandria, Va., to push for passage of New Employee Verification Act (NEVA) (HR 5515), introduced by Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) on Feb. 28. NEVA would, among other things, require the use of a existing database used by about 90 percent of US employers to check criminal backgrounds of new employees. Johnson declared in a May hearing that E-Verify could take up to seven years to meet the requirements of mandatory screening.

"The HR Initiative strongly supports the goal of ensuring that workers who enter the US workforce are authorized. However, mandating participation in a system that doesn't really work won't give employers the tools they need to ensure a legal workforce," said Mike Aitken, director of Government Affairs at the Society for Human Resource Management, a key member of the initiative.

About 69,000 employers currently use the E-Verify system, but 200,000 federal contractors must start using it under the order, Aitken added, which would completely overwhelm the system and the agencies that support it.

Chertoff agreed with that figure Monday and estimated that employers were currently checking perhaps 10 percent of new hires throughout the United States against E-Verify. The order impacts "hundreds of thousands, if not millions" of workers at companies that win new federal contracts going forward, Chertoff acknowledged.

Errors
As the NEVA Act suggests, governments could correct errors in government records by using a third party electronic database, Ed Peterson, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Intelius, a data collection firm in Bellevue, Wash.

Peterson's firm conducts background investigations for clients like FedEx Ground using its own data, and not that of the Social Security Administration (although data from credit bureaus and other sources may include Social Security Numbers).

"There is no way to avoid errors 100 percent because at some point a human is inputting information into the system and humans create errors," Peterson told HSToday.us.

"E-Verify has a lot of great potential, but it is one tool. I don't think it is the end-all, be-all tool because I don't think there is an end-all, be-all tool. You need to have a variety of tools to make up an accurate solution," he added.

Congress and some state governments, however, have endorsed the use of E-Verify to date, Chertoff said.

"This system is doing the job it should do. It is resolving honest mistakes in a way that protects the worker. It is also identifying those who are not permitted to work because they are not here legally. And that's what it should do as well," Chertoff remarked. "Now last year Congress gave a clear vote of confidence in the program by significantly increasing our appropriation for E-Verify."

In addition, the states of Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Utah have passed laws requiring companies in their states to confirm employment eligibility with E-Verify, while North Carolina requires only its state agencies to use E-Verify.

Reference: hstoday.us

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Foreign Care Workers Escape Background Check

2008-06-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

Tens of thousands of immigrants are working with vulnerable elderly people and children without undergoing full criminal record checks, it has emerged.

Senior police officers have warned the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith of the scale of the problem in a report examining the affect on the UK of immigration from Eastern Europe.

It warns of the huge costs to police forces of having to carry out checks on behalf of a new watchdog to vet care workers, and says the authority will not redress the problem.

Many of Britain's care homes, which are currently home to 400,000 elderly people, rely on foreign staff because British workers are reluctant to take the jobs.

The officers warned Ms Smith that tens of thousands of immigrants employed in these homes - as well as other areas of social care such as child-minding and nursing - are not being fully checked because authorities cannot access foreign criminal records.

In some cases, even the country of origin does not hold full data on the individuals.

A planned system for the exchange of criminal records will be piloted in just four countries, and the proposal does not address the issue of checks on workers from countries outside the European Union.

An estimated 240,000 foreign-born people were employed in the care-related sector in 2006 and a further 46,000 were working as child minders and nursing auxiliaries.

The report by Peter Fahy, Chief Constable of Cheshire, and Grahame Maxwell, Chief Constable of North Yorkshire, says the Independent Safeguarding Authority, which will begin operating next year, will not be able to fully prevent unsuitable migrants from working with vulnerable people.

Reference: telegraph.co.uk

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Infinity Screening: Why Background Checks Should Never End

2008-05-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

New screening tools are becoming available that will help businesses be informed about their employees as it relates to professional licenses, certifications, driving records, criminal convictions, immigration status, etc.

Having this information will help firms make better decisions that will mitigate the risk associated with many employment decisions including promotions, transfers, etc. and whether employees continue to qualify for the position they hold. This will be an important weapon in every business's arsenal as it will help prevent many negligent retention lawsuits.

The good news is that these tools, known as Infinity Screening or Continuous Post-Hire Screening, have been deemed the "next big thing" in background screening. The bad news is that businesses should be aware that implementing an Infinity Screening Program must be given a considerable amount of forethought to address the trail of legal requirements, human resource, and employee relations issues.

In addition, firms must carefully consider a myriad of other issues to ensure not only consistent employee practices, but also that decisions are made that are congruent with the firm's culture and human resource philosophy. To ignore this reality will only lead to future employee relations issues that could have been avoided with forethought and planning.

Why Should Firms Consider Implementing an Infinity Screening Program?

Manage Your Risk
First and foremost, infinity screening presents firms with the opportunity to better manage the risk associated with employees. Too often businesses make faulty assumptions when they hire a new employee. They presume that because the person starts a job with a clean criminal, credit or driving record that this means the person's record will remain this way.

Many firms have learned the hard way that somewhere down the line this same employee who started with a clean record turns in a different direction. Regular background checks are the only way an employer can know of changes in employees' status that may have a negative impact on the company. Some firms have relied on voluntary reporting, but this has not worked for obvious reasons.

Stress can ultimately impact workplace performance and productivity. Identify factors that contribute to stress at work, what the consequences of stress are, and how to control and minimize the effects of stress.

Unfortunately the negative exposure can take the form of fraud, theft of information and property, workplace violence, embezzlement, etc. and can have a significant cost impact on the business. The following illustrates some of the potential impacts:

Employees are responsible for approximately 60% of losses due to fraud, information and property thefts.
U.S. organizations lose an average of 6% of their revenues to all forms of occupational fraud according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. The cost of fraud from such things as employee espionage or identity theft is estimated around $6 billion annually.

The number of workplace violence homicides has actually decreased over the last several years, however, horrific incidents continue to happen and cause tremendous suffering and financial burden on employers. Researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH) estimate that the average cost of a workplace homicide is $800,000.

Negligent hiring lawsuits that result in a jury trial cost, on average, over $3 million to employers that lose, while cases settled prior to trial are running around a half million dollars.

Beyond managing risk, the management of a business has a fiduciary responsibility to appropriately manage and protect the assets of the business. It must ultimately determine the company's appetite or tolerance for risks - those risks it will take and those it will not take in the pursuit of its goals and objectives.

Once the level of risk that a firm is willing to accept has been determined it is management's responsibility to ensure that the company implements an effective and ongoing process to identify risk, define the potential impact and then to activate what is necessary to proactively manage these risks.

Infinity screening helps to manage risk because having current information on employees positions you to make proactive decisions versus being caught off guard in a reactionary position. In other words, Post-employment screening allows employers to keep ahead, quantify their risk, know where and in whom their risk lies, and most importantly, it helps with the management of risk.

For example, if you have a driver who delivers products to your clients and through an infinity screening process you find out he has been convicted of driving while intoxicated you can make a decision regarding continuing to allow that person to deliver your product.

Without this information being brought to your attention you could have faced a situation where the driver has an accident while making a delivery and seriously injures someone. You then find out he is driving on a suspended license and has been convicted of a DUI. This is not a pretty picture or a situation that will make you or your attorney happy since it likely to lead to the company getting sued for negligent retention.

Negligent retention is the legal doctrine that has evolved out of numerous court cases. The underlying premise of negligent retention is that if an employer is aware of a problem or should have been aware of the problem and did not take reasonable actions to address the situation then the employer can be held liable for their employees' actions. This concept has been applied to a wide array of employment situations.

To go back to the delivery driver example identified above, in court, several questions are likely to be raised:

Is it reasonable to expect that the company should have been aware of their employee's driving record?

Were there reasonable steps that the employer could have taken to have had current information on their employee's driving record?

If they had been aware of it what action would they have likely taken?

While we cannot speculate on the decision that a jury might make in this type of situation you can clearly see where this line of questioning is leading. We believe that firms can avoid this situation altogether by staying informed about their employees' records through infinity screening.

Pre-employment screening reduces the risk of a bad hiring decision; post-employment screening reduces the risk to which a company is exposed over the long term. These are the actions that a responsible employer should be aware of in their workforce and may become a new standard for judging if an employer took reasonable steps to provide a safe work environment.

Legal Requirements
Since we have discussed risk it is important to mention the legal issues associated with infinity screening. Most firms are well aware that the primary legal requirement for conducting background screening is defined by the Fair Credit Report Act (FCRA) as amended by FACTA, and this is equally true for infinity screening.

FCRA provides the requirements for using Consumer Reporting Agencies, which includes background screening firms, however, if a business does its own background screening using internal staff and does not use a consumer report in any part of their process they do not have to follow the FCRA requirements.

Although this may be the case, we strongly encourage businesses to still follow the FCRA requirements to avoid even the appearance of unfairness and also to place themselves in a rock solid position should their process get challenged.

In addition, there are several industries where ongoing screening has become a legal requirement. Medical and healthcare facilities are typically required to make sure that medical licenses and certifications are current and meet established standards.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) oversees drug and alcohol testing programs on mandated employees. The DOT requires employers to conduct a pre-employment drug test and obtain a two-year drug/alcohol test history. Additional regulations set forth by the DOT require employers to monitor their employees on an ongoing basis.

DOT employers who fail to conduct this screening are subject to penalty fines. Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act prohibits any person who has been convicted of any criminal offense involving dishonesty or breach of trust or money laundering, or has agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion or similar program in connection with a prosecution, from becoming or continuing as an institution-affiliated party; owning or controlling, directly or indirectly, an insured institution; or otherwise participating in the conduct of the affairs of an insured institution without the prior written consent of the FDIC.

Banks and brokerage firms have their guidelines as well.

Important Considerations in Implementing an Infinity Screening Program

A Comprehensive Background Screening Policy
It is very important to set the overall framework for your pre-employment and post-employment screening process in a comprehensive policy that provides clear guidance to all.

Identify Sensitive Jobs
One of the important areas that the policy should address is to classify jobs on the basis of their sensitivity or the risk factor that is associated with a specific job. In this context, risk refers to the risk of an incumbent being able to commit fraud, embezzlement, steal confidential information or property, etc. For example, a Chief Financial Officer who has signature authority for up to $100,000.00 has a greater risk factor than a receptionist who cannot approve any expenditure.

This is important because the greater the risk the higher the sensitivity of the job and therefore, the greater the precautions the employer should take, such as regularly checking the CFO's credit and criminal record. Unfortunately, "very few employers tailor the background information they collect to the requirements of the job," says Lewis Maltby, president of the nonprofit National Workright Institute.

Outsourced staff and sub-contractors
Aside from permanent employees, companies need to be especially aware of outsourced staff, or sub-contracted companies (e.g. cleaners, guarding companies and all personnel who come onto a company's premises). As part of service contracts, companies should be insisting on ongoing screening as part of service level agreements.

These individuals pose as much a risk as any permanent staff member and very often are even more of a potential threat with unrestricted access to all areas and after-hours servicing. For example, consider the unsupervised access that night cleaning crews have to your facilities.

Discrimination
EEOC guidelines regarding the use of criminal records to not automatically disqualify an individual from consideration without a legitimate business reason for doing so, also apply to current employees as do restrictions on use of arrest records.

Employee Privacy and Monitoring
A policy needs to be very clear regarding not creating an 'expectancy of privacy' and openly communicating to employees about how the firm intends to monitor their records in areas to be covered (e.g., criminal records, licensing, etc.) based on the nature of the responsibilities assigned to specific job function and the qualifications for the job.

Employee Consent
Employers must ensure that such checks are done with consent. Ensuring that employees are given proper notice is a very important part of positioning your firm to be able to act at a later date should something go awry with the employees records. It should also be noted that having the traditional statement that 'omission of information or giving false statements is grounds for termination' may not be sufficient to address the consent issue.

Notification and Appeal Rights
Employees must be given proper notice, the right to challenge incorrect information, and a reasonable time period to provide correct information. This raises a question that deals with should the employer grant the employee time off to rectify or bring in correct records; with pay or without pay?

Access to Information
Access to information should be tightly controlled for improper viewing, use of information and to avoid 'tainted' views of the employee creeping into employment decisions.

When Should You Take Action?
This is probably one of the most challenging issues related to infinity screening - defining when to act on the information that is discovered and what is an appropriate action to take. One option is to put in place a Background Screening Review Committee composed of a Human Resource Manager, Security Manager and Legal Counsel with the charge to oversee decision-making regarding 'adverse actions' based on learning about derogatory information.

The intent of this committee is to provide an objective body to review the totality of the circumstances surrounding a situation and to apply a consistent framework to how decisions are made.

Infinity screening is an idea whose time has come.

Businesses should embrace this opportunity to be able to further manage their risk by being able to identify potential problems in a proactive manner. In addition, having current information in employee records positions a business to be able to make decisions not only to reduce risk, but also to ultimately create a safer workplace.

While it is a well known premise that "knowledge is power," in this case we know that having the right information at the right time can empower businesses to better manage all of their assets to improve overall business performance.

Reference: hrtutor.com

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Refusal to Allow Background Check Dooms Job Chance

2008-05-04T09:53:00.000-07:00

The real lesson . . . is that job applicants have virtually no leverage before an offer is made.

Q: I recently had a disturbing experience when applying for a job.

After three phone interviews, I was asked to interview in person. That meeting went well, and I was told that I would be invited back to meet the rest of the team.

On my way out, I was handed two release forms and told to return them within two days. These forms authorized the company to check my credit report, criminal background and driving record, even though driving isn't part of the job. Although I have nothing to hide, this request seemed inappropriate.

I responded by both phone and e-mail, saying that I would return the forms after a formal offer of employment, contingent upon a satisfactory background check. I also pointed out that unnecessary credit checks could lower my excellent rating.

Within a day, I was informed that my application was no longer active. Can the company do this?

A: Although regulated by state and federal laws, the general practice of conducting applicant background checks is both acceptable and common. Employers must have your permission, but if you don't give permission, they don't have to hire you.

Used appropriately, these investigations help to identify embezzlers, violent offenders and other undesirable hires. But more-upstanding candidates may feel that their privacy is being invaded. Smart interviewers explain the purpose of the process instead of robotically dispensing release forms.

The real lesson from your story, however, is that job applicants have virtually no leverage before an offer is made. Because this company requires background checks, your refusal to return the forms killed your application.

The mildly confrontational tone of your response probably didn't help. While your reaction was not unreasonable, it could have created the impression that you might be a difficult employee. And the first goal of every interviewer is to screen out potential problems.

Q: My boss, who is in charge of payroll records, appears to be making some serious errors.

Three of us have access to this data, and we all have noticed major mistakes.

Our company is not doing well, and these inaccuracies are costing thousands of dollars. Fixing this problem would help financially.

When we have pointed out mistakes, however, our manager has gotten really mad. Also, we don't want her to think we're spying. What should we do?

Document the errors carefully, then meet with a receptive executive or human resources manager. To increase credibility and minimize risk, all three of you should attend this meeting.

But be sure to choose your audience wisely. Select someone who will share your concerns and look into the problem, not simply alert your boss.

Reference: Marie G. McIntyre is an Atlanta-based workplace coach. Her weekly column is syndicated by McClatchy-Tribune News Service. Submit questions at yourofficecoach.com.

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Education Report: Alabama Education Association and Postsecondary at It Again

2008-04-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

Two year college employees keep an eye out for a particular form coming in your mail soon. The form will give the Department of Postsecondary Education permission to use your social security number for criminal background checks, but the A.E.A. isn't happy about it.

The fight is about how the background checks will be done. If a bill that's moving through the legislature is approved, it will require criminal background checks for all current and new employees in K-through-12 and Postsecondary.

AEA is pushing for the bill that will require the background checks to be done by the Alabama Bureau of Investigation using fingerprints. But Postsecondary has already signed an agreement with a private company to do their background checks using an employee's name and social security number.

But AEA filed a lawsuit claiming social security numbers going to a private company is an invasion of privacy. However, Wednesday afternoon the two sides reached an agreement that the employee must complete a form giving the two year college system permission to use his social security number.

Attorney for the plaintiffs Edward Still said "What we were trying to do today was to meet the requirements of the privacy act which requires that people get that notice and that they voluntarily agree to give up their privacy interest and their social security number."

The attorney for Postsecondary, Roger Bates, explained "The experts that have been hired by Postsecondary have informed us that they can conduct a search without the social security number. It will be more difficult and it will be more time consuming because we may not have a specific name ID to go with a particular reported conviction. So there will be some follow-up required I'm sure."

The bill that will require background checks by using the ABI to do fingerprints passed in a Senate committee Wednesday morning. If it passes in the full Senate and the Governor approves it one attorney said the background checks could begin as early as May 8th.

Another bill was approved in another Senate committee Wednesday morning that would create a separate board of education for two year schools.

Reference: wsfa.com

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State Police Can't Keep Up with Background Check Requests

2008-04-13T12:47:00.000-07:00

So many state licensing boards and private employers are requiring criminal background checks before people can get certain jobs that state police can't keep up with them.

And while a few convicts are weeded out through the 190,000 or so criminal record checks performed each year for non-law enforcement purposes in New Hampshire, one lawmaker wonders about their usefulness.

"I wonder if we are creating a false sense of security," said Rep. Anne-Marie Irwin, D-Peterborough.

The state police unit responsible for performing the security checks statewide and nationally is seeking a temporary moratorium on conducting FBI checks for applicants for nurses aide licenses to buy time to train new technicians to handle the onslaught.

"The hot button issue is more and more non-criminal justice entities are requesting access to the FBI data base," said Jeffrey Kellett, chief administrator of state police criminal records unit.

Kellett said two clerks previously handled the requests for non-law enforcement agencies. Four new technicians have been hired to keep up, but it will take anywhere from 12 to 18 months to fully train them, Kellett said.

Kellett said it is rare that such checks find criminals, although there is no data on exactly how many. "If we catch just one, it's worth it," Kellett said.

Rep. Irwin, who chaired a legislative committee hearing last week on a bill to temporarily stop FBI checks on applicants for nurses aide licenses, believes employers may be relying too much on the police and FBI criminal background checks.

What they should be doing is more thorough checks with an applicant's past employers. But even then, many past employers are afraid to say anything bad about an applicant for fear of being sued, she said.

Irwin said she is not trying to belittle the background checks, just wonders how successful they are.

"What are (criminal history checks) costing us to do that and who are we catching?" Irwin asked.

It began in 1996 in New Hampshire when the Legislature passed a law requiring teachers and others who work or volunteer in schools to have both a state and national FBI criminal background check.

Now many in the medical profession and mortgage writers are required to undergo both checks before licensing.

Starting Sept. 1, town officials can designate which new employees and volunteers must undergo both state and FBI checks.

Kellett said the pari-mutuel commission wants background checks for anyone who applies for a gaming license and the real estate board is looking into whether to require them for realtors and brokers.

The law requiring national and statewide criminal background checks for nurses and nurses aides went into effect Sept. 1, 2007. Since then, there have been only a few applicants flagged.

"One woman tried to submit fingerprints for someone other than herself," Kellett said.

Kellett said the bill in Irwin's committee allows for a state-only records check for nurses aides until March 2009 at the latest to give the new technicians in his unit time to be fully trained.

Kellett said the Board of Nursing has access to a national database on nurses aides' backgrounds that should be adequate in the interim.

"It does give us a little breathing room so we can ramp up operations here in criminal records so we can handle whatever volume we can foresee in the future," Kellett said.

Reference: unionleader.com

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Online Dating Bills

2008-04-10T16:10:00.000-07:00

Online dating sites may be the newest pickup hot spot, but they’re not for everyone. Some people are afraid of who they might meet online.

“People can change who they are and you don’t really see who they are. They’re just behind the computer screen,” says FSU freshman Lesley Lynn. Senator Ronda Storms fears predators are using dating sites to find victims.

Storms is sponsoring a bill requiring sites like Match.com and EHarmony, to tell subscribers they don’t run background checks.

“Either you do it or you don’t do it. That’s all. It’s transparency. Interesting it’s so opposed by the industry. And it is vigorously opposed by the industry,” says Sen. Storms (R-Tampa, FL)
True.com claims it’s the only online dating site running background checks.

Opponents of the bill say it’s simply about one site wanting its competitors to admit they’re not as good.
Opponents say if sites start claiming they run background checks, the disclaimer could give users false hope.

“My concern is that if you have something on there that says ‘we do background checks’ we don’t know what that means and it might give people who use the thing a false sense of security,” says Rep. Charlie Justice (D-Pinellas County, FL) While the bill targets online dating, it does nothing to regulate social networking sight like myspace and facebook.

Still proponents say you’ve got to start somewhere.

The bill would allow the state to sue any dating service that didn’t let its users know its members hadn’t been subjected to background checks.

Reference: wctv.tv

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New Law to Protect Students Begins Seeing Results

2008-04-03T16:51:00.000-07:00

New Law to Protect Students Begins Seeing Results

A new state law mandating background checks for educators has begun to yield its intended result of protecting children, school officials said.

Senate Bill 9, which took effect Jan. 1, requires people applying for jobs with school districts in Texas to submit their fingerprints to authorities for a national criminal background check.

Investigations have begun for current applicants and noncertified personnel. BISD has yet to begin fingerprinting educators or certified personnel, said Yolanda Gavito, administrator for certified personnel.

Those applying for a job with the Brownsville Independent School District have had to drive to McAllen to submit their fingerprints.

Only two of 50 people who applied for classified positions with the district have not been hired after the background checks yielded a record, BISD spokeswoman Drue Brown said.

Debbie Ratcliffe, spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, said that the Texas Department of Public Safety along with her agency had completed the background checks for educators and those that hold a certificate from the State Board for Educators Certification for the Austin Independent School District.

Those background checks are currently being compiled, she said, adding, "they have not found much at all.

"We really do expect that to be a trend," Ratcliffe said. "What has happened in other states, about 10 percent of the people (whose criminal background is checked) ... has turned out to be something serious."

A handful of ongoing criminal background checks are being conducted in districts near the Dallas and Austin area, including the Northwest, Georgetown and Round Rock ISDs.

Ratcliffe would not say when BISD's background checks would begin, adding the deadline for background checks runs through Sept. 1, 2011.

"We don't want someone that's got a checkered past to move from district to district to stay ahead of the fingerprinting process," she said. "If they have a problem, we want them to be worried, and know that we are coming."

Susan Fox, assistant superintendent for human resources, said there are no local vendors conducting fingerprinting here, sending those that have applied for a job with BISD to McAllen to be fingerprinted.

She has considered bringing in the equipment needed to conduct in-house fingerprinting.

Originally, Integrated Biometric Technology L-1 Identity Solutions, the vendor handling the fingerprinting for the Texas Department of Public Safety, had plans to set up a fingerprinting location here, but those plans fell through, Fox said.

"We have begun to explore other options," Fox said, adding that she does not have an estimated cost for the equipment. "They haven't gotten any figures to me. I'm anticipating that within the next week or two."

Ratcliffe said there are 78 locations statewide where applicants can get their fingerprints taken, adding that about a dozen mobile units also will be traveling throughout the state.

The state will pay the $52 for the fingerprinting and conduct the national background checks for current employees.

Reference: brownsvilleherald.com

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Mortgage Industry to Get Background Checks

2008-04-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

Wyoming now has access to a national database for checking on license applicants.

The number of licensed mortgage brokers and lenders in Wyoming decreased by more than 20 percent last year compared to 2006, according to the state agency that oversees the industry.

The decline is in part the result of the state not renewing the mortgage licenses of vendors whose lending practices violated state or federal law, said Jeffrey Vogel, Wyoming's banking commissioner.

He said others voluntary handed in their licenses because they did not have enough business.

Starting July 1, the oversight of who is authorized to work in the mortgage industry in Wyoming is due to become more stringent. That is when amendments to the Wyoming Residential Mortgage Practices Act go into effect.

Those involved with the legislation passed this year say the most important change is the authorization to perform a national criminal background check, complete with fingerprinting, on license applicants. State officials are specifically looking to see if an applicant has been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony related to the financial sector.

"We need to know what they've done outside the state before they come into Wyoming to do business with residents," Vogel said.

The amended law gives Wyoming the authority to participate in the National Mortgage Licensing System, which includes a database that allows regulators to view the history of mortgage companies and individual brokers and lenders.

When applicants previously sought a license, they were asked to voluntary divulge and explain their relevant criminal history. The ability to share information with other states was limited.

David R. Johnson, executive director of the Wyoming Bankers Association, said the association fully supports the increased accountability.

"We think knowing who you're doing business with and something of their business record and past history is very important, and this bill allows that to happen," he said.

At last count, Johnson said, 42 states, including Wyoming, had either signed up for the national registry or passed legislation to participate in the database.

State Rep. Amy Edmonds, R-Cheyenne, is a member of the Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Interim Committee, which sponsored the legislation.

Edmonds said in debating the law, legislators weighed the responsibility between protecting consumers from dishonest mortgage dealers and not making the requirements too stringent that it will be difficult for small lenders to stay in business.

She believes the legislation accomplishes both objectives by preventing companies from coming into Wyoming, fleecing prospective homeowners with a mortgage and then leaving the state.

"That's the biggest pressure a family is going to make during their lifetime, and we want to make sure we're protecting them," she said.

In 2005, there were 444 state-licensed mortgage brokers and lenders in Wyoming. The number jumped to 1,196 in 2006 before dropping to 926 at the end of last year, according to the Banking Division within the Wyoming Department of Audit, which oversees the issuance and annual renewal of the licenses.

Vogel explained that the small number in 2005 was due to the Wyoming Residential Mortgage Practices Act not going into effect until July 1 that year.

During the third quarter of 2007, Vogel said Wyoming had one of the lowest foreclosure rates in the nation, based on a compilation of statistics by RealtyTrac.com, the Federal Reserve and the Mortgage Brokers Association.

"I don't see a big number escalation in the number of foreclosed-upon properties in Wyoming," he said.

The recent amendments to the act may not be the end of refining the state's licensing standards. There currently is no uniform requirement for applicants to have education specific to the lending industry.

"That's something that will probably need to be out there in the future," Vogel said.

Reference: wyomingnews.com

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Checking Your Credit Before Employers Do

2008-03-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

It's no longer enough to come to a job interview with resume, references and job experience in hand. A growing number of employers are now studying a candidate's credit history before making an offer.

In Pictures: Checking Your Credit Before Employers Do

While your credit history may not be the determining factor, employers use it to fill out the picture for many candidates--and not just in the finance field.

In 2004, 35% of employers said they performed a credit check on employees, according to the Society for Human Resource Management's Weapons in the Workplace Report, which also looks at companies that do criminal background checks on their employees. That number jumped to 42% in 2006.

Why the increase?

Employers see it as a way to determine the job seeker's character. "It tells the potential employer how responsible you are," says Jo Bennett, a partner in the executive search company Battalia Winston International. "If you handle your money responsibly that's a good indication that you'll handle other things responsibly."

It's also because checking a prospective employee's credit history is so easy. It used to be a long process that was done by mail. Now all the relevant information is streamlined online.

Still, employers can check credit history only if the employee provides a signed consent. Also, more companies are outsourcing their hiring functions to companies, like EDS or Hewitt Associates, that are very process oriented. They have standard functions for each client; this is simply another part of the interview process for them.

Another reason is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Employers don't want to miss any evidence in someone's background that might indicate nefarious intentions. "They need to find out if the employee is desperate for money," says Bennett.

That's why a larger range of industries check credit. It's not just limited to a company's highest officers or financial institutions, where it's standard practice. It's not unusual for employees who travel frequently and who use an expense account to get checked.

Employers might be reluctant to hire someone in debt for one of those positions because of the temptation to take a bribe, fudge expense reports or even embezzle funds.

At the professional services firm KPMG International, all prospective employees' credit is reviewed as part of the overall background check. KPMG uses an outside company to confirm virtually everything on a candidate's resume.

But Phil Sollecito, executive director for human capital management at KPMG, stresses that a credit check is merely part of the overall picture.

Sollecito says it's rare that one thing will prohibit a candidate from getting the job. Although in certain areas, a negative credit report would carry more weight than in non-finance fields.

"If someone is applying for a job in HR and they've been behind on paying their bills it's not going to hurt their prospects of getting the job unless it's part of a pattern," he says. "If they have a pattern of bad credit history or abused credit history that's another story."

Linda Petigrow, a senior account executive in the temporary staffing practice at Ajilon Professional Staffing, says most of her clients now do credit checks.

Petigrow helps job applicants who want to work on a project basis or for shorter time periods in professional services like accounting and law. When she places employees at jobs in nonprofits or hedge funds or in accounting or legal positions she warns them there will likely be a credit check.

She advises job seekers to be up front with recruiters about any blemishes in their financial record. That way job seekers can steer away from employers who require a clean credit history.

But for those not dealing with the recruiter, she recommends waiting until it's clear you are a finalist before bringing up an imperfect credit report.

For an accounts-receivable or budget director position, employers aren't likely to be forgiving. But there are exceptions.

Employers generally understand if a candidate incurred debt from high medical bills. However, they will want to see that there's a plan in place for paying down the debt. Another time they might be more lenient is if the candidate is going through a divorce and a former spouse has stripped the job seeker of assets.

But job seekers have to be upfront. The right time to bring up debt is when a prospective employer says they're doing background checks. Ask what that includes. If a credit report is part of the check be honest about how you got into debt and explain what you're doing to reduce the debt.

"Never lie," says Tom Musbach, managing editor of Yahoo! Hot Jobs. "Bringing it up first--at the appropriate time--demonstrates that you don't have something to hide."

Reference: forbes.com

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Exposed: The Fakers Behind the CV Masks

2008-03-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

The need for employers to be vigilant has never been greater, says Andrew Stone

Dodgy CVs can be - literally - a matter of life and death for organisations. A survey by NDF Associates last month found that a third of NHS trusts had identified health workers who had used fake CVs. The Harrogate-based CV-checking company also found that some candidates had concealed criminal convictions.

Fraudulent job applications are on the rise, according to Jonathan Cray, managing director of Control Risks Screening, which sells preemployment vetting services. “We’re facing an increasingly ambitious workforce prepared to take bigger risks to secure better jobs,” he says.

A more mobile and international workforce only adds to the risks, the workload of HR departments and the potential for slip-ups, he says. Outsourcing such work as cross-checking CVs with other information can bring faster turnaround times and save money.

But there are other compelling arguments for handing the job to specialists such as himself, claims Paul Carratu, managing director of Carratu International, a risk mitigation and corporate investigation consultancy.

“The objectivity and discretion of a third party are important. Do you want all your staff to know what everyone else has been up to? If screening is done in-house, several people will see private details and that can lead to gossip.”

Carratu says he knows of a company that hired a financial director on the basis of his Oxbridge tie and lightly checked CV. Tighter, more objective scrutiny would have revealed that the candidate - who went on to defraud the firm of £3.5m - had gained his qualifications while serving a prison sentence for fraud.

Cray advises companies that may want to outsource their security checks to find out whether prospective service providers match their own global footprint and growth ambitions. “Your provider’s research reach in geographic, temporal, linguistic and cultural terms is important,” he says.

“Does your provider have operations around the world? Does it have access to local data sources and does it understand local markets? Linguistic capability is important, too.

Database information in some parts of Africa, for example, can be slim, and speaking the language in order to get the right information can be invaluable. Being aware of cultural differences is also a factor: what is acceptable information to request in one country may not be acceptable legally or culturally in another.”

Firms about to outsource should look at all the variables of their business, says Carratu. “If there’s going to be a big seasonal increase in your recruitment, can your provider gear up to that? Can your provider offer preinterview screening? Does it offer full visibility? Can it enable you to log on to its system to see in real time how each application is progressing?”

Finding the right provider will become more important as the complexity of background checks and the requirement for them grows, says Carratu.

“Tougher legislation is becoming a real issue across a range of sectors, from financial services to organisations serving children and companies employing drivers. A lot of businesses think they are up to date on this but they are not.”

Cray adds that “being seen to minimise the risks of fraud and limiting the potential damage to your organisation’s reputation” are factors that are growing in importance to stakeholders, employees and shareholders alike.

Peter Yapp, head of Control Risks’ information security consultancy practice, says there are measures every business can take to mitigate the risks involved in entrusting their data to a third party.

“There are certain things to look for in an outsourcing partner, such as ISO 27001 certification. Even if they are not accredited to that standard yet but are working towards it, it is a good indicator that they have the right environment in which to store your data.

“You can also insist on the right to audit your outsourcer’s facilities. People don’t often think of including that in the contract, but it means you will be able to find out in practice what happens to your data.

“Getting your service provider to sign nondisclosure agreements and having an auditable database, so you can see what records their people have looked at and what they have printed out, are also good ways to ensure peace of mind.”

The political fallout from the recent loss of data from the Home Office in the UK and the impact on the share price of American retailer TJX after hackers stole its credit card records for 45.6m customers (the price fell 13%), show how vital the issue of securing data properly is in today’s computerised world – and HR departments need to be vigilant over the security of candidate and employee records.

“It may well be that the environment in an ordinary HR department is an open one that is not ideal for holding sensitive data,” says Yapp. “Specialist service providers’ facilities and handling processes should be secure.”

Moves towards the imposition by the government of binding obligations on businesses to secure their data will also increase the pressure on firms to look beyond their own HR departments for data checking and storage solutions.

Faster candidate checking

AFTER a merger in 2006, which doubled the size of data services company Telecity, Suzie Heath, above, the firm’s HR director, decided to review the way the company carried out its background checking. “The merger gave us the chance to review what the HR team does. It made us think about outsourcing some of our work,” she says.

“One issue was that we never seemed to have time to chase up references. We used to have a standard approach, contacting two past employers and one personal referee. But because this is a security business, we realised that was no longer good enough.”

Outsourcing to Eurocom CI, an employee screening service, held the promise of tighter and faster background checking. Eurocom CI has carried out checks on 65 people since its contract, which is open-ended, started in May 2007; Telecity plans to recruit another 40 employees across the group this year.

Cost was a secondary issue, but an important one, says Heath. “Comparing like for like, I don’t think outsourcing costs much more than what we were doing before, but the improvement in quality has been significant. The references we get now are more in-depth, with additional checks of media archives, professional memberships and professional qualifications. It gives us a lot more insight into potential employees.”

Telecity’s internal customers are also happier, as Eurocom CI provides online tracking of how the screening process is progressing. They can expect turnaround of some checks in as little as 48 hours.

“We don’t waste time chasing up queries from managers about how the process is going or when the new employee can start. It saves us a lot of wasted effort,” adds Heath.

Reference: timesonline.co.uk

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New Laws Affect Everyone in Schools

2008-03-09T16:59:00.000-07:00

Two new laws designed to protect school districts from employees who may have serious offenses in their backgrounds also will affect just about anyone who enters a school.

While all certificate holders must now complete a background check every five years, so do non-licensed personnel, according to the Ohio Department of Education.

School bus and van drivers must be checked every six years when their certificates need to be renewed.

Lakeview Schools Superintendent Robert Wilson said the addition has put an added weight on districts’ shoulders when even volunteers must undergo a background check at their own expense.

‘‘It’s just one more hoop they have to go through,’’ he said.

Trumbull County Educational Service Center Superintendent Vicki Giovangnoli said the TCESC handles background checks for all the local school districts, and anyone who walks in can expect to pay $60 for both the BCI and FBI checks.

‘‘There’s a cost factor that’s involved, yes. But the law says all these people have to have this done,’’ she said.

However, Giovangnoli also pointed out that all of these efforts, especially a new ODE database that compiles disciplinary records, also will end up being tools for educators in the hiring process — something that eventually will tell a story much more complete than what comes out of interviews and background checks.

‘‘From the standpoint of hiring individuals, it’s another reference that you can check,’’ she said.

And often if offenses are found, administrators said they would take into consideration a variety of factors outside of perhaps a minor misdemeanor conviction.

For example, Girard Superintendent Joseph Jeswald said he looks at someone’s references and ability in the classroom, as well as their licensure and credentials. And having a background check pull something up doesn’t always mean that’s the end of the story.

‘‘It’s a situation that I would consider on a case-by-case basis. That’s a tool for the overall process,’’ he said.

What Jeswald did warn of, however, is challenges down the road.

Some teachers currently have permanent licenses and have not undergone any background checks for decades. He said he wonders how districts will deal with possibly unearthing an incident that could have occurred months ago or even several years ago.

And while it’s left things a bit more challenging at this point from the employee perspective as well, Wilson asserted that the overall intention is one that can’t be argued.

Reference: tribune-chronicle.com

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Do We Need Background Checks for House Plant Buyers?

2008-03-04T22:06:00.000-08:00

The ricin poison found in a Las Vegas hotel room is so deadly that a speck the size of a pinhead could kill you.

The hotel occupant is still unconscious in a hospital, but the ricin was made from castor beans, which come from a plant that is "enduringly popular" with all sorts of suburban gardeners, says Barbara Bates, horticulture educator with the University of Illinois Extension office in St. Charles.

"Castor bean is a great way to turn your garden tropical on a budget," reads the U of I's "Tropical Punch" Web site that lists the castor bean plant as a "tropical plant to consider." Tucked into the information about the quick growth, giant leaves and dramatic colors is a small warning that "the seeds are extremely poisonous."

The Internet offers tons of castor bean plants and beans for sale. Some sites push it as a good way to kill moles and other garden pests. Many warn you to keep pets and kids away from the plants or beans. A few profess to tell you how to make ricin from castor beans.

After a murder/suicide in 2004, a discovery of castor beans in an Aurora townhouse led to a search by a hazardous materials and weapons of mass destruction team. Police found no ricin but did discover a few guns and a stash of castor beans.

Yet there is no movement to ban castor bean plants, require background checks for purchases or set limits on how many seeds a gardener can buy a month. Nor is there a National Castor Bean Association vowing not to surrender beans until we pry them from their cold, dead hands.

It's just a plant. A plant used to make laxatives, lubricants, cancer treatments and, under the wrong circumstances, super deadly poison.

Castor bean-related poisoning "does number in the hundreds of cases," says Dagny Olivares, health communication specialist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But deaths are rare, especially since eating castor beans (always a bad idea) doesn't always result in poisoning.

The CDC lists a few deaths from people injected with the castor bean extract, but Olivares notes that ricin has not been a weapon favored by killers or terrorists.

Some ricin dust showed up in envelopes in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when fears about anthrax or other poisons dominated the news, but no one was killed.

The most famous castor bean extract death was Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident who was killed in 1978 when an assassin in London used a spring-loaded umbrella to inject him with a platinum pellet containing a fatal ricin dose.

In the United States, where our killers tend to be lazy, nonscientific, impatient types who choose easily available weapons, concocting exotic poisons from house plants "might make a better novel," Bates says.

Castor beans might be the weapon of choice if you're a spy trying to outwit Scotland Yard, but there are no cases of castor beans being used successfully among mopes trying to do in a spouse or get the upper hand in a bar fight.

If toxic plants ever do become weapons of choice, we have dozens in our arsenal -- from hemlock and wolfsbane to bleeding hearts and poinsettias.

"Just because it comes from a natural plant doesn't mean that it's safe. Some of our most toxic substances are natural," Bates says, noting the opium poppy for starters.

"Apple seeds have cyanide in them. If you ate a lot, you could get sick or kill yourself," Bates says. "But people don't eat a cup of apple seeds."

There's no need to elevate your personal Homeland Security System rating to red just because your neighbor's patio boasts a wall of castor bean plants.

"With it in the news, Americans are going to be concerned about it," Olivares says. "You should read and learn about it and put it in the proper perspective."

If all we have to fear are house plants, we will be in good shape.

Reference: dailyherald.com

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Schumer Accuses TSA of Slip in Background Checks

2008-03-04T21:56:00.000-08:00

In the years following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, many flight schools that operate nationwide are still not properly screening foreign students, Sen. Charles Schumer said yesterday.

Schumer blasted the Transportation Security Administration for allowing 8,000 foreign students to attend flight schools or obtain pilot's licenses without proper background checks. The TSA is supposed to conduct a federally mandated security check before flight school instruction or enrollment.

Schumer said the TSA is asleep at the switch and that he would like to see an audit of the agency followed by new fines for schools that fail to provide proper background checks. This, he said, could be putting lives in danger.

"We need a full investigation of the TSA to figure out why this is still happening," Schumer said. "The problem lies with both the schools and the TSA. Some of the schools don't even ask for any documentation."

TSA representatives denied students were falling through the cracks and maintained that they are following the 2003 law that requires them to screen foreign students.

"TSA checks every foreign national that applies for flight training in this country or at FAA-certified facilities anywhere in the world," said a spokesman who did not want his name used. "Further, the claim that 8,000 students have not been checked by the Alien Flight School Program is inaccurate."

Schumer, who said he obtained his numbers from an internal report, said he would like to see the 8,000 foreign students checked by the FBI and that schools should receive beefed up fines if they fail to comply with the law.

Schumer said the problem created a security hole that was exploited by the 9/11 hijackers, who were said to be taking flight courses in the United States before the attacks.

In 2003, federal laws were passed to create the Alien Flight Student Program, which barred students from attending flight schools until they cleared the TSA check.

"This is 9/11 or the failures that led to 9/11 all over again and it's hard to believe that this is happening," Schumer said. "It's seven years later and they're still not doing it."

There are roughly 45 flight schools in the tri-state area, with at least two on Long Island, including one at Republic Airport in East Farmingdale and another at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma.

Schumer called for an across-the-board audit, in which all TSA records would be checked against Federal Aviation Administration certification records to see which students have had proper background checks.

TSA officials said they already audit flight schools across the nation to ensure that foreign students are in compliance.

Reference: newsday.com

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8 Tips for Small Businesses Considering or Conducting Employment Background Checks

2008-03-02T11:37:00.000-08:00

1. Be Consistent — To ensure consistency in your screening efforts from the beginning, start with a background checking policy. It doesn’t require a lot of research to write a policy for your firm — just document the who, what, where, why and how. There may be different rules you’ll want to establish for different positions. It’s a good idea to review the policy with a lawyer prior to putting it into effect. Go to the FTC website www.ftc.gov to check the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) — it covers far more than credit and sets the standard for employers who want to find out more about applicants or employees.

2. Get Consent — The Federal government requires advanced written permission from the individual before doing a background check.

3. Get Complete Information — Get a complete list of current and past addresses, plus the social security number. The addresses provide a basis of counties for a criminal check, while an SSN validation will identify anomalies that may require further investigation.

4. Conduct a Quality Criminal Check — Since there’s no centralized entity managing all criminal records in the U.S., criminal searches are best conducted in all pertinent counties using the applicant’s date of birth and all names they may have used. A national criminal database search can help provide additional assurance, but may not be comprehensive or stand up legally by itself, so consider conducting such a search in conjunction with county searches.

5. Confirm Employment and Education — Contact past employers or obtain W2s and/or first and last pay stubs from the applicant to confirm work history, titles, compensation, etc. If the job in question is in any way dependent on education, be sure to check with educational institutions as this is an area where frequent misrepresentation occurs.

6. Check Driving History — Insurance rates may be lowered and company risk limited by obtaining a Motor Vehicle Record (MVR) report on any employee who will be driving on company time. Check with the relevant state motor vehicle bureaus for appropriate release forms.

7. Follow Adverse Action Rules — If you decide to take any adverse action such as demoting, terminating or not hiring someone based on information obtained through the background check, the individual must be notified of your planned action in advance in writing and given a copy of the report. This gives the applicant or employee a chance to dispute the information found and allows the opportunity to clear up any inconsistencies. The complete adverse action process can be found within the Fair Credit Reporting Act at www.ftc.gov.

8. Find a Reputable Background Checking Partner — Background checking services for small businesses used to be clumsy, inadequate and expensive. That has changed. Find an experienced background checking provider with a simple solution that meets your needs and let them help navigate applicable laws and regulations.

Reference: businesswire.com

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5 Caveats Before You Conduct Background Checks Online

2008-03-02T11:32:00.000-08:00

Employers can conduct background checks using websites like Facebook, MySpace, and Google under federal law, but there are several issues they should keep in my mind before they do, according to two employment attorneys who led a BLR audio conference recently.

Brian Van Vleck and Anthony Zaller of the Los Angeles-based law firm Van Vleck Turner & Zaller said that rise in popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace and search engines like Google has also prompted interest among employers that want to use them for background checks and recruiting purposes.

At the same time, there is some uneasiness among HR professionals because they are concerned that the practice could expose their companies to additional liabilities because the sites contain so much personal information about the individuals who use them.

They both noted that it will take some time before the law catches up with the advances of the Internet.

Van Vleck said that he tells his clients that when dealing with the Internet, employers must think about many of the same issues they already face, such as being careful to avoid attaining and using information in a discriminatory way, ensuring that they don't break privacy laws, and making sure the information obtained is accurate ("you can't believe everything you see on the Internet").

Both presenters stressed that employers should also check state and local law before conducting any background check online.

Zaller said that under federal law, employers can generally use social networking sites for background check provided that:

The employer conducts the background check themselves. He said that if the employer uses a third-party (consumer reporting agency) to conduct the checks, the information found on social networking sites could fall under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which has disclosure and notice requirements.

The site is readily available to the public. He also noted that it's important to read the terms of service posted on the sites.

The employer doesn't have to create an alias to gain access. If an employer uses subterfuge to gain access, the company could face liability.

The employer doesn't have to provide false information to gain access to the sites. He said using false information to gain access could come back to bite an employer in court.

The employer doesn't use information for discriminatory purposes in violation of federal, state, or local law.

If an employer, for example, discovered that an applicant is gay when the employer used Facebook or MySpace to conduct a background check, and that information was then used to deny employment, an employer could face a discrimination lawsuit if the state bars discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Reference: hr.blr.com

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Schumer Says, TSA Lax on Background Checks; TSA Disputes His Claim

2008-03-02T11:21:00.000-08:00

Sen. Charles Schumer charged Sunday that federal authorities are failing to ensure that foreign students attending U.S. flight schools undergo required background checks.

"This is 9/11, or at least the failure that led up to 9/11, all over again," said Schumer, a New York Democrat.

A law passed after the 2001 terrorist attacks requires Transportation Security Administration background checks in advance of flight instruction, but Schumer said that many of the more than 3,500 flight schools in the United States are enrolling foreign students before they have been cleared.

A TSA spokesman denied that the agency was lax with background checks.

"Each and every foreign national that applies for flight training at any FAA-certified school anywhere in the world is checked by TSA prior to beginning that training," said the spokesman, Jon Allen.

He said the TSA has conducted more than 8,000 inspections at flight schools and works closely with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to ensure only properly checked, legal aliens are attending flight schools.

But Schumer said at a news conference at his Manhattan office that TSA enforcement is spotty and inadequate. He claimed that more than 8,000 foreign student pilots who have not been cleared by the TSA had been able to enroll and obtain pilot licenses.

"If there was ever a place for TSA to focus its efforts and beef up security, this one should be a no-brainer," Schumer said. "It is simply unbelievable that TSA would look the other way on the gaping security loophole that led directly to the 9/11 attacks.

Thousands upon thousands of people are attending flight schools and becoming pilots that legally should have never gotten through the front door without clearing the background check first."

In a letter to Federal Aviation Authority Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell and TSA Administrator Kip Hawley, Schumer called for an audit and cross check of FAA certification records with TSA records indicating who has completed the background check and who may have been approved without the proper documents.

Schumer also called for tougher fines for any school that knowingly accepts a foreign student who should not have been certified. Right now the FAA and TSA can levy civil fines ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 depending on the size of the school.

Schumer also argued the TSA should do a background check on all flight-school applicants to weed out anyone who may have used a forged document.

Reference: newsday.com

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Online Dating Squabbles Over Background Checks Story Highlights: One of the Three Biggest Online Dating Sites Does Background Checks

2008-02-14T17:27:00.000-08:00

As Valentine's Day approaches, all is not lovey-dovey in the high-stakes online dating industry.

Some consumers worry about who's really on the other end of the e-mail.

The contentious issue of the moment -- pitting one of the three biggest companies, True.com, against its major rivals -- is whether online dating services can enhance their clients' safety by conducting criminal background screenings of would-be daters.

Last month, New Jersey became the first state to enact a law requiring the sites to disclose whether they perform background checks. True.com -- the only large online dating service that already does such screenings -- was elated by its successful lobbying and hopes other states will follow suit.

"The online dating industry tends to get a real bad rap, because of criminal activity," said True.com's founder and chief executive, Herb Vest. "If we were to clean up, there's hordes of off-line singles who'd come online to find their soul mate."

The pitch appeals to women like Jayne Hitchcock of York, Maine, who was victimized by three years of online harassment and cyberstalking in late '90s after someone assumed her identity and sent sexually explicit messages. When Hitchcock later decided to try online dating, she turned to True.com.

"There are people out there looking for a site where they'd feel a little bit safer," said Hitchcock, who recently met her fiance on True.com.

However, Vest's many critics in the industry say he is acting mostly out of self-interest. They contend that True.com's screening method -- running names through state databases of criminal records -- is incomplete and too easily thwarted, potentially creating a false sense of security for customers.

"It's so superficial that it's worthless," said Braden Cox, policy counsel with NetChoice, a coalition of e-commerce companies that includes Yahoo, AOL and other major players in online dating.

Match.com, one of largest dating services, said it had been assessing online background checks for six years and concluded they offered no extra protection.

"Match.com is disappointed New Jersey has enacted a flawed and unconstitutional law and we will explore opportunities to challenge it," a company statement said.

Even sponsors of the New Jersey bill conceded it was imperfect, but suggested it would at least make online daters more aware of security concerns.

There are no authoritative national statistics on serious crimes arising from online dating, but such cases periodically make headlines. A Philadelphia man, Jeffrey Marsalis, was accused of raping several women he met through Match.com, and was sentenced in October to at least 10 years in prison. A Cleveland firefighter, George Greer, was indicted last June for raping a woman he met through an Internet dating site.

An online dater in New York City, actor/musician Franca Vercelloni, said background screenings "couldn't hurt matters" but should not be a reason for dropping one's guard.

"You're not going to rely on what you learn from the online profile anyway," said Vercelloni, who's in her late 20s. "Dating in New York City is just as hard as trying to get a job or an apartment. You have to take a risk."

The New Jersey law, similar to ones considered in other states, will require online dating services to notify their customers in the state whether criminal background screenings have been conducted.

If a dating service doesn't perform such screenings, it must acknowledge that in large capital letters in every electronic communication with members from New Jersey, who would be identified by zip codes they provide when registering. Details of the notification rules are still being worked out.

Services that do conduct screenings must disclose that fact and say whether they allow people with criminal convictions to use the site. Those services also must note that background checks are not foolproof, but that disclaimer doesn't have to be displayed as prominently as the disclosure by companies that don't do screenings.

Critics say the type of screening envisioned by the law -- checking for a particular name in databases of criminal convictions -- has inherent flaws: users could give fake names, and many dangerous people may not be in the databases. Methods used in more probing background checks -- such as fingerprint scans and research into employment records and Social Security numbers -- are not required by the law.

More broadly, some worry that New Jersey's action will push other states to regulate the online dating industry, creating a hodgepodge of laws that will drive up operating costs and force some companies out of business. Some in the industry say they'd prefer federal legislation addressing background checks, rather than a patchwork of state laws.

Huge sums are at stake. Projections by Jupiter Research, an Internet consultancy, suggest the online dating market now totals $700 million or more, and Online Dating Magazine estimates that more than 20 million people visit online dating services each month.

A relative newcomer -- founded in 2003 -- Dallas-based True.com has drawn attention with racy ads as well as background screenings. Avowedly for singles only -- not straying spouses -- it claims to be the only dating service that checks on marital status as well as criminal convictions.

"We can't guarantee that criminals can't get on our site, but we can guarantee that they'll be sorry they did," the site declares. "We report violators to appropriate federal, state and local authorities, including parole boards."

Reference: cnn.com

(USPublicRecords.com) and (BackgroundCheckDirectory.com)

Administration Wants Background Checks Put on Fast Track

2008-02-08T13:26:00.000-08:00

Bush administration officials hope to resolve one of the government's most vexing problems before leaving office -- how to speed up security clearances for federal employees and contract workers.

President Bush, in a memo to agency directors Tuesday, said he wants "aggressive efforts to achieve meaningful and lasting reform." He directed key officials to submit a plan for speeding up and improving background checks and security clearances by the end of April.

Federal job applicants and contract workers have complained for years that their employment prospects or job assignments fall into limbo because background checks take too long, frequently more than a year.

With the system seemingly broken, companies that do business with the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies have offered luxury cars and signing bonuses of up to $20,000 for people who have the necessary clearances.

Congress also has pushed to speed up clearances. The 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Act require that 80 percent of all security clearances be completed in an average of 120 days.

Timely approvals help agencies hire experts to improve analysis of national security issues, Congress said.

The president's memo was sought by James R. Clapper Jr., undersecretary of defense for intelligence, and Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence, to underscore the importance of overhauling the process used for background checks and security clearances, officials said.

Clay Johnson III, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, and Linda M. Springer, director of the Office of Personnel Management, also have played key roles in pushing to streamline the clearance process.

With the memo, officials will move quickly to present Bush with options for improving the process, get a decision and draw up a plan for implementation later this year, Johnson said.

"It was done with a sense of urgency to get these things identified and set for launch, so when the next administration comes in, it is made better," he said.

New government employees undergo a background check to ensure they are suitable for federal employment and, depending on the nature of their job, an investigation to determine if they can be given secret, top-secret or other security clearance.

"They weren't running in tandem to anyone's satisfaction," Johnson said.

Last April, Springer and Stephen J. Hadley, assistant to the president for national security affairs, developed recommendations for improving the security-clearance process.

In June, Pentagon and intelligence officials began their own review of the clearance process, with an eye to enhancing operations in spy agencies.

When officials became aware of each other's initiatives, they decided to join efforts, Springer said.

About 90 percent of the government's background investigations, nearly 2 million each year are conducted by the OPM. The OPM turns over the investigative findings to agencies, which use the information to grant or deny security clearances.

Springer said the OPM is steadily reducing the time it takes for the background checks. Most investigations for top-secret and secret clearances are being completed in 118 days, on average, she said.

That is from the time the job applicant completes a form for the investigation to the date that an agency decides to either grant or deny the clearance.

The president's memo recommends the government develop a common method for conducting background investigations so that the data gathered can be used to determine employment suitability and also to grant clearances.

Once a basic investigation has been completed, any future investigations, required because a person is changing jobs or moving to a new security level, should avoid duplicating the previous background check, Johnson and Springer said.

"You add to it," Johnson said. "You don't duplicate what you have done to deal with lower-level-type issues.”

The OMB and the OPM will be providing updates on the security-clearance process to the Congress next week.

Max Stier, president of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, said Bush's memo shows that key officials are "getting their arms around a problem that is thorny and long running and essential to resolve."

Making the government more effective "is really about getting down and dirty in the weeds," said Stier, who often advises young people seeking jobs in the government. "The security-clearance process is one of the choke points for bringing talent into government."

Reference: washingtonpost.com

(USPublicRecords.com) and (BackgroundCheckDirectory.com)

Gun Show Sale Bill Killed by Panel

2008-01-20T10:55:00.000-08:00

A House committee yesterday killed legislation to close the "gun show loophole," despite emotional testimony from the families of victims of the Virginia Tech shooting.

On a party-line, 13-9 vote, the House Militia, Police and Public Safety committee voted down the bill, which would have required private sellers of guns to do background checks on their buyers.

A Senate version of the bill is due for a committee hearing Monday.

Currently law requires federally licensed firearms dealers to do background checks on anyone who buys a gun from them--the checks typically take just minutes.

But gun sellers who aren't dealers--who sell under a certain amount of guns--can sell guns at gun shows without doing background checks on the people they sell to.

That means people who would fail a background check--felons, the mentally ill, people who have protective orders against them--can go to private sellers at gun shows and buy a gun.

Gov. Tim Kaine is pushing to close that loophole this year in the wake of the shootings last April at Virginia Tech.

The shooter, Seung Hui-Cho, did not purchase his guns at a gun show, but Kaine and other backers of the measure say he could have, and that this is a way to help prevent future such tragedies from happening.

Those arguments, however, did not sway the committee, which heard the bill yesterday morning after it was added to the docket late on Thursday--a move that supporters of the bill said they felt was intended to minimize their ability to testify.

Several families of Virginia Tech victims did manage to make it to Richmond on short notice, to talk passionately about why they want the bill passed.

"I really cannot wrap my brain around a plausible reason you could give me why you would not support this bill," said Lori Haas, whose daughter Emily was wounded. " We can wait two hours at the DMV to get a driver's license and every single one of us does it.

We can wait five minutes for a background check. If you can save just one life with these bills, it is worth it."

Joe Samaha, whose daughter Reema was killed, said if lawmakers leave the loophole open, "then you have not done your best" to protect Virginians.

He criticized opponents of the bill who have said the background check is an "inconvenience" and a "nuisance."

"Let me tell you about the nuisance of calling Reema on her cell phone multiple times (the day of the shooting) only to get no answer," Samaha said.

The Virginia State Police back the bill. Col. Steve Flaherty said police estimate that 22 percent to 35 percent of people at gun shows are not licensed dealers, but are private sellers.

He stressed that the bill isn't intended to interfere with people trading guns with friends, nor does it apply to people selling a gun privately in any setting except a gun show.

Opponents of the bill argued that it does nothing to fix the issues brought out by the Tech shootings--such as the loophole, since closed, that allowed a mentally ill Cho to still pass a background check.

They also said forcing private gun sellers to do background checks on their buyers would be an infringement of the government into private transactions.

Philip Van Cleave, of the gun-rights group Virginia Citizens Defense League, said while gun shows had nothing to do with the Tech tragedy, people view it as an opportunity "to open up the toy box" to police all private firearms transactions.

"This would be just the first step," Van Cleave said. "The next thing would be all private sales we don't see the need for this."

Tom Evans, a lobbyist who represents some gun shows and helps promote gun shows, said gun shows are "visible scapegoats" but that the perception that criminals buy their guns there is off-base.

He spoke of watching people bring in used, older guns --some from World War I and II--and said those are not typically the kinds of guns that criminals buy.

Lawmakers on the committee held a heated, and confusing, argument over the parliamentary procedures by which they were going to vote on the bill, with Democrats arguing in favor of holding off on a vote until next week.

But in the end, the vote was taken and the bills killed, to the chagrin of the Tech victims' families.

"I don't know why these people think they're representing their constituents," said Andrew Goddard, whose son was injured in the shooting. "They represent the NRA and people who pay them money."

That isn't the end of the matter; the Senate has its own version of the bill, and that's the one Kaine is pushing.

Kaine told reporters yesterday that he always expected passage of the bill in the House to be "a challenge."

He's hoping that the Senate version will pass and thereby put pressure on the House to support it as well.

"With that momentum we could create some additional leverage to get this thing passed," Kaine said. "If it's ever going to happen, this is the year to make it happen."

Kaine dismissed the argument that the gun-show loophole has nothing to do with the Tech shooting.

"These gun shows provide a very easy and public means" for criminals to get guns, he said.

"There are those who apparently think it's fine for a felon to have a gun. They usually won't stand up and say that, because they'd be laughed out of the room, but that's apparently what they believe."

Some of the Tech victims' families will join other gun-control advocates in a lobbying effort at the General Assembly on Monday, which is when the Senate Courts of Justice Committee is due to take up the Senate version of this bill.

The committee chairman, Sen. Henry Marsh, is also the bill's sponsor.

Reference: fredericksburg.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Landlords Subject to City Checks: Altoona Housing Authority to Examine Backgrounds of All Section 8 Managers

2008-01-16T10:28:00.000-08:00

The Altoona Housing Authority will begin doing background checks on landlords in its Section 8 housing subsidy program, having done them on applicants since late 2006.

Checks will be performed when landlords’ annual contracts come up for renewal or when they bring a tenant or property into the program.

The authority has been conducting background checks for years on prospective tenants who apply for the program.

“We hold tenants accountable,” Executive Director Cheryl Johns said. “I think we should hold landlords accountable, too.”

The new policy will take landlord-applicant screening “one step further,” she said.

It calls for dropping landlords whose records show:

- Drug-related, sexual or violent crime.

- Fraud or bribery in connection with a federal housing program.

- Failure to meet previous housing-assistance obligations.

- Failure to terminate leases of tenants as required.

- Failure to pay real estate taxes.

- Renting units that don’t meet code.

- A history of endangering tenant welfare.

“We want to make sure we’re not putting a tenant in a dangerous situation,” solicitor William Haberstroh said.

Those situations could include living in properties owned by drug dealers or child molesters who could use their tenants to their advantage, he said.

The authority can exercise discretion in applying the policy in some cases, especially when violations are more than 3 years old.

For example, landlords previously involved with drugs who have gone through rehabilitation and turned their lives around might warrant leniency, Haberstroh said.

Paul Davis, president of the Central Pennsylvania Landlords Association, said he doesn’t have a problem with the policy.

“I think they should hold landlords to the same standards they hold tenants to,” said Davis, who has 12 Section 8 units and 10 non-Section 8 rental units in the city.

He doesn’t want to see landlords “doing shady business” or buying up property with drug money, he said.

“What’s good for one side is good for the other,” said Patrick Altiero, owner of Clyde E. Yon & Associates Real Estate and a Section 8 landlord. “I don’t see it as that big an invasion because [landlords] are not forced to do it.”

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development doesn’t have a problem with the policy, which it sees as a justifiable means to ensure that the program “is handled with the utmost integrity,” HUD spokeswoman Donna White said.

If the discovery of a criminal background ousts a landlord, the authority will help tenants find new places to take their subsidy vouchers, although the authority will not pay moving expenses.

The authority will continue paying the rental subsidy to the current landlord until the move.

Tenants could stay with the offending landlord, but they would lose the subsidy.

In Section 8, a landlord receives a fair-market rent as set by HUD, with the tenants paying amounts equal to 30 percent of their income and HUD paying the rest.

Background checks on the authority’s 400 Section 8 landlords will cost about $2,100, Johns said.

The authority has rejected one landlord applicant so far, Johns said, and it is not aware of any criminal reports implicating Section 8 landlords.

Reference: altoonamirror.com

(TenantSearchers.com) and (USPublicRecords.com)

DIY Background Checks are Becoming Easier

2008-01-14T07:43:00.000-08:00

Is your dream date hiding a less-than-dreamy rap sheet?

Can you trust your new baby sitter with the car keys -- or the kids?

More and more government agencies post public records online, making a startling amount of information available. With a little amateur sleuthing, you can peek into the backgrounds of the people you let into your life -- a nanny or housekeeper, an online acquaintance, a potential business partner -- and be reasonably satisfied they're not predators or crooks.

You may feel squeamish about digging up dirt on people -- and privacy advocates do worry about some methods people use to gather that dirt and its potential misuse.

Yet divorces, bankruptcies, many blogs, recent arrests and old convictions are publicly accessible and may reveal details you'd like to know before you hand over your house key to a handyman or in-home care provider.

Here's a tutorial on how to navigate public-records sites, as well as a list of online tools and tips compiled from private investigators and background screeners.

What you can find

Among the public records available online: domestic-violence cases, traffic infractions, sex offenders' approximate addresses and the sales history of homes.

For little or no cost, you can find an array of public records online, including:

Domestic-violence cases, traffic infractions, civil lawsuits and felony convictions from databases maintained by federal, state and municipal courts.

Registered sex offenders, with photos and approximate addresses.

Current and previous inmates in county jails and federal prisons.

Liens, mortgages, marriages and property records, including the sales history and purchase price of a home.

Garbage in, garbage out

A thorough background check starts with the person's correct name and date of birth. If it's a common name, a middle name or initial could be crucial.

"Almost everyone has a name twin," cautioned Christine Beck, a longtime private investigator in Seattle.

Be careful not to jump to conclusions based on a casual Internet search. Making hiring or firing decisions based on a quickie background check, for example, may not only be unfair but could land you in legal hot water.

"The Internet is still sort of a junkyard highway, and to take that to the bank without checking further... is scary," she said.

Be wary of shortcuts

Type "background search" into an Internet search engine and you'll see scores of companies pledging "instant" or "nationwide" background checks.

Some simply regurgitate aging data bought from a private data broker, with no guarantee the data are kept current or verified for accuracy.

Others may charge $15 or more and provide nothing more than a list of local courthouses with instructions to go look up the records yourself, said Larry Lambeth incoming co-chair of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS).

There's no substitute for looking at the files yourself, said John Hays, a Seattle private investigator.

"It's going to be labor-intensive," Hays said. "It takes work to dig this stuff up."

Check yourself out

Why stop with your nanny or date? Some people are running background checks on themselves.

Some worry about identity theft and want to know their personal information isn't being misused.

Others want to know what a potential employer would see with a background search.

For a free self-checkup, order your credit reports annually.

You can get one free every 12 months from each of the three national credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). Go to: www.annualcreditreport.com.

At least one company now lets you vet yourself and share the results with potential dates, employers and others.

For $15 to $35 on average, MyBackgroundCheck.com conducts a background check on you. You then get a unique password that can be shared with landlords, employers or others you allow to view the results.

"Ten years ago, the only people who saw your background check were the police department or an employer," said Robert Mather, CEO of MyBackgroundCheck.com.

"Now people are adding this to their résumés or buying background checks because they want to show others on MySpace" and other social-networking sites that they are who they say they are, he said.

You can also ask potential baby sitters, housekeepers or other service providers to get their own background checks and provide the results before you hire them.

Know when to get help

If your initial search raises red flags, it may be time to call in a professional investigator. The most comprehensive databases usually are reserved for professionals and companies that pay for access.

Most private investigators work mainly with corporate clients or attorneys. But some field occasional calls from ordinary folks wanting to check someone out.

The cost of hiring a private investigator varies.

Lambeth, for example, charges $35 to $115 for a background check. For that, he provides verification of the person's Social Security number, criminal records dating back seven years, verified job references and educational degrees.

Depending on the kind of information you're seeking, you may be required to get your search subject's permission for a background check.

And if the answer is no, maybe that's enough of a red flag, Lambeth said.

WHERE TO LOOK

People leave footprints behind as they move through life, tracks etched in public records -- property bought and sold, blog musings and rap sheets.

Public records aren't perfect -- bear in mind these databases could contain inaccurate information or be missing data. While you can learn a lot, don't take any of it as gospel without double-checking.

Dru Sjordin National Sex Offender Public Registry ( www.nsopr.gov): Coordinated by the U.S. Department of Justice, this site allows you to search for information on sex offenders by ZIP code, city, state or name.

PACER (pacer.psc.uscourts. gov): Provides information on federal criminal, civil, bankruptcy and appeals courts. In some cases, scanned images of court documents are available online. Note that most crimes are prosecuted at the state level, not the federal level.

Search Systems Premium (premium.searchsystems.net/ index.php): A private backgrounding company that offers a range of regional or nationwide criminal conviction reports for a fee of up to $29. This is a good choice if the person you are investigating lived in other states. You can also search nationwide for bankruptcies, judgments and liens.

VineLINK ( www.vinelink.com): A private company that provides a free search of recently released inmates of jails in all 50 states.

Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator ( www.bop.gov/iloc2/LocateInmate.jsp): Search for all inmates of federal prisons from 1982 to present. Note that most felons convicted of state or local crimes are sentenced to state or county prisons, and are not in this database.

Reference: star-telegram.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Va. Gov Proposes Gun-Show Sales Checks

2008-01-08T21:35:00.000-08:00

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on Tuesday proposed mandated background checks for everyone who attempts to purchase firearms at gun shows — legislation he called critical to helping prevent tragedies like the shootings at Virginia Tech.

In Virginia and most other states, people can buy firearms from private, unlicensed dealers at gun shows without going through a background check. Such checks are required for sales by licensed dealers, whether they are at gun shows or somewhere else.

Attempts to expand background checks in Virginia have failed repeatedly, but the latest effort has support from relatives of several of those killed or wounded by a mentally ill student at Virginia Tech.

Some of the family members joined Kaine for his announcement Tuesday at Virginia State Police headquarters in Richmond.

"If by doing this, we can keep one family from having to go through what these families have suffered, it will be the best thing that the Legislature will do this year," Kaine said.

Gunman Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people before committing suicide April 16, passed a background check and bought two guns from stores despite having been deemed mentally defective by a Virginia court.

Kaine has since signed an executive order requiring that anyone ordered by a court to get mental health treatment be added to a state police database of people barred from buying guns.

Opponents of expanding background checks argue that it infringes on Second Amendment rights and note that Cho did not purchase his weapons at a gun show.

Those in favor of changing the law say it will help keep weapons out of the wrong hands, and argue that Cho would have gone to a gun show to purchase his weapons if his initial attempts to buy them had been thwarted.

"This gun show loophole issue is an issue that transcends blue and red. It's bipartisan. It affects all Virginians," said Joseph Samaha, whose daughter Reema was killed in the shootings.

"As a gun owner myself and a previously avid hunter, I believe this bill is a healthy compromise that will bring safety to our families," said Mike White, whose daughter Nicole was killed in the shootings. "

Of course, for our families, that's already passed. But we do this for others, so that their children can be safe."

reference: ap.google.com

(GunShowBackgroundCheck.com) and (USPublicRecords.com)

Conducting Employee Background Checks: Navigating Current Rules

2008-01-06T10:57:00.000-08:00

In recent years, an ever-increasing number of employers are conducting some form of background checks on job applicants and employees.

In fact, in a 2004 study, the Society for Human Resource Management reported that 96 percent of human resource professionals indicated that their companies conduct some form of reference checks on prospective hires. That number nearly doubled from 51 percent less than a decade ago.

And for good reason -- background checks reveal that nearly half of all employees have some discrepancy in information they report to their employers.

In fact, of the nearly 6 million background checks performed by ADP Screening and Selection Services in 2006, 41 percent of employment, educational and credential checks revealed a difference in information between what the applicant provided and what the source reported, and 5 percent revealed a criminal record in the last seven years.

Despite these figures, many employers still grapple with whether to conduct criminal background checks on new hires and current employees.

On one hand, employers could face negligent hiring claims if they hire someone with a criminal record -- such as in New York state case T.W. v. City of New York, where the court held that there was a factual issue regarding whether a youth organization had a duty to conduct a pre-employment background check of an employee who allegedly sexually assaulted a minor child attending the youth organization.

On the other hand, employers may obtain and use criminal background information lawfully. Background checks have a potentially disparate impact on certain minority groups.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's policy guidance on the consideration of arrest records in employment decisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 noted that, nationally, blacks and Hispanics are arrested in numbers disproportionate to whites, and that barring individuals on the basis of arrest records alone disproportionately excludes those groups from employment.

As a preliminary matter, whether or not to conduct a background check may depend in part upon a company's industry. Employers in many industries, including those involved in child care, health care, elder care, education and those who work with other "vulnerable populations" may be required by state law to perform criminal background checks.

New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware require background checks for health-facility employees and child care personnel.

Specifically, New Jersey mandates background checks for nurse's aides and personal-care attendants, assisted living facility employees, home health aides, residential child care and school employees and school bus drivers.

Similarly, Pennsylvania requires background checks for health facility employees, nurse's aides, school employees whose jobs routinely involve direct contact with children, and child care personnel. And these statutes may enumerate particular criminal offenses that preclude hiring an applicant.

Employers not required by law to conduct background checks on their employees may want to weigh the benefits and risks of doing so, specifically for particular positions, and make a reasoned decision on how to proceed.

All information gleaned from background is not equal. Employers need to be aware of how specific information may -- or may not -- be used in hiring decision. Many states prohibit employers from using arrest information when determining eligibility for employment and may even restrict access to such information.

For example, Pennsylvania will not release arrest information where three years have elapsed since the arrest, there was no conviction and there are no proceedings pending. Delaware limits access to criminal history beyond conviction records, with limited exceptions, while New Jersey is the most liberal state, with no prohibition of releasing arrest information.

While many states allow employers to consider information concerning criminal convictions in making hiring decisions, some states place limitations on how such information is used.

Pennsylvania only allows employers to consider felony and misdemeanor convictions to the extent they relate to the applicant's suitability for a specific position. So, for example, a drunken driving conviction may not relate to a candidate's suitability for a secretarial position, but it may well relate to the suitability of a candidate for a delivery job.

As noted, another concern is the risk that using arrest information -- especially when such arrests did not result in a conviction -- may have a disparate impact on certain minority groups.

Employers need to balance legitimate public safety and liability concerns with the goals of Title VII. The EEOC consistently has invalidated employment policies creating a blanket exclusion of persons with arrest records. Yet, while an arrest, standing alone, cannot provide the basis for exclusion from hire, an employer may consider the specific conduct at issue if it indicates unsuitability for the position.

To avoid disparate treatment concerns, the EEOC promulgated criteria to evaluate such information including considering: the nature and gravity of the offense, the amount of time that has passed since conviction, and how the offense or offenses may relate to the nature of the job.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently addressed a claim of disparate treatment in El v. SEPTA. The case examined whether the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority blanket policy of disqualifying applicants based upon prior criminal convictions had a disparate impact on minority applicants.

In El's case, his prior 40-year-old conviction for second-degree murder was the sole reason for his employment termination as a paratransit driver transporting physically and mentally disabled passengers.

Ultimately, the 3rd Circuit held that SEPTA's policy, prohibiting the hiring of individuals with violent criminal convictions, did not violate Title VII. The policy was justified by business necessity -- specifically, public safety concerns -- and the employee failed to submit sufficient evidence of an acceptable alternative policy.

The 3rd Circuit, however, left open the issue of whether such policies regarding criminal convictions are per se invalid, but noted that such a bright-line prohibition policy may not be acceptable, especially when it is unsupported by evidence demonstrating business necessity.

In addition to the above considerations, employers need to ensure they are following state and federal prerequisites regarding background checks.

Some states mandate that employers obtain employee consent prior to conducting background checks. For example, New Jersey requires employers to obtain signatures of prospective employees prior to running a background check, and to provide applicants with adequate notice and an opportunity to confirm or deny the accuracy of the information. Similarly, Pennsylvania requires employers to notify applicants if the decision not to hire is based in whole or in part on criminal history.

An employee's signature at the bottom of an employment application or employment handbook may not constitute sufficient consent to a criminal background check in certain states. Companies should obtain separately documented consents.

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) also regulates how background history is obtained and used. This applies to consumer reports and investigative consumer reports prepared by consumer reporting agencies -- including background check vendors, private investigators and detective agencies -- for the purpose of providing information to a third party, typically an employer.

Consumer reports may consist of background information, credit history checks and DMV records. Investigative consumer reports contain details regarding an applicant or employee's character, general reputation or mode of living -- obtained through personal interviews with friends, neighbors and business associates, as well as through employment verification with prior employers.

Companies using a consumer reporting agency to procure background history information must adhere to FCRA's steps for compliance, including disclosure and authorization, certification and advance notice of adverse action. These steps include:

• Providing written notice to the employee or applicant explaining that a consumer report or investigative consumer report will be obtained;

• Securing the employee's signed consent for the background check in a document separate from an employment application or an employee handbook;

• Certifying to the consumer reporting agency that the above steps have been followed and the company is complying with the FCRA;

• Providing advance notice of any intended adverse action to the employee or applicant and providing her a copy of the report, along with the "Summary of Your Rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act" written by the Federal Trade Commission. The purpose is to give the individual an opportunity to dispute or explain any inaccurate or incomplete information in the background check report; and

• Supplying the applicant or employee, upon taking adverse action, with a copy of the report, the "summary of your rights" document, and the contact information for the consumer reporting agency that furnished the report, as well as a statement that the consumer reporting agency did not make the adverse decision and cannot explain why it was made.

Employers that fail to comply with the FCRA provisions may be liable for damages, as well as fines or imprisonment if they knowingly and willfully obtain a consumer report under false pretenses.

Whether or not they are required to, conducting background checks may be in the best interest of companies.

Yet, it is critical that companies obtain such information in compliance with state and federal laws, and justify the business necessity of any background check policies that disallow hiring of individuals with particular convictions. Failing to do so could expose companies to significant liability.

Reference: Rosen, law.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Your Employer Can Check Your Credit Report - But Most Don't!

2008-01-02T18:53:00.000-08:00

Can a Prospective Employer Pull Your Credit Report?

In fact, your employer may have access to more information about you than your mom does.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, reports pulled by employers can include credit payment records, driving records and criminal histories.

If an employer wants your credit report, it must tell you, in writing that it intends to pull it and get your permission. (Unless you work in the trucking industry, where the law doesn't require permission.)

But the odds are they won't check.

In its most recent report on reference and background checking, in 2004, the Society for Human Resource Management found that 19 percent of organizations conducted credit checks.

Thirty-nine percent of organizations said they never do.

"It's a declining interest on the part of employers," said James Lee, a spokesman for data company ChoicePoint Inc.

Mr. Lee's theory is that companies are more interested in verifying that prospective employees are who they say they are, have disclosed a criminal record if they have one and have represented their work and education history accurately.

About 15 percent of ChoicePoint's background checks include credit reports.

Other background screeners report similar numbers. About 20 percent of clients at Kroll Inc.'s employment screening division check credit, said Jennifer DeLoach, senior vice president of background screening.

Fewer than 10 percent of employment background checks done by data company Experian include credit checks, said Maxine Sweet, vice president for public education.

Most employers who review credit reports are in financial services, Ms. Sweet said. Others are looking for evidence of fraud or mismatches between what an applicant has told the company and what's on the credit report.

For instance, the report would note whether a Social Security number is invalid or not issued.

Two Eastern Kentucky University researchers, Jerry Palmer and Laura Koppes, found no evidence that credit checks can predict work performance or the likelihood of leaving the company.

They found that workers with a higher number of 30-day late payments received higher performance ratings than those who paid their bills on time.

Reference: dallasnews.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Privacy Expectations of Job Applicants: Tips for Employers in Conducting Background Checks

2008-01-02T18:45:00.000-08:00

Privacy Expectations of Job Applicants: Tips for Employers in Conducting Background Checks

Garen E. Dodge
Wiley Rein LLP

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Garen E. Dodge is Chair of the Employment & Labor practice group at Wiley Rein LLP, and litigates in federal and state courts and conducts mediations and arbitrations. He regularly assists companies in establishing workplace "best practices" and programs. In addition to his practice areas, Mr. Dodge also works closely with the firm's Government Affairs and Bankruptcy & Financial Restructuring practices. He can be reached at 202.719.7388.

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The practice of conducting pre-employment background checks has become increasingly popular in recent years. There are a number of reasons for employers to perform background checks on job applicants.

First, federal and state laws often require that background checks be conducted for certain jobs, such as positions working with children or the elderly.

Second, employers may want to minimize liability for negligent hiring in the event that an employee's actions harm a third party.

Third, employers themselves may want to verify the accuracy of the information supplied by the applicants, since significant numbers of job applications contain false or misleading information. Employers are permitted to conduct background checks when hiring new employees, so long as they comply with the requirements of federal and state laws. Careful preparation will both lower the costs of compliance and reduce the likelihood of errors.

Consumer Reports and CRAs

One key federal statute is the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq. FCRA requires employers to obtain a job applicant's consent to gain access to "consumer reports" - a term that is broadly defined - whenever background checks or investigations involving such reports are performed by a third party.

Consumer reports include information prepared by a "consumer reporting agency" (CRA) related to the applicant's credit characteristics, character, general reputation, or lifestyle, when such information is used - or is expected to be used - for employment purposes among other uses. Examples include Department of Motor Vehicles records checks, criminal background checks, and credit history checks. Investigative consumer reports are a subset of consumer reports in which the information is collected through personal interviews with the applicant's friends, neighbors, or business associates. Examples include employment verifications and interviews with former employers and co-workers.

However, the FCRA does not apply if the employer conducts background checks internally - such as where interviews are conducted directly by employees of the human resources department. For example, a reference verified by the employer - rather than by an outside company retained for this purpose - is not subject to the statute. Congress expanded employer responsibilities under the FCRA primarily out of concern that inaccurate or incomplete reports prepared by CRAs could cause applicants to be denied jobs unfairly. Thus, only employers using CRAs to provide reports must abide by the FCRA.

Employer Duties

To comply with the FCRA's requirements, employers should implement the following procedures:

Before requesting the consumer report: (1) give the applicant a special notice in writing - a separate document that does not reference other subjects - stating that the employer will request a report; (2) if an investigative consumer report is sought, make additional disclosures regarding the nature of such a report; (3) provide the applicant with a summary of his or her rights under federal law; (4) obtain a signed consent form from the applicant; and (5) certify to the CRA, usually by signing a form provided by the CRA, that the employer will comply with federal and state laws.

Once the report has been obtained: (1) provide the applicant with a copy of the report; (2) give the applicant a letter summarizing his or her rights as prescribed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and, if any adverse action is anticipated, describing the action to be taken; and (3) allow time for the applicant to correct any mistakes in the report. Even if the information supplied in a report is only a minor factor in the employer's decision not to hire, and even if the information is not negative or disparaging, the employer still must follow the FCRA's procedures in any instance where such a report is considered when making a decision that results in an adverse action.

After any adverse action is taken, provide written notice to the applicant containing: (1) the CRA's contact information; (2) a statement that the CRA did not make the decision to take adverse action; (3) a statement of the applicant's right to receive an additional free copy of the report; and (4) a statement of the applicant's right to dispute the accuracy or completeness of the report.

Other Federal Requirements

Additional procedures may apply beyond the basic obligations of the FCRA. Employers cannot access certain kinds of information without explicit permission from the applicant. If medical information is being sought, the employer must obtain the applicant's specific consent to the release of such information, in order to comply with the FCRA. Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, educational information, including school records and transcripts, cannot be released without the student's permission. 20 U.S.C. 1232g. The Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, imposes certain restrictions on the release of military service records.

Besides following procedures relating to the collection of information, employers must abide by restrictions on the use of such information. For example, under the Bankruptcy Act, an applicant may not be discriminated against in employment solely because the individual has filed for bankruptcy. 11 U.S.C. 525. Additionally, rejection of an applicant based solely on an arrest record may violate Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq ., and/or state law. However, employers generally are permitted to consider an applicant's criminal convictions when making hiring decisions. Furthermore, any information related to an applicant's medical condition or history must be collected and maintained separately and treated as confidential, as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. 42 U.S.C. 12112(c)(3)(B).

State Laws

In addition to the foregoing background report requirements under the FCRA and other federal laws, employers must comply with procedures required under applicable state laws. For example, California law provides strong protection for applicants and employees. See Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act, CAL. CIV. CODE 1786; California Consumer Credit Reporting Agency Act, CAL. CIV. CODE 1785. Employers should be familiar with the laws of the state (or states) where the background report is ordered, the applicant resides, the reporting agency is incorporated or has its primary place of business, the employer is incorporated or has its principal place of business, or the report is received and used.

Conclusion

There are legal consequences for employers who do not comply with these laws. Even if the employer can show that it would have made the same adverse decision without a report, an applicant still can recover damages if the employer retained a third party to perform a background check and failed to provide notices and/or obtain consents as required by the FCRA. The statute also allows applicants to seek punitive damages for deliberate violations. Furthermore, the FTC, other federal agencies, and states can sue employers for noncompliance, and civil penalties are a possibility.

In sum, background checks are a valuable tool for employers to screen job applicants. However, when drawing on these investigations, employers should be mindful of the requirements imposed by the FCRA and other laws. If you have any questions regarding the implementation of background checks in your workplace or would like sample language for use in your employment application, please contact the author. Please email the author at gdodge@wileyrein.com with questions about this article.

Reference: metrocorpcounsel.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Illinois Law for Carnival Background Checks

2007-12-30T12:49:00.000-08:00

A new Illinois law requires background checks on workers who operate amusement park and carnival rides.

Governor Rod Blagojevich says the law is designed to protect children by preventing registered sex offenders and other convicted felons from operating rides.

The law takes effect Tuesday.

Starting then, carnival owners and operators have to conduct a criminal history records check and a sex offender registry check on potential employees.

That means carnival owners and operators can't hire a carnival worker who has been convicted of rape, murder or other sexual offenses.

Penalties range from $1,000 to $15,000. The Illinois Department of Labor is establishing training standards for carnival operators.

Reference: wsiltv.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

New Law Requires Foster Home Background Checks

2007-12-28T18:07:00.000-08:00

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has signed legislation requiring foster care providers to get national level criminal background checks.

The new law will bring Michigan into compliance with federal standards.

The law requires the state Department of Human Services to perform a criminal background check on all persons over age 18 living in a foster home.

The law also is designed to prevent sex offenders and others with certain criminal histories from getting foster care licenses.

The law takes effect with the start of the new year.

Reference: mlive.com

(FosterHomeBackgroundCheck.com) and (USPublicRecords.com)

The FBI Wants Your Fingerprint and Iris and Face and ...

2007-12-27T18:18:00.000-08:00

The Federal Bureau of Investigation announces its intention to create a stronger, better, faster database using biometric data

Biometrics is already something of a buzz word, with more and more of its applications in places like train stations, airports and even Walt Disney World.

Governmental agencies borrowed the word as of late for more interesting projects: identifying people based on intrinsic physical or behavioral traits.

The FBI in particular is no exception, the agency plans to award a 10-year contract with a one billion dollar tab to expand the quantity and quality of its biometric data.

Biometric information can include many things such as fingerprints, palm prints, iris and corneal scans, facial structure, noticeable markings, stride and even innocuous personal behavior like typing rhythm and mouse gestures.

The project, dubbed Next Generation Identification (NGI), is set to gather all types of bio-data and store in one location for identification and forensics purposes.

The database would be accessible by many law enforcement and government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, which already uses iris scans at airports to allow people who have passed background checks to move through airport security more quickly; and the Defense Department, which has been collecting data on Iraqi and Afghan detainees for the past two years.

The database could be used to identify known or suspected criminals or terrorists by matching facial structure, iris scans or the gait of walk via cameras in places of interest like bus stations or airports. The eventual goal will be to identify threats in real-time without human intervention.

Detractors to the FBI's plans claim that such a database has many pitfalls.
Gathered data, if incorrect or stolen, could prove a serious problem for ordinary citizens that become victims of the system's imperfections.

The new database differs from the TALON database forced out of operation last September.

Whereas TALON stored data on individuals as reported by field officers, NGI's data will largely stem from autonomous data acquisition sources -- like cameras and sensors.

However, data from NGI will be used in conjunction with entries in the Bureau's Guardian Threat Tracking System; a database that took over TALON's entries after its demise.

"It's going to be an essential component of tracking. It's enabling the Always On Surveillance Society," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the Technology and Liberty Project of the American Civil Liberties Union in a Washington Post article last week.

While the idea does ring of an Orwellian society, agencies like the Department of Homeland Security would benefit from such an overt system, should it work as planned.

The FBI is working with the West Virginia University Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR) to make live scanning a reality. CITeR is working on scanning processes that would be able to identify a person by iris scan at up to 15 feet and face-shape by 200 yards.

The Center will begin to work with the FBI on biometric research in the near future.

Voicing in on access and privacy concerns, Thomas E. Bush III, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division stated "we have very stringent laws that control who can go in there and to secure the data."

Presently over 900,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers have access to the FBI's fingerprint database. The number could increase as more agencies and officials gain access to the growing biometrics database.

More than just privacy advocates have shown disdain for the database. A recent study in Germany using facial recognition technology garnered a 60 percent matches success rate during optimal lighting conditions.

The accuracy plummeted as low as 10 percent in low-light situations. The German law-enforcement agency tolerated a false positive rate of 0.1 percent, or 23 people of the roughly 23,000 that passed through the train station where the study was done.

Homeland security and false identification of criminals aside, the system could have other merits if used by other federal and state institutions like hospitals and missing persons units.

Various biometric data could be used to identify victims of crimes, along with possible evidence towards their culprits, or to find missing or runaway children who might happen to pass through an area with an active scanning system.

Reference: dailytech.com

(BiometricBackgroundCheck.com) and (USPublicRecords.com)

State Prepares to Begin Teacher Background Checks: Effort to Secure Schools Includes Background Checks, Random Selection

2007-12-26T10:01:00.000-08:00

As many as 1 million teachers, school administrators, support workers and school volunteers will undergo criminal history reviews – including fingerprinting of all educators – under a massive school safety effort that will begin next month.

Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott and other officials spelled out details of the four-year program Wednesday, saying it will ensure that school districts don't hire individuals who might pose a threat to children.

"This will be a significant undertaking," Mr. Scott said. "A school is one of the safest places a kid can be, but this process will help make it safer. Parents may forgive us if their children don't learn everything they can possibly learn, but they will not forgive us if something happens to their child on our watch."

Mr. Scott said the program – mandated by the Legislature this year – will begin Jan. 8 with the Austin school district and expand to other districts on a random-selection basis.

About 250,000 employees per year will be subject to fingerprinting and criminal background checks in the next four years.

State officials said districts selected for participation would be given about two to three weeks' notice before fingerprinting teams are sent to school campuses.

Names of chosen districts will not be made public until local officials have been notified.

One official said that step is necessary to minimize the possibility of a person with a criminal record seeking employment in a particular district because its employees won't be subject to criminal history reviews for two or three years.

Once a district has received notification from the Texas Education Agency, it must submit a list of all regular teachers and other certified educators, as well as substitute teachers and classroom aides.

Charter school employees also are covered by the law.

An e-mail will then be sent to all those employees, telling them they have 80 days to submit to fingerprinting and a national criminal history review.

Photographs of each employee also must be submitted to the state.

Any teachers or administrators who miss the deadline will have their state certificates rendered "inactive," meaning they can't teach in a public school in Texas until they meet the requirement.

A company under contract with the Texas Department of Public Safety, L-1 Identify Solutions Co., will send mobile fingerprinting units to selected school districts; those units will then be assigned to campuses on specific days to gather fingerprints.

All information will be stored in a clearinghouse operated by DPS.

Teachers and others who miss the mobile teams will be able to go to 78 fingerprinting locations across the state.

All non-certified school employees – including custodians, cafeteria workers and bus drivers – hired before Jan. 1 will not have to be fingerprinted, but they must have criminal history reviews conducted. Those hired after that date will have to be fingerprinted.

Others subject to criminal history reviews are student-teachers, school contract employees who have contact with students and school volunteers except for parents and grandparents.

In passing the school safety law, legislators did not initially provide funds for the fingerprinting and background checks, making it unclear who would pick up the tab.

But Gov. Rick Perry and legislative leaders agreed in September to shift $10 million to pay for all regular teachers and certified educators. Another $10 million will be earmarked in the next two-year budget for the same purpose.

Substitute teachers, teacher aides and non-certified employees hired after Jan. 1 will have to pay $52.20 for the fingerprinting and background checks. All new teachers in Texas have been required since 2003 to pay for fingerprinting and background checks.

Reference: dallasnews.com

(EducationBackgroundCheck.com) and (USPublicRecords.com)

State to Improve Day-Care Provider Screenings

2007-12-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

Starting Feb. 1, about 5,000 low-income kids in Kern will have an extra measure of protection to make sure their day care providers don't have criminal backgrounds.

Taxpayer dollars won't be used to pay child care providers until they pass their background checks.

Parents who are welfare-to-work recipients through CalWORKs or among the working poor may receive subsidies for day care.

That includes subsidies for so-called exempt day care providers -- friends or relatives but not affiliated with a licensed day-care center.

The state processes background checks for those in-home child care providers through a system called TrustLine.

In some cases, though, background checks were taking a year or longer to process, said Steve Sanders, a district administrator for child development and family services for the Kern County Superintendent of Schools office.

Those delays resulted in some people with criminal histories, including child abusers, receiving taxpayer money.

State Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, said the policy change will protect children.

"Having a criminal background check to assure the person, the adult (who) is providing care to a child or group of children, is not a person who has a history of criminal activity or may have in their past endangered a child ... having that assurance is absolutely essential, especially if the taxpayers are going to be paying for it," Ashburn said.

The plan is to automate the background check process, which should speed it up in most cases, Sanders said. Delays could still happen, though.

If there's a delay in the clearance process and the day care provider passes the check, retroactive payments may be made. But if the provider doesn't pass the screening, the parent would be responsible for paying for child care.

"It's important to get subsidies out," Sanders said. "It's more important to get providers that are going to have the safety of kids in mind."

Rates:
The maximum reimbursement rates for subsidized child care from exempt providers — meaning individuals not affiliated with a licensed day care — are:

• Birth to 24 months: $549.89 per month for full-time care

• Age 2 to 5: $485.32 per month

• School-age children: $473.53 per month

Source: Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office

Reference: bakersfield.com

(DaycareScreening.com) and (USPublicRecords.com)

Tutoring Investigation

2007-12-26T09:33:00.000-08:00

Al Ferguson, president and CEO of DSA Academy, said the tutoring company was hit with a surprise state inspection.

Ferguson said the state found that DSA had not completed background checks on three tutors.

However, Ferguson said, those three were certified teachers in Richmond County schools and would have had background checks there.

He said he did not realize he had to run an independent background check. The three tutors in question are no longer employed by the service.

The tutoring service was allowed to continue to operate pending the completion of the state Department of Education investigation.

Ferguson said the investigation was sparked by the complaint of a disgruntled former employee who was with the tutoring company only a few weeks.

Reference: metrospirit.com

(TutorBackgroundCheck.com) and (USPublicRecords.com)

More Cities Requiring Background Checks, ID Badges for Youth Sports Coaches

2007-12-24T08:19:00.000-08:00

Youth sports volunteers are subject to safety measure

She's more than happy to be a team mom for her sons, so Angela Walker is willing to participate in the latest attempt by cities to keep the fields safe.

She wears an ID badge, showing that she has cleared a criminal background check. So does every coach and anyone else who comes into contact with the children.

"It gives you a sense of security to know they're in good hands," said Walker, whose sons play football, basketball and baseball. "You can't just allow anybody and everybody around your child."

Riviera Beach joins West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and other cities that started ID badge programs this year. Hollywood began requiring ID badges for its more than 600 volunteer coaches more than two years ago.

The badges are one more safety measure in youth sports. Particularly in large cities, the children and the coaches don't know each other, and an adult with a poor track record could be in a position he or she shouldn't be.

Riviera Beach Parks and Recreation Director John Williams said most of the volunteers are like Walker, and cooperate.

"They understand why we're doing it," he said. "After all, most of them are parents, too."

The cities fear lawsuits if they don't require the background checks, because they could be held responsible should a volunteer molest a child, hit one or give one a beer. The logic: Youth coaches and other volunteers are "unpaid staff" approved by the city.

But then another problem surfaced: How do you know that the guy on the field coaching is a cleared coach, rather than just some dad (with a criminal record) who appears one day "just to help pitch in."

So Hollywood parks staff walks the fields daily, making sure coaches and other volunteers who are near children, such as team moms, have their badges. They carry a master list of approved people and politely ask those who haven't been cleared to take a seat in the stands.

That includes, say, a dad who's just trying to provide an extra pair of hands on the field.

"Most of them understand," says David Vazquez, the city's sports coordinator. "But honestly, sometimes that conversation goes better than others."

Meanwhile, Wellington runs background checks but doesn't use badges, which can create a false sense of security, Leisure Services Director Jim Barnes says.

Instead, the focus should be on preventing future offenses, he says. That means sports leagues must monitor their volunteers and parents should keep an eye on their children and not regard coaches as baby sitters.

Eleanor Warmack, executive director of the Florida Recreation and Park Association, agrees that parents shouldn't give too much weight to the screenings, which have become more prevalent because of the Internet." There are 101 ways to abuse a child, and not all of them go through the criminal system," she says.

Warmack estimates ID badges are being used by fewer than 10 percent of Florida cities, and she supports them as long as parks officials make sure that everyone wears them.

Meanwhile, she says coaches should be fingerprinted, rather than just having their information punched into a computer. State Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Parkland, proposed a bill late in the session requiring all youth sports volunteers be fingerprinted. He says he'll try to push it through when the Legislature resumes.

Meanwhile, the National Recreation and Park Association has a partnership with Michael Pfahl, whose program, Operation TLC Squared, prefers running a person's Social Security number through databases of criminal records.

He argues that not only is a database check cheaper — usually about $20, compared with about $40 for fingerprinting — but it also has a faster turnaround time.

The company, which runs volunteers' information through databases, has conducted 3,287 background checks this year, and about 7 percent of the checks (225) disqualified a candidate, Pfahl said. But only two checks yielded volunteers with sex offenses.

Just the threat of the check itself, and being found out, is a great deterrent, says Gladys Pentilla, a Fort Lauderdale recreation program coordinator. Of the 653 sports volunteers Fort Lauderdale has fingerprinted this year, only 34 have been rejected, she says.

Badges have been in place for 10 years in the American Youth Football League, based at 15 parks in South Florida, AYFL President Laney Stearns says. But the badges were as much for decorum — a team is allowed only six coaches on the field — as for screening, he says.

Mitch Grant, a baseball coach at Driftwood Park in Hollywood, says he has no problem with the ID badges, but he doesn't like that several coaches who had been around for years were disqualified when the city took over screening from Driftwood Youth Sports, he says.

And children are as apt to be abused in off-the-field situations, such as a team party at a parent's house, he says.

"Actually, I think for the city it's all about liability," Grant says. "They don't want to get sued."

Background checks have become a standard in the recreation field, says Ian McGregor a risk management consultant in Blaine, Wash., who specializes in parks and recreation.

They go with parks' other recent additions, such as lightning prediction devices, which warn park patrons to clear the field before the first bolt is in sight, and defibrillators, in case someone has heart trouble.

"If nine out of 10 cities are doing something and you're not, then you should take a look at doing it," he says. But the overall approach should be toward participant safety, he says, not avoiding lawsuits.

McGregor called the ID badge trend "interesting" but overall wouldn't necessarily provide a city with more legal protection: At this point there is no industry standard established as to how cities will enforce the program.

"To me, the bigger issue is, 'Are you doing the checks?'" he says. "Whether you wear a badge or not isn't a big deal."

Reference: sun-sentinel.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Foundation Under Fire: Operator of Wikipedia Didn't Check Operations Chief's Background

2007-12-23T07:29:00.000-08:00

The foundation that runs — and accepts donations for — the online encyclopedia Wikipedia neglected to do a basic background check before hiring a chief operating officer who had been convicted of theft, drunken driving and fleeing a car accident.

Before she left in July, Carolyn Bothwell Doran, 45, had moved up from a part-time bookkeeper for the Wikimedia Foundation and spent six months as chief operating officer, responsible for personnel and financial management.

In March, she signed the small nonprofit's tax return, which listed more than $1.3 million in donations.

At the time, she was on probation for a 2004 hit-and-run accident in Virginia that had landed her seven months in prison. Doran had multiple drunken-driving convictions, and records show earlier run-ins for theft, writing bad checks and wounding her boyfriend with a gunshot to the chest.

The revelation comes as the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the volunteer-written Wikipedia and its sister Web encyclopedias in other languages, is staging a fundraising drive and trying to expand beyond a ragtag startup.

"This is indicative of poor management of the Wikimedia Foundation," said Charles Ainsworth, a frequent Wikipedia contributor. Ainsworth said he had been considering donating to support the encyclopedia, but won't "unless they clearly get things fix."

No issues found

The foundation said it had no indication Doran did anything improper with donors' money. However, the organization's most recent audit is incomplete, despite a goal of completing it months ago.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, who is on Wikimedia's board, said he did not expect to find anything amiss but would personally cover any losses that turned up.

"We are very saddened and hurt by these shocking revelations," Wales wrote in a message to the Wikipedia community. "Of course we are doing soul-searching about what we could have done different."

Doran's background was reported first in The Register, a London-based technology Web site. The Associated Press independently examined Doran's record.

Jailed in Virginia

On May 20, while she was still with Wikimedia in St. Petersburg, Fla., police arrested Doran for another DUI and driving with a suspended license. She was released on bond that day.

In August, a month after she left Wikimedia, she was arrested for violating probation on the 2004 hit-and-run. She was extradited to Virginia and has been jailed there.

Her attorney did not return messages seeking comment.

Wikimedia leaders said they knew nothing of her past until the Register story broke last week.

She had been sent by a temporary agency in 2006 and worked part time as Wikimedia's bookkeeper. Soon after, its board voted 6-1 to promote her to chief operating officer.

Philip Greenspun, a computer scientist who recently gave the foundation $20,000, said he wasn't surprised it would stumble on a background check, something that "isn't core to their mission."

"I would be more dismayed," he said, "by a lengthy server outage."

Reference: chron.com

(BackgroundCheckDirectory.com)

State Preparing to Begin Teacher Background Checks

2007-12-19T20:05:00.001-08:00

The Texas Education Agency will begin selecting school districts at random next year and giving educators 80 days to get fingerprinted for criminal background checks.

The new law, which takes effect Jan. 1, requires all certified teachers and substitutes to be fingerprinted by Sept. 1, 2011. Other school employees, such as janitors and cafeteria workers, will be required to complete the process at the time of their hire.

The prints will be scanned by the Department of Public Safety and then sent to the FBI for a national criminal history database check.

The Austin school district will be the first to require fingerprinting, before the random selections begin.

Even if they've already been fingerprinted, educators will have to undergo the $52.20 procedure again when they are notified so their information can be entered into a statewide registry.

School employees who don't comply risk losing their teaching certification.

Janitors, cafeteria workers and other support employees hired before Jan. 1 will face a less stringent background check that doesn't require fingerprinting.

The new law requires teachers who are found to have been convicted of certain felonies to lose their state certification.

Some teacher advocates are concerned that teachers could lose their jobs when the background checks reveal old, minor offenses.

The state will pay for the fingerprinting and background checks for teachers who were employed full time in a Texas school district for the 2006-07 school year.

While some school districts have purchased their own equipment to perform the fingerprinting, others will have access to mobile stations.

Once teacher's names are entered into the state clearinghouse, districts will be automatically notified if an employee is arrested.

Reference: chron.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

In Response to Yahoo - Report, Big Ten to Start Annual Background Checks on Officials

2007-12-19T19:50:00.000-08:00

The Big Ten will begin annual background checks on its football and basketball officials in response to a report about the checkered legal and financial record of one of its football officials.

The Big Ten also announced Thursday in a release that it will consider whether it should continue to allow its officials to legally gamble in casinos.

The conference's code of conduct currently prohibits gambling on sports but not casino gambling.

Yahoo! Sports reported Stephen Pamon, a Big Ten official since 1988 and chief of a seven-man crew this season, and his wife filed for bankruptcy in 2002 and two of the creditors were casinos.

Pamon's sister-in-law, Gina Banks, told Yahoo! that Pamon regularly gambled in casinos and the gambling he and his wife did contributed to their bankruptcy.

There was no evidence Pamon bet on sporting events.

Yahoo! also reported Pamon had been charged with beating three of his girlfriend's four sons with an electrical cord.

The felony charges were later reduced, and Pamon was convicted of a misdemeanor.

The Big Ten said it conducted a background check on Pamon and all its officials in 2005.

"At the conclusion of the 2005 background check, the conference office was notified of certain civil and criminal records for Pamon.

Upon further third-party review, the conference was satisfied that the financial and criminal issues had been resolved at that time," the league said.

In 1996, Pamon allegedly was fired by Chicago Police Department after two female officers accused him of sexual harassment, Yahoo! reported, citing published reports based on information from law-enforcement officials.

Yahoo! also reported one of Pamon's former wives accused him in 1994 of striking her and sexually assaulting her 19-year-old niece, according to court records.

The league said other details reported in the article were not available during the 2005 review.

The conference planned to investigate the new information and provide "an opportunity for Pamon to respond as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act."

The Big Ten implemented background checks for officials beginning with the 2005-06 academic year. All football and men's and women's basketball officials were checked by a third-party service for criminal and financial records.

Since then all new officials have received a background check and the league planned periodic checks of its officials. Now those will be done every year.

Pamon's crew came under scrutiny for its work in this season's Penn State-Purdue game on Nov. 3 and was reportedly suspend.

Late in the November game, Purdue receiver Selwyn Lymon caught a pass and went out of bounds, but the game clock was never stopped and Purdue had to use a timeout.

Purdue kicked a field goal on the possession and went on to lose 26-19. Boilermakers coach Joe Tiller reportedly filed a complaint about the officiating with the Big Ten.

Reference: iht.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Waiting Out The Background Check

2007-12-18T18:29:00.000-08:00

State government officials have agreed to hold off on enforcing a new Illinois law intended to limit employers from checking whether new hires are illegal immigrants.

The federal government sued the state in September, saying the law is illegal because it prevents Illinois employers from participating in the federal E-Verify program, which permits employers to check the legal status of new employees.

In papers filed last week in U.S. District Court in Springfield, both parties asked Judge Jeanne Scott to stay the suit for 60 days because a bill before the General Assembly could override the law, which is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1. She agreed to the stay on Friday.

The federal E-Verify program, also known as the Basic Pilot System, encourages - but does not require - employers to submit records to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to determine whether a new hire is an illegal immigrant.

The records are compared with Social Security data and Homeland Security information, and according to the lawsuit, the worker's legal status is verified within three days in 92 percent of the cases.

The state law, Public Act 095-0138, would prohibit Illinois employers from enrolling in any "employment eligibility verification systems" until the Social Security Administration or Homeland Security can determine a worker's legality within three days in 99 percent of the cases.

It also would require employers to undergo training in the E-Verify/Basic Pilot System and require them to notify applicants that their legal status will be checked, among other requirements.

In joining the federal government to request a stay on the lawsuit, state officials said they would not pursue any legal action against employers who use the E-Verify/Basic Pilot System while the litigation is pending.

Scott granted the stay until Feb. 15.

Reference: macombjournal.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Fingerprint Background Checks Will Soon Be Mandatory For School Employees

2007-12-18T18:14:00.000-08:00

For many of us, driving the kids to school each morning, dropping them off, and trusting that we've left them in good hands.

"You want to know who's teaching your kids," said Valicia Jones, a parent. Others parents like Stephen Davis said along with who, they want to know what is being taught, and how their children are being taken care of.

It's a consensus among most parents which has prompted Texas state legislators to take action.

Beginning January first, Senate Bill 9 will require anyone certified to teach to undergo a fingerprint background check. The same goes for non-certified employees: substitutes, teacher's aides, custodians and other school employees who are hired after January first, will also be finger-printed.

It's an extra safety measure some local school administrators said they welcome.

Richard Peacock, executive director of student support services with Whitehouse Independent School District, said the new requirements compliment and enhance the procedures his district already has in place.

Whitehouse ISD currently performs background checks on its employees and volunteers, and fingerprinting provides just one more way to keep students as safe as possible, he said.

"Anything we can do to enhance the safety and security of our district for those students, I think any district would be for it, and as a parent and grandparent, I would welcome that," he said.

"It shouldn't stop there," said Davis. "I think it should be in any part of society where children are being taken care of by people other than their parents."

Officials told KLTV 7 each fingerprint and background check costs about $50, a fee the state will cover for its current certified employees.

As for non-certified and future employees, they will have to foot their own bill, if the school district doesn't pay.

Reference: kltv.com

(FingerprintBackgroundCheck.com) and (USPublicRecords.com)

Do a Background Check on Your Credit Card Company

2007-12-17T19:31:00.000-08:00

Michael Filighera learned the hard way when he signed on for a credit card from Household Bank a year or two ago.

A 53-year-old former financial markets trader in San Francisco, Filighera knew enough to read the fine print in his agreement. "The information was clearly written, so I thought they were good," Filighera said.

But he ended up discovering about a year later that he'd been paying a 27.99% rate on a card that he'd thought was only 19%. Now he's even more careful about screening his credit card companies.

Lawmakers are scrambling to address the problem. On Dec. 4, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs had a hearing about unfair interest rates.

The following day, Democratic senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Barack Obama of Illinois introduced the Credit Card Safety Star Act of 2007, which would rate the consumer-friendliness of cards.

"It's always been an issue, but now people are more worried," said Mandy Walker, a senior editor at Consumer Reports in Yonkers, N.Y., which is published by the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Consumers Union.

There are ways to screen credit-card companies. The Better Business Bureau offers information such as the size of a credit-card company's staff, when it was incorporated and whether it's a BBB-accredited business.

The site also says how many and what kinds of complaints the BBB received about any given company in the last 36 months.

For example, a peek at Washington Mutual's (WM) data on this site shows that the bank has an "unsatisfactory record" with the BBB due to unanswered complaints.

Washington Mutual declined to comment on the BBB results, but a spokeswoman noted that this year, J.D. Power and Associates named the company best in Customer Satisfaction in banking.

It's also possible to learn which companies have the strongest customer service records in the business.

In October, Consumer Reports published the latest results from its National Research Center survey of more than 36,000 readers about their interest rate, bill-timing and problem-resolution experiences with their credit cards.

J.D. Power and Associates offers a second opinion with its 2007 Credit Card Satisfaction Study. Note that J.D. Power didn't include the credit unions, which had topped the Consumer Reports list, because they aren't included in its banking practice.

If a credit card comes from an industry leader, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best.

Consumer Reports found that USAA Federal Savings, which issues cards branded by American Express (AXP) and MasterCard (MA), earned a reader score of 95 out of a possible 100, implying that almost all customers were satisfied.

Capital One (COF), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), HSBC, Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup's (C) Citibank had satisfaction ratings that ranged between 71 and 75, making them impressively mediocre on customer service considering that they collectively control about 80% of the market nonetheless.

A score of 60 means that customers were fairly well satisfied.

Michael Filighera might have used that information before getting his credit card from Household Bank, a unit of HSBC. HSBC declined to discuss information about specific customers, citing privacy laws.

But Cindy D. Savio, a company spokeswoman, says the firm is "committed to delivering a positive card experience for its customers;" Citibank and Chase Card Services expressed similar sentiments.

"Customer satisfaction -- and a card's overall value to the customer -- includes many elements, such as the ability to earn and use rewards," said Chase spokesman Paul Hartwick.

Capital One and Bank of America didn't respond to requests for comment.

It's also possible to get information on which companies will satisfy your individual needs, pointed out Linda Sherry, the director of national priorities at the nonprofit group Consumer Action in Washington, D.C.

For example, early this year, Sherry wanted a card that wouldn't charge her any currency-conversion fees when she used it abroad.

She signed up with Capital One, the only company she could find that offered such a card.

Compare credit card offerings on Consumer Action's Web site.

Reference: thestreet.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Evacuations to Include Background Checks

2007-12-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

Texans who board buses to evacuate during the next hurricane or other emergency will first have to submit to criminal background checks, the state's emergency management director said.

The policy is an attempt to keep sex offenders and fugitives from boarding evacuation buses with children, the elderly and the disabled, said Jack Colley, the chief of the state's Division of Emergency Management.

No sex offenders or other criminals will be left behind in an evacuation, but will be evacuated on different buses.

"This will allow us to help them evacuate," Colley said. "We're not going to leave anyone."

The intent, he said, is to make sure vulnerable residents aren't victimized during the evacuation process.

He also said that state officials will be able to segregate undesirable evacuees, even in the chaos of an emergency.

"We'll be able to do it," Colley said. "We'll have procedures and we're not going to advertise what they are."

After Hurricane Katrina, about 1,700 parolees didn't check in with authorities in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana.

"We're all entitled to privacy, but we're not entitled to anonymity," Colley said.

Reference: news.yahoo.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Background Check to Get Into College?

2007-12-12T20:45:00.000-08:00

What you do as a kid could soon determine your future.

Because of violent incidents, like the Virginia tech shootings, some colleges and universities are considering adding background checks to the admission process.

And even non-criminal offenses may come up in determining scholarship awards.

Some college applications ask students about their past misbehavior and junior UCA marketing major Adam Page doesn't like that “I just think it's a little absurd. What I did in high school and where I'm from is kind of my business."

UCA president Lu Hardin says the need to look beyond academics is a sign of the times "If we continue to see these random acts of violence on college campuses, I believe over the next four or five years that every public college will have to use a portion of it's resources to look into ever student that comes in."

UCA's application has a box asking if a student has ever been convicted of a felony. If that box is checked yes, the school says that person will most likely not get in.

The school relies on the honor system because they don't confirm with a background check, something Hardin says say would be too expensive "If a student checked a blank ‘no they haven't committed a felony’ and they are a felon that student will be expelled."

The university says criminal background information will come up in the financial aid application process and its goal is to keep students safe.

Some students say they're OK sharing classes with someone with a record. Ultimately, the choice is up to the school. So high school students preparing for college may not only want to aim for high SAT scores but also for model behavior

UCA says if a student's up for a scholarship, even non-criminal behavioral problems could make a difference. UCA has its own police department, with 25 full-time officers. And if a student is arrested and convicted of a felony once they've already been admitted they'll be expelled.

Reference: todaysthv.com

(AdmissionBackgroundCheck.com) and (USPublicRecords.com)

Background Checks Tell Who's Naughty, Nice

2007-12-12T20:21:00.000-08:00

Who's been naughty and will likely end up with a stocking full of coal?

It might just be Santa Claus or Kris Kringle.

Public records show that nationally, someone named Santa Claus has been convicted at least a dozen times during the past decade.

Mr. Claus' indiscretions include a 1996 arrest for driving while intoxicated in Jefferson County, Texas.

And Mr. Kringle has a lengthy criminal record in Oregon.

Even the Christmas crew appears to have had some troubles: Rudolph Reindeer violated a restraining order in 2004.

But don't plug the chimney and forgo the cookies and milk just yet.

Skilled backgrounders know that you can't just put someone on the naughty list based on a name. Many people have the same name, but other information would distinguish them — such as their date of birth or home address.

Unless Santa has a summer home in Beaumont, it's unlikely the Texas drunken driver with the same name is the Santa Claus. None had an address at the actual North Pole, according to public records. But several residents of North Pole, Alaska, have criminal records.

And yes, in Virginia there is a Santa Claus. In fact, there are at least four — two of whom are women. But no public records showed criminal records for those Clauses.

Birth dates also can distinguish individuals in background checks. All of the Clauses and Kringles with criminal records were born in the 1900s. It has been published widely that the Santa Claus was around before that.

While this topic may seem like frivolous excuse for a writer to combine public records and the holiday season, it's not all fun and games.

Backgrounding Santa is not unusual. Companies frequently run background checks on the individuals they hire to stand in for the famous North Pole gift-giver, particularly in cases where they interact with children.

Police in some areas of England this year asked organizations that employ "Father Christmas, elves and other festive characters," to run background checks, according to British news reports.
The same techniques I used to check on Mr. Claus can be used to check up on other people in your life.

Several online sites claim they can background someone for a fee, but many of those services are pricey. Government databases often are less expensive.

The Texas Department of Public Safety Web site provides access to a database of criminal conviction records. For a fee, you can search by a person's name.

If your search turns up no records, you're not necessarily in the clear; the records are incomplete because the agency relies on whatever information the counties provide.

According to DPS, for example, Dallas County reported 78 percent of its 2004 criminal conviction records to the state, which is a marked improvement from just a few years ago. Denton County did better by reporting 82 percent of its records.

At The Dallas Morning News, we use the DPS conviction data, along with some other fee-based services, when we background people for our stories.

Another DPS resource we use to background people is the state's registry of convicted sex offenders, which you can search for free. Just remember that it is not perfect either. Some addresses are outdated and not every offender registers as they are required to by law.

If you suspect that someone might have committed misdeeds locally, check out your county's records. Most criminal and civil courthouses have computer terminals where members of the public can search records. Many also have their records online.

Reference: dallasnews.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Buried Body Encased In Concrete

2007-12-09T12:16:00.000-08:00

A body found encased in concrete and buried in an auto shop yard was jack hammered from the slab and identified as that of a 27-year-old Tucson man, authorities said.

Cameron Shapcott was reported missing Nov. 7, Pima County sheriff's spokeswoman Deputy Dawn Hanke said. He had last been seen about a month earlier.

Sheriff's officials received a tip that Shapcott's body might be at an auto shop in south Tucson, Hanke said. The tipster told deputies to search in a certain area.

The SWAT Team served a search warrant to search the property on Thursday. More than 7 hours later, after digging about 4-feet down, investigators uncovered a partial limb next to the body encased in cement.

Hanke said detectives "slowly and methodically separated it from the cement."

One man at the shop, Jason Roy Mundell, 33, of Tucson, was arrested on a first-degree murder charge. Authorities are still looking for Christopher Francis Wickersham, 34, who is being called "a person of interest."

A Computer Background Check revealed Shapcott was known to authorities. His past record had included an arrest on suspicion of theft and passing bad checks.

Reference: News5

(BackgroundCheckDirectory.com)

CSU Hiring Policy Changes After Employee Arrest

2007-12-05T22:41:00.000-08:00

Colorado State University is speeding up its plan to do background checks after the arrest of an employee on Tuesday.

Fort Collins police arrested CSU employee Samuel Kase White, 30, Monday on suspicion of sexual assault and burglary in two separate incidents which happened Sept. 28.

Wednesday, CSU President Larry Penley ordered a change in handling the background checks.

Right now, some new hires get background checks while others don't.

White did not have a background check when he was hired at CSU in April. He had been working as an administrative assistant in the human resources office.

"The new policy is one we've been working on for several months," CSU Spokesperson Brad Bohlander said. "President Penley has mandated that a policy will be implemented expeditiously that will require background checks for all new hires and promotions."

Bohlander said CSU is also looking at doing retroactive background checks on current employees in the wake of White's arrest.

Although White is in jail on $1 million bond, if he bonds out, he's not welcome at CSU.

"He has been banned from campus by police," Bohlander said. "He's been put on unpaid administrative leave."

Bohlander said it's unclear if a background check would have brought attention to White back in April.

A Colorado Bureau of Investigation criminal records search by CBS4 suggested that White had a clean record when CSU hired him.

The new background check policy will likely go into effect in the next several weeks.

Fort Collins police are looking into whether White is responsible for three other sex assaults in August.

Reference: cbs4denver.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

ACLU Suing Federal Government Over FBI 'Name Check' Backlog

2007-12-05T22:27:00.000-08:00

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the federal government Tuesday, claiming the FBI is taking too long finishing checks on immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service has 120 days to grant citizenship after the applicant has met all requirements, been interviewed and passed a basic citizenship test.

Until last year, it was during this period the USCIS would send the applicant's name to the FBI for a "name check."

The FBI, which contracts to do such checks for 70 agencies, said it goes through about 70,000 names a week. About half those are from the USCIS, said Paul Bresson, an FBI spokesman in Washington.

"We run the name to see if a person has been the subject of or connected to a criminal or terrorist organization," Bresson said.

"If there's no information, and usually there isn't," such a check can take as little as an hour, Bresson said.

But, if there's a "hit" on a name, he said, "We have to go to that field office and pull the record to see if the individual is the same one."

An ombudsman for the USCIS says the backlog is worsening, with 329,160 name checks pending as of May 2007—up more than 98,000 over the previous year.

Although the USCIS says 90 percent of its name checks are resolved within six months, the ombudsman drew a different conclusion. In a June 2007 report, the ombudsman found that nearly a third of the checks had been pending for more than one year.

Such is the case for Abbas Amirichimeh, a microchip designer living in Irvine who has been trying to become a U.S. citizen for more than four years.

Amirichimeh is one of four immigrants living in Southern California on whose behalf the ACLU filed the suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court. It seeks class-action status on behalf of the four and "all other persons similarly situated."

Amirichimeh came to the U.S. from Iran in 1994, submitted his application for citizenship in May 2003, and had his interview and passed his examination the next summer.

More than three years later, his case still isn't resolved because his name check has not been completed.

"Is it the FBI or USCIS that's not doing their job?" Amirichimeh said. "I can't understand it. I'm in limbo."

Amirichimeh said he was unable to visit Iran after the deaths of his father and other family members because he feared he would not be allowed back in the U.S.

He at least had his citizenship interview and exam. In April 2006, the CIS distributed a memo saying "cases will not be scheduled for interview" until the agency receives the results of the fingerprint check and the FBI name check.

As a result, many applicants no longer have recourse for delays in getting name check results because the clock doesn't start ticking on the 120-day time limit until after those results are in.

Chris Bentley, a spokesman for the USCIS, said the policy switch came "out of an abundance of caution."

Meanwhile, Jim Moorhead waits for his citizenship interview. A North Hollywood resident who works in the scrap metal business, Moorhead is another of the plaintiffs in the ACLU suit.

He came to live in the U.S. in 1976 from the United Kingdom. He said Tuesday that he applied for citizenship in January 2006 and the FBI received his name check request the following month.

Moorhead still hasn't had his citizenship interview and test, nor have the results come back on his name check.

Despite countless inquiries to numerous government agencies, he is still waiting to find out why.

"Everything they tell you is wrong," Moorhead said. "At best, wrong. At worst, lies."

Other suits have been filed to hold the government to the 120-day time limit to rule on citizenship cases.

But attorneys involved with the ACLU suit say this is the first to include people such as Moorhead, for whom that window does not yet apply.

"We're hopeful that eventually we'll get a court ruling that the name check system isn't working and we'll get it fixed," said the ACLU's Ranjana Natarajan.

The suit, Bavi vs. Mukasey, names as defendants Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff, and officials from the FBI and the CIS.

Reference: mercurynews.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Federal Background Checks Boost Gun Bans

2007-12-02T14:48:00.000-08:00

The number of people barred from buying guns because of mental health problems has more than doubled since the Virginia Tech shootings earlier this year, the Justice Department said Thursday.

The increase follows stepped-up reporting to a federal database used to screen the backgrounds of potential gun-buyers.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey was to announce the increase at an afternoon speech in Park City, Utah.

The number of people identified in the database as having mental problems grew from 174,863 three months after the April 16 Virginia Tech shootings to 393,957 this month.

"Instant background checks are essential to keeping guns out of the wrong hands, while still protecting the privacy of our citizens," Mukasey said in prepared comments prepared for delivery to the National Association of Attorneys General.

"But as we learned in the tragedy at Virginia Tech, the checks must be accurate and complete to be effective," Mukasey said. "We're making progress, and I hope that even more states will submit this information so that the national instant background check system can be maximally effective."

People are included in the federal database only after courts or other lawful authorities have found them to have mental health problems, Justice Department officials said. Currently, 28 states submit names to the mental health database, and the federal government cannot force the other 22 to follow suit.

Reference: ap.google.com

(FederalBackgroundChecks.com) and (USPublicRecords.com)

School Background Checks on Parent Chaperones Increase

2007-11-24T09:09:00.000-08:00

That comes as part of a district policy that went into effect in fall 2006 requiring all parents who chaperone overnight field trips or take students out of the line of sight of a teacher on daytime field trips to get background checks.

More than 300 parents have undergone background checks so far this year, twice the approximately 150 who were checked as of this time last year, said human capital director Jeff Thomas. The total number of parents who got background checks last year wasn't immediately available.

Thomas attributed the increasing number of background checks to principals getting a better understanding of the policy and enforcing it more often.

"There's a whole different level of scrutiny that happens now," he said.

The district uses a company called Universal Background Check to check residences from the last seven years, warrants and run names against the national sex offender database.

The district would only disqualify parents for having an offense that shows up as one of the 25 high crimes in Arizona statutes, Thomas said.

Only two parents have been disqualified from chaperoning field trips since the policy was implemented last year, he said.

Tavan Elementary School principal Margaret Serna said the parents at her school haven't minded the background checks. While she sometimes gets questions about what the checks look into, she assures parents all the information is confidential.

"It's a lot of extra work. It's an extra thing that's added to our plate," Serna said. "As the guardians of our children, we have to take every step possible to make sure they're safe."

A few parents initially raised concerns last spring about how much information the district was asking for as it conducted the background checks.

But after the background check form was streamlined, no one has complained about having a background check, Thomas said.

Reference: eastvalleytribune.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

New Jersey Seeks Tougher Law on Online Dating Sites

2007-11-18T18:44:00.000-08:00

In another move by state lawmakers to try to boost Internet safety, online dating sites would have to notify New Jersey residents whether they do criminal background checks under a proposal set to be considered this week.

The bill is opposed by Internet companies such as Yahoo!, AOL, eHarmony and Match.com.

But Senate President Richard J. Codey, a bill sponsor, said it's needed to help protect online dating users from predators and force online dating Web sites to take more responsibility for fostering safe practices.

"Let's face it _ the Internet is not going the way of the 8-track tape anytime soon," said Codey, D-Essex.

The bill, modeled after a 2006 Florida law, was approved by the Senate in March and is scheduled for consideration by an Assembly committee on Monday. The Assembly must pass it and the governor must sign it by Jan. 8 for this version to become law. The new Legislature convenes on Jan. 8 and all unpassed bills will expire.

The law would require Internet dating services to notify customers whether criminal background screenings have been performed as well as detail other safety measures.

If an Internet dating service doesn't conduct criminal background screenings, it would be required to disclose that clearly and conspicuously to all New Jersey members in bold and large capital letters.

If a service does background checks, it must disclose whether it allows people with criminal convictions to have access to the site.

Services who violate the law would face civil penalties under New Jersey's Consumer Fraud Act.

Bill Ashworth, director of state government affairs at Yahoo!, has told lawmakers that background checks are unreliable because of fraud and problems getting information from states with different laws on what information is available.

"Criminal background checks provide users of online dating with a false sense of security," he said. "The last thing we want users to do is let their guard down."

New Jersey officials have been emphasizing Internet safety.

Attorney General Anne Milgram recently sent a subpoena to Facebook.com seeking information on whether convicted New Jersey sex offenders have profiles on the social networking site.

The subpoena is similar to one sent to MySpace.com, which found 268 New Jersey registered sex offenders with accounts.

The state police are also helping train teachers and school administrators on potential Internet dangers for young users.

Codey has also proposed barring released sex offenders from using the Internet.

Reference: newsday.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Dating Detectives | Cybersleuthing a Potential Partner is Easier Than Ever

2007-11-18T10:07:00.000-08:00

Two weeks before their first date, Virginia Rutter had already sized up her soon-to-be boyfriend.

He's a Led Zeppelin fanatic, trades bootleg tapes on a listserv and comes from a good pedigree — an extended family of professors, teaching in Iowa.

How did the attractive, 44-year-old blonde figure all this out before they even met for sushi?

Rutter cybersnooped.

A few years ago, curious minds typed their dates' names into a search engine, and "Googling" for singles became a synonym for cybersleuthing — as in, "I Googled him." These days, there are enough niche sites to build a dossier. And that blind date doesn't seem so anonymous anymore.

A few minutes in front of a computer and you might find where he lives (Argali.com) where he works (Zoominfo.com), if his house is the most expensive on the block (Zillow.com), the size of his swimming pool (earth.google.com), where he's lived the past 10 years (Zabasearch.com), his birth date (Birthdatabase.com), what people say about him on blogs (Feedster.com) and cross your fingers he didn't get flagged at Dontdatehimgirl.com.

"I think it's a good thing," said Katherin Scott, a dating coach in Snoqualmie who advises her clients to cyber-snoop. Besides the safety factor, "it gives information that people may not talk about up front. It also helps disqualify and prequalify a partner in five minutes."

Scott favors online searches for criminal records, age (something older singles lie about) and real-estate appraisal sites that can tip off a person's net worth.

"It's not just about ostentatiousness. It's about telling the truth," said Scott. "People can lie about their net worth.

"Sometimes [single] people are so lonely that they don't want to see the red flag."

You're busted!

Jenny Dougherty, 29, of north Seattle, disapproves of cybersnooping, and thinks it would be "kind of creepy" if the date found out. Still, there was that one guy... .

"I found him on Craigslist. We were just e-mailing back and forth for about a week. All of the sudden, he was busy, but he couldn't tell me why he was busy. He avoided the subject."

Perplexed, she confided to her girlfriend, who told her, "You can find out a lot about people on MySpace," the popular social networking site.

Turned out, he had a page, and right before Dougherty's startled eyes was a portrait of her potential date smiling — with his wife.

This summer, Match.com ran a series of TV and magazine ads featuring some of its hip singles, including a Seattle artist. He was ruggedly handsome, had great dimples and apprenticed with a Venetian glassblower.

But if the Dallas-based dating site had done a thorough background check (even a service such as www.courts.wa.gov/jislink), it would have learned that its Seattle poster boy had enrolled in anger-management treatment under court order. The punishment was for a minor altercation, but a blemish nonetheless.

A Match.com spokeswoman said the company was embarrassed by the oversight.

Not everyone cybersleuths to unearth some dirt. For busy singles, Web snooping has become a way to, well, cut to the chase.

Rutter, an author and senior scholar at the Council on Contemporary Families in Chicago, cybersleuths to get "the who, what and when of someone's background." It leaves more time for meaningful conversations with her dates.

Cybersleuthing is far from cyberstalking, which involves unwanted harassment. Rather, Rutter says, it's a natural extension of our technology-aided lives.

"People who come up on TV or the songs we hear. If we want to find out who the artist is, we go on the Internet." Same with dating, she said.

Rutter earned a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Washington and specializes in relationships. She recently cybersnooped a potential date's published work, because the psychotherapy he practices could be a deal-breaker. (She found their positions meshed, and the two met up for dinner.)

She's even flattered when guys cybersleuth her. "It's a sign of their interest, their curiosity. It's a sign of their sophistication."

Seattle dating and life coach Aaron Silverberg, who is single, frowns on online Nancy Drews.

"You have to ask in person. You have to trust that person to tell you something is real. We're not just corporations. We're human beings with heart."

He discourages his clients from cybersnooping, fearing they may make snap judgments before sitting down with their dates for coffee. Besides, "The Web is not a reliable source of information," he said.

Pamela Robinson, 54, of Edmonds, recently single again, was overwhelmed by the many singles who cyber-snooped. "Maybe I'm just old-fashioned," she said, "but it sort of takes the spontaneity out of a date."

Changing courtship

For as long as courting has been around, humans have networked within their circle of neighbors, churches and friends to learn about another man's or woman's reputation, said Stephanie Coontz, author of "Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage."

Now, of course, the Internet has expanded our community and provides another outlet to get the dirt.

But Coontz, a family-studies professor at Evergreen State College, believes cybersnooping remains prevalent for another reason: Singles are settling down later in life, and the postcollege years provide a tougher environment to gauge someone.

"There was a period in the 1950s and '60s when kids were meeting their steady partners in school. So there was less need to find out about them through other ways. You saw them at school. You heard about them through common friends. If you were in college, you knew what clubs they belonged to.

"Now, with the age of marriage rising, you meet them in bars, museums, parties, and it's much harder to know who they are."

No extensive data are available on how often people cybersnoop on their dates. But many relationship experts concur that online dating has made cybersnooping seem practical, with all the horror stories about online daters not being who they purported to be.

The popular online dating site eHarmony advises its subscribers to hire or do their own online background checks before meeting their match.

Intelius in Bellevue offers in-depth online background checks including criminal record searches for $50. The service was targeted mostly to soccer moms to background-check nannies and handymen, but Intelius has seen a surge of singles using the service to checkout potential dates, said Edward Petersen, one of Intelius founders.

One 50-year-old Snohomish County paralegal, who doesn't want to be identified, admits to cybersnooping after a bad experience with an online dater from Buckley in Pierce County.

He seemed nice. The two connected — until she reached his driveway and saw the mounds of empty beer bottles in his garage. And no, he didn't throw a block party.

Concerned, she typed his name and birth date into the Snohomish County District Court record site and discovered her date had a drunken-driving conviction and other alcohol-related offenses.

She dumped him, and has kept on cybersnooping on other boyfriends. "I know. I think like an attorney or cop. I try not to. But I can't help it."

Reference: seattletimes.nwsource.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Background Checks On The Rise

2007-11-13T19:48:00.000-08:00

Already this year, 25 million Americans have had background checks by the federal government, a number that's risen every year since the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

Amid the rise, a notable shift has occurred: More civilians are now checked each year than criminals. And checks on the vast majority come back clean, even as states allot more money for their growing screening operations.

And, in rare cases, predators still slip through the cracks. Take Timothy Stephen Keil, an Ohio church camp counselor recently convicted of molesting two young boys. Or Ralph Fiscale, a New Hampshire soccer coach, and Stephen Unger Jr., a Texas schoolteacher, both of whom committed similar offenses in the past year.

All were either not run through a check by their superiors or they passed one.

Civil libertarians say the tradeoffs of such a system, built largely through state mandates enacted since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon outside of Washington, D.C., have become too high.

State background check laws - applied to groups as varied as professional nursing home workers, reading tutors, bankers and even volunteer dog walkers - are becoming so numerous as to be almost meaningless, said Christine Link, executive director of the ACLU of Ohio.

"The sheer volume of them tells us that they're not working because to be effective these background checks have to be looked at very carefully," Link said. "I wouldn't be surprised if there's a terrorist or two in there, but you're not going to find them when you're doing so many."

In a recent poll conducted by the Barna Group, a California-based marketing group helping churches, a quarter of pastors surveyed admitted they don't have adequate background and reference checking in place.

Barna Group president David Kinnaman said most churches are very small, with perhaps 100 parishioners, and the checks aren't seen as an urgent need.

"In a lot of those places, they have a setting in which it's very, very hard to imagine any abuse taking place," Kinnaman said. "There can be an over-inflated sense of safety, a naiveté of the changing issues churches are facing."

Similarly, a recent search of state-by-state records found 2,570 incidents of sexual misconduct in public schools between 2001 and 2005, despite background checks of teachers being required in many states.

Civilian background checks now dominate the workload at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, costing taxpayers nearly $9 million a year. Since 1993, the number of annual checks performed by the bureau has grown to 650,000 from 38,000 on average.

Checking someone's criminal background is a common political response to each new social crisis. Ohio lawmakers, for instance, have introduced additional background check requirements recently for foster care parents, following a series of incidents against children, and for public school teachers, following revelations of sexual acts toward students going unreported.

Yet Ohio figures compiled by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification found that the 90-percent-plus passage rate remains consistent, regardless of how many Ohioans are screened. Steve Fischer, a spokesman for the FBI, said that pattern also holds true at the national level, where the number of background checks being conducted has exploded since 9-11.

It continues to grow at a pace of about 12 percent a year.

Fischer said 69 percent of criminals who are checked turn out to have their fingerprints already on file, compared to just 12 percent of civilians.

He said the federal program used to be heavily weighted toward checking criminals, but a shift toward civilians has occurred since 9-11.

"It used to be slightly higher on the criminal side," Fischer said. "But since 9-11, the majority of our checks are civilians - people applying for jobs, licenses, things like that."

Most of the background checks are required under laws emanating from state legislatures aiming to protect people from predators.

"It's mostly about protected populations: children and the elderly," Fischer said.

Yet crime statistics present mixed evidence as to whether the explosion in records checks is having an impact. On a national level, sex crimes and forcible rapes had already been declining steadily before the 2001 attacks. The Bureau of Justice Statistics attributes that reduction to a variety of societal factors, of which background checks are only one.

Ohio figures show an unpredictable pattern, with arrests for forcible rapes and sex offenses sometimes rising and sometimes falling year by year. Overall, since 2001, arrests for the two types of crimes are down from 2,253 to 1,371, based on self-reported law enforcement data.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers have begun to contemplate what they have created.

According to the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures, 21 states enacted laws last year related to the regulation of offender information - including proposals that limited public access to the data, lowered costs for the checks, reduced the number of years to be checked for certain positions, and expunged some offenses.

Reference: news.cincypost.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

HouseFront Introduces Ad Program Based On Public Records Search

2007-11-09T21:09:00.000-08:00

Every day there are more and more ways to search and get information on homes online – whether they are for sale or not.

The question is - how the companies that provide the services make money.

Ten years ago, homes for sale provided by MLS organizations and brokers were the hot ticket, and Realtor.com was the victor in the listings wars with the most listings displayed. While Realtor.com was adept at putting other companies out of business, including Microsoft HomeAdvisor, HomeSeekers, and others, it's never really turned a profit.

Today, new companies such as Zillow and Cyberhomes are going around Realtors to provide information on homes derived from public data. They want to turn a profit, too.

What all these companies seem to have in common is that the information should be free to the consumer, and subsidized by the real estate industry.

Realtors provide the listings, and then pay to cut through the noise to get in front of the consumer:

Realtor.com charges agents for "enhancements" to their listings.

Zillow gives free listing enhancements to agents, and charges "large organizations" for targeted ads that "identify and connect online with homeowners who are on the verge of making major home-related purchases such as moving or updating the home they currently own."

Trulia gets property listings information supplied by brokers and brokerage and directs traffic to brokers and brokerage Websites. The firm has just introduced Trulia Agent Featured Listings, a listings enhancement program similar to Realtor.com's.

Now a new company believes it has a better mouse-trap, something that will please information-hungry consumers and lead-hungry agents. Agents send money to HouseFront and tells the company how they want to spend it. To keep it simple, the agent may budget $50 to be the highest bidder on five leads in a particular neighborhood. That's $10 a lead.

The leads should be solid because the consumer has already raised his/her hand by inquiring about the house.

The beauty of it is its simplicity. The house can be for sale, listed by another broker, but only the agent who is paying HouseFront gets the inquiry. The agent only pays for as many leads as he or she wants. And if enough leads come in, the agent can even "pause" the system, so there's no time limit on when their money is gone.

It's like putting money into the bank and taking leads out of the ATM.

HouseFront has accumulated information on 105 million homes (there are only 106 million in the country.) using public records. Any consumer can ask for information on any home simply by text-messaging HouseFront on their cellphone/PDA. HouseFront sends the tax roll data back along with an current evaluation of the home, provided by a proprietary formula used by real appraisers to determine market value.

If the consumer wants to schedule a showing, that's how the company gets the lead to turn over to the Realtor. They schedule the showing and then sell it to the highest bidder. The agent who wins calls the consumer and confirms the appointment and begins the getting-to-know-you process. It's as close to a sure thing as an agent can get, in an online world where most consumers are staying invisible.

It's easy for consumers, too. Explains James Eberhard, CEO of HouseFront, "HouseFront is a full real estate search and evaluation tool so people can search for homes how they want - without sitting down at a computer. All they need is a cellphone."

He points out that there are about 230 million cellphones in the U.S., and HouseFront supports just about every brand. Just text-message 46873, put in the address of the home, and "detailed property information" comes right back at you.

Eberhard says the company isn't actively engaged in selling homes, so it's not a direct competitor to portals such as Realtor.com, at least not yet, but there's no question it's a competitor to any online service that sells advertising to real estate agents.

Reference: Homefront.com

(NeighborhoodRecords.com)

Some Fayetteville Volunteers Quit After Library Considers Background Checks

2007-11-04T09:25:00.000-08:00

The possibility that library volunteers might be required to undergo background checks has enmeshed the 2005 Library Journal Library of the Year in controversy.

At northwest Arkansas’ Fayetteville Public Library (FPL), ten volunteers have resigned after learning that the library is considering creating a public safety policy that would include background checks for all volunteers. It’s a small fraction of the library’s volunteer force, which mostly around 160 but sometimes spike as high as 400.

However, volunteers resistant to background checks have been vocal, complaining in letters to Executive Director Louise Schaper and board members that the idea is offensive and smacks of an abuse of power, as they were quoted in the Northwest Arkansas Times.

Screening volunteers is not a new notion, as LJ has reported. Still, the controversy has put FPL on the defensive; last summer, the library had the Fayetteville Police Department conduct background checks on employees without their knowledge. “It was a mistake,” Schaper told the Northwest Arkansas Times, blaming the lack of notice on a miscommunication.

The plan for background checks on volunteers was not in response to any past criminal or suspicious activity by a volunteer, Schaper told Library Journal. “Our goal is to avoid a negative experience,” she said. Without a codified safety policy at FPL, library staffers have been researching policies at libraries and nonprofit organizations in the region, finding that many screen employees and volunteers.

At the Denton Public Library in nearby Texas, city law requires library volunteers to pass a background check. Its volunteer application includes an authorization form for vetting by law enforcement.

“We haven’t finished collecting data or analyzing all the data received,” Schaper noted. Nevertheless, she continued, “Given all that we’ve learned, I think libraries without a screening process are at risk.” Schaper said the library will present the Board of Trustees with a policy recommendation on December 17.

Reference: libraryjournal.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Inadequate Background Check Put Marion Vets at Risk, Illinois Senators Say

2007-10-12T18:07:00.000-07:00

U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama raised doubts Thursday about claims by officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs that they could not have uncovered the troubling past of a surgeon working at Marion VA Medical Center.

In a letter sent Thursday to the Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the senators said a cursory check by their staff members of publicly available information uncovered questionable information that should have raised red flags about Dr. Jose Veizaga-Mendez.

Earlier this month, VA officials told Durbin a background check did not uncover anything troubling about Veizaga-Mendez, who continued to perform surgeries at the Marion VA hospital after surrendering his license in Massachusetts for gross negligence that led to patient deaths.

Veizaga-Mendez resigned from the Marion hospital in mid-August, three days after one of his patients bled to death and just before the hospital suspended inpatient surgeries because of a spike in post-surgical deaths.

Four top officials at the Marion VA have been reassigned or placed on administrative leave.

"It appears the VA's efforts to discover the truth about Dr. Veizaga-Mendez, his past professional history, and the circumstances surrounding his license forfeiture were far from adequate and may have put the veterans seeking care at Marion in danger," Durbin and Obama said in their letter. "This is an extremely alarming revelation that calls into question the adequacy of the oversight exercised by the VA as it evaluates and monitors those who provide care to our veterans."

Reference: chicagotribune.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Is Your Public Image a Liability?

2007-10-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

Check your online presence - SelfBackgroundChecks.com

Employers now routinely scour the Web for information on potential hires.

How clean is your digital footprint?

Pretty much everyone in the developed world has an online presence. It makes it easier for us to find long-lost schoolmates and summer-camp friends, among other uses. But a little public image goes a long way.

You're on Display

A majority of employers now routinely check their job candidates' MySpace, Linkedin and Facebook profiles for any impropriety, prior to making an offer. Can you blame them? It's not so much that your prospective employer worries about your keg parties or those photos of you with your favorite bong. It's that they worry, with reason, about your judgment in throwing these items online for anyone to see.

If you're so free with the shadier aspects of your private life, what might you say to the employer's biggest customer?

If you're job-hunting, clean up your online act, pronto. That means sanitizing your online profiles and cutting loose from Facebook friends whose profiles might tarnish yours. If you've written things on online forums that you'd rather not see the light of day any longer, write to the forum administrators. Ask them to remove those posts. The past can't be changed, but it can be spruced up a bit.

Review Your Blog Activity

Do you think your blog is a secret place to share your most private thoughts? Don't kid yourself. Anyone with an ounce of Internet-sleuthing ability can put your name to your blog without much trouble.

Not only can employees be fired for blog posts that their employers don't appreciate, but entrepreneurs can lose business via thoughtless blogging. If their blog entries aren't synched with their clients' views, clients will vote with their feet.

Blogs are great, but they're prone to rants and not-always-ready-for-prime-time editorial content. If you really want to preserve your innermost thoughts, you might need an old-fashioned paper journal.

Search for Yourself

Your driving tickets, your fines for barking dogs, and your awe-inspiring or guffaw-inspiring finish times in the last couple of road races you ran -- all these things are available online. To see what others can find out about you with a click, do a search on your own name via Google, Yahoo!, or any other search engine.

If you're active in one or more Yahoo! groups for online discussion, pay close attention to your postings. Spam bloggers known as "sploggers" have taken to grabbing whole chunks of Yahoo! group’s discussion and adding it to their blogs in order to earn money by sticking related ads next to the posts. That means that your wholesome posting recommending literature for middle-school girls might show up next to a bunch of splog ads proclaiming "Girls! Girls! Girls!"

If you run into that problem, you may have to write to the blogger's administrator to get the blog shut down. That's a pain, but it works.

As long as you're not Paris Hilton or one of her ilk, you're in charge of your own public image. Use your "screen time" wisely!

Reference: Liz Ryan

(USPublicRecords.com)

9th Circuit Puts Hold On Disputed NASA-JPL Background Checks

2007-10-06T18:29:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES – The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday issued an emergency temporary injunction sought by some employees of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who claim newly required background checks invade their privacy and allow open-ended investigations into their lives.

The employees had a Friday deadline to comply with the Bush administration directive or face the possibility of losing their jobs. They were required to fill out questionnaires and submit a waiver allowing the investigations.

An emergency motion to the 9th Circuit was made after a lower court on Wednesday denied a preliminary injunction sought by 28 JPL employees in a lawsuit against NASA. JPL, managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology, has some 5,000 employees.

“The court has not had the opportunity to consider fully the voluminous material filed in connection with the emergency motion,” the 9th Circuit's order said in an order that enjoins NASA through Oct. 12.

“As far as we can determine in the short time available, appellants likely raise serious legal and constitutional questions and show the probability of irreparable harm. What is quite clear is that the balance of hardships tips strongly in their favor,” said the order by Judges Betty Binns Fletcher, Stephen Reinhardt and Marsha S. Berzon.

The order noted that most of the appellants have worked for many years at JPL, which is chiefly known for its scientific explorations of the solar system and study of the Earth.

NASA has maintained it is following a government-wide policy applying to millions of civil servants and contractors. A request for comment on the order was made to JPL's media relations office. An after-hours call to a Washington, D.C., public information officer for the Department of Justice, which represents NASA, was not answered.

A 2004 presidential directive ordered government agencies to increase security of facilities and computer systems by issuing new identification badges to employees. To obtain the new cards, workers must be fingerprinted, undergo background checks and sign a waiver allowing investigators access to personal information.

The order said NASA was enjoined “from requiring appellants to submit the questionnaires for non-sensitive positions, including the authorization forms for release of information.” The court said it would consider whether to extend the temporary injunction until there is a resolution of an appeal of the lower court's denial of the preliminary injunction.

None of those who sued work on top-secret projects, but several are senior scientists and engineers on major missions including the Galileo probe that went to Jupiter and the Cassini spacecraft now studying Saturn, its moons and rings.

“We're really very happy,” said one of the plaintiffs, Robert Nelson, a 27-year veteran who leads NASA's New Millennium Program which tests or validates new technology NASA will use in space. “This is the first time that we've had an opportunity to really get the beginning of a proper review of this executive order and its implications.”

The temporary injunction was issued late Friday afternoon. Nelson said he had spent the day counseling JPL employees and he believed “many” had already decided to comply.

“The first thing that we did when we got the order was we called the other side and said please notify your client and have you notify its employees that they need not sign,” said Dan Stormer, attorney for the plaintiffs. “I don't know what they've done in that regard.”

Stormer said he planned to have a meeting with his clients Friday night.

“Our Constitution is based upon facts, not fears,” Stormer said in a telephone interview. “The Bush administration has been pushing this security fear without any facts and without any regard for the Constitution. What this decision shows is that the courts are unwilling to accept that fear-mongering.”

Reference: signonsandiego.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Background Checks - A Detailed Guide

2007-09-30T17:15:00.000-07:00

Most people think that to run a background check you should turn to a private investigation bureau or a security company. In fact, background checks are easy to do yourself, with a little time and effort.

Background checks are widely used in business, human relations, media, and education and even for screening day care workers.

In many companies, background checks along with psychological tests and screenings have become integral part of hiring a person for higher level positions. You may choose to run a free background check when hiring a live-in caregiver or a nanny.

In many areas of employment, companies choose to run a background check to protect them from potential legal action. Background checks have become more common also after the tragic 9/11 events.

For example, no one would wish to unknowingly hire a sales manager who had been found guilty of larceny in another country.

For many headhunters and employers, background checks can be as simple as getting a credit report or more complex checks such as in-depth verification of applicant's educational background and working credentials.

An in-depth background check could even include an investigation by a special agent of addresses where a person lived for the past few years, interviews with family, neighbors, and even ex-spouses.

More often, a background check includes checking recommendations and validating employment history; some positions require an examination of civil or criminal records, an authentication of various professional certifications, and sometimes an inspection of a credit history which is essential for positions related to finance or valuable commodities.

When a hiring company notifies you that a background check is to be performed, it does not mean that an employer has negative feelings about you.

In most cases, a hiring manager may even not notify that they require the background check. However, in many cases employers are required to get your permission to access certain types of information.

Most HR professionals already know that all information required for a free background check is public and easily accessible. Sometimes, however, employers would have to pay a fee to access more specific information or hire third-party organizations to do their checks for them.

To make sure you have nothing to fear, order a copy of your own credit report, a driving record, and, if you have a court history, legal records.

Generally, free background checks have limited if no access to bankruptcy information that is more than 10 years old or to other civil issues after seven years. The sort of information collected by free background checks can also vary; depending on whom performs the checks.

In most cases, unless you are particularly curious, you don't have to perform a background check on yourself. However, you may wish to run a free background check on yourself just to make sure no errors have been made or recorded incorrectly.

Now you too have the ability, thanks to the Internet to do a free background check on yourself if you really want to. You can make sure that your records are absolutely clean for that extra peace of mind that may help you get that precious contract or a job of your dreams.

Author: Kirsten Whittaker, articlesbase.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Top Reasons - Why Every American Citizen Should Perform a Self-Background Check!

2007-09-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

Get a FREE Preliminary Self-Check at Self-BackgroundChecks.com

The Background on Background Checks -

In one of my past lives I held a Top Secret clearance as a Civil Service employee working for the Air Force. So I am familiar with background checks. But many job seekers are not. Here's a little background on background checks...

More companies are doing background checks on potential employees these days than ever before. Why? Here are just a few of the reasons:

1. Studies show that 30-40% of all job applicants put false information on their resumes or applications, and "exaggerate" their qualifications during interviews. Can you blame employers for wanting to verify claims made by desperate job seekers?

2. Lawsuits for "negligent hiring" are on the rise. If an employee’s actions hurt someone, the employer may be liable. So when considering an applicant, it's in the company's best financial self-interest to find out if that person has done anything in the past which might indicate future problems.

3. Child abuse and abductions have resulted in new laws in almost every state that require criminal background checks for anyone who works with children.

4. The September 11th attacks have resulted in heightened security and identity-verification strategies by many employers.

5. In addition, many state and federal government jobs require a background check, and depending on the kind of job, may require an extensive investigation for a security clearance.

So there are several reasons why employers perform background checks.

Under federal law, the employer must obtain the applicant’s written authorization before the background check is conducted.

The types of background checks companies do usually depends on the job, but they typically include the following:

Employment Verification
Often a potential employer will contact an applicant's past employers. Many states have laws which prohibit employers from intentionally interfering with former employees' attempts to find jobs by giving out false or misleading references, but a former boss can say anything TRUTHFUL about your performance. However, most companies have a policy to only confirm dates of employment, final salary, and other limited information.

Education Verification
This is done to verify degrees and certifications listed on resumes or applications. Under federal law, specific records such as transcripts and discipline records are confidential and will not be released by schools without the authorization of the student. However, a school may release "directory information," which can include name, address, dates of attendance and degrees earned.

Drug Screening
Many large corporations have a policy to drug-screen all potential employees prior to starting. In this situation, the job offer is contingent on you successfully passing the drug screen.

Credit Checks
This type of check (sometimes called a "consumer report") is most often done by companies where employees have access to money, sensitive personal and financial information. Some employers also use your credit history to gauge your level of responsibility (they believe if you are not reliable in paying your bills, then you will not be a reliable employee).

In addition to your payment history, a credit report typically includes information about your former addresses and previous employers. Employers can use this as one way to verify the accuracy of information you provide on an application or resume.

Federal law prohibits employers from discriminating against applicants because they have filed for bankruptcy.

Criminal and Motor Vehicle Records
These types of background checks are not as common but some companies have a policy of checking criminal records. Although arrest information is a matter of public record, in most states employers cannot normally access the arrest record of a potential employee (there are some exceptions, such as for law enforcement positions). If the arrest resulted in a conviction, that information can be obtained. In general, civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest more than seven years old are not reported (the seven-year limit may not apply to criminal convictions, depending on your state).

Companies check motor vehicle records when positions involve the operation of company vehicles and equipment.

Employment Application Accuracy
Some companies verify the accuracy of the information you provided on the employment application, including what you listed as your most recent salary. When you complete the application make sure all information is accurate.

Get a FREE Preliminary Self-Check at S elf-BackgroundChecks.com

What Can You Do to Prepare?

Take the following steps to reduce the chances that you and/or the potential employer will be "surprised" by information found during the background check:

1. Order a copy of your credit report. If there is something you do not recognize or that you disagree with, dispute the information with the creditor and/or credit bureau before you have to explain it to the interviewer.

2. Check court records. If you have an arrest record or have been involved in court cases, go to the county where this took place and inspect the files. Make sure the information is correct and up to date.

3. Check DMV records. Request a copy of your driving record from the Department of Motor Vehicles, especially if you are applying for a job that involves driving.

4. Do your own background check? If you want to see what an employer’s background check might uncover, hire a company that specializes in such reports to conduct one for you. That way, you can discover if the data bases of information vendors contain inaccurate information. Consult the Yellow Pages under "Investigators," or use one of the many online search services to find a service.

5. Ask if your former employer has a policy about the release of personnel and/or employment information. Most companies limit the amount of information they disclose.

Remember, potential employers can't conduct a background check without your written authorization. You can "just say no." Of course, doing that would give the impression that you have something to hide and almost certainly eliminate you from consideration.

Just be honest about your background. Many employers will hire good candidates that fit their needs even if their backgrounds are less than perfect -- as long as they didn't lie about it.

Reference: Best-Interview-Strategies.com, Bonnie Lowe.

Get a FREE Preliminary Self-Check at S elf-BackgroundChecks.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

CU Revamps Hiring Policies - Criminal Records, Not Mental Disabilities, Are The Subject of Background Checks

2007-09-22T19:41:00.000-07:00

CU is taking another look at the criminal records of its employees following the recent stabbing of a student by a former UMC worker.

The university recently finished criminal background checks on five employees, who were referred to the university through the Chinook Clubhouse. The outcome, however, is unknown to the public.

"The results of these background checks are private, protected personnel information available only to an employee's supervisor," CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said.

New university policy now requires all new employees to submit to a criminal background check.

"As a precaution, I think they should check everything available before hiring, just to be safe," said Pamela Mayer, an open-option freshman.

Although the new hiring policy comes after an attack by a former employee with a mental disability, employees with mental disabilities are not being singled out for the background checks.

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers are prohibited from "using qualification standards, employment tests or other selection criteria that screen out or tend to screen out an individual with a disability."

The act limits employers from investigating the mental health history of their potential employees.

"These criminal background checks are not limited to university employees obtained through Chinook," Hilliard said.

In the past, CU only performed background checks on employees who would handle cash or have access to sensitive personal information.

"A criminal background check has nothing to do with questions about a person's general background," Hilliard said. "We are looking at court records for criminal offenses."

CU pays a private firm to perform the background checks. Each check costs about $45 per person.

Other universities in Colorado, including Colorado School of Mines, University of Denver and the University of Northern Colorado, already perform background checks on all new hires.

"I really think they should have been checking backgrounds more thoroughly before, but I understand that the stabbing was just a freak accident," Mayer said.

Officials at Chinook had no comment when contacted about the new background checks.

Reference: colorado.edu

(USPublicRecords.com)

OCCC Now Requiring Background Checks on Employees

2007-09-22T19:34:00.000-07:00

Criminal background checks have become mandatory for all new college employees including part-time student positions.

Further, anyone who receives a promotion at OCCC also will be checked.

“We want to ensure the integrity of our workforce and we want to have well qualified individuals in all the positions we have,” said Gary Lombard, vice president for Human Resources and Support Services.

The $46 background checks consist of the individual’s criminal history, a sex offender check, plus a confirmation of degrees and work experience, Lombard said.

What may come as a surprise to some is that motor vehicle records as well as credit history may also be checked, but only if it is relevant to the employee position, Lombard said.

“We have not done any credit checks, but we might for the hire of someone who has a responsibility and oversight of institutional budgets such as the director of Finance or the vice president for Business and Finance.

“We wouldn’t want to hire someone who has declared bankruptcy for instance because that reflects their ability to manage money,” Lombard said.

For someone’s motor vehicle record to be checked, they would have to have driving as a major function of their job, he said.

People with problems in their past are eligible to apply for work at the college, Lombard said.

If there is any negative material on the check then it will be reviewed by a three-member committee, Lombard said.

This committee will review the information, consider its nature, when the incident occurred and if it is job related, he said.

A past history does not mean someone would be disqualified for the position.

It is advisable for applicants to present accurate information on their applications.

If false information was given and it was later found out, after that person had been hired, then that person would be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination, Lombard said.

The employee candidate or person eligible for a promotion would receive an e-mail of the link for the background check to be performed.

The college also has the right to do a check if there is any suspicion on an employee, he said.

The college also checks the sex and violent crime registries on an annual basis just in case an employee should possibly be on it, Lombard said.

OCCC also is very careful about who is hired to be a volunteer for functions involving minor children primarily in the Recreation and Community Services, he said.

Anyone wanting to be a volunteer for anything in-volving minor children will be checked on the sexual offender registries along with a violent crime check, Lombard said.

“We want to have an appropriate, safe and educational work environment,” he said.

All checks done at OCCC are in compliance with The Fair Credit and Reporting Act, Lombard said.

Reference: occc.edu

(USPublicRecords.com)

Prospective Employers Probe More Than Ever

2007-09-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

Keep your nose clean and guard your personal information. Those were two lessons delivered Thursday afternoon at the first of four discussions about “Cyber Security Awareness” at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

The first session “Background Checks and Security Clearances” focused on the information sought by civilian employers and the government when people apply for jobs.

Judy Krezmer, operations and marketing manager for DePasquale Staffing Services, 454 Pine St., said employers have certain expectations of prospective employees and may seek background checks to find the right person for the job.

“The current emphasis on security and liability has made employers a lot more cautious about who they hire,” she said. “No matter what job you apply for, you are likely to go through some kind of check — criminal, background or credit.”

Some background checks are very extensive, with up to a 14-page process for screening potential employees, she said. Information such as work history for the previous 12 months, two forms of identification and asking the person if they are willing to submit to drug screenings are among the information that may be sought.

Some employers also run criminal background checks.

“If you do not consent to that (criminal background check), you won’t be considered for employment,” Krezmer said. “We verify Social Security numbers and education, too. Many people lie on their applications or they inflate their qualifications.”

She also said that since Sept. 11, 2001, security and clearance requests have reached a whole new level — even corporate directors and executives are subject to background screenings.

Background checks may extend to verification of personal acquaintances and driving records, as well as verifying character references listed on a resume. It may extend to information about prior drug testing.

A lot of background information can be gleaned by employers from a number of sources, some free of charge and others that charge a fee, from the state police to the Social Security Administration.

Criminal background checks may be requested by employers, showing convictions for offenses including driving unter the influence of alcohol or drugs. Staying out of trouble, Krezmer said, is wise.

Megan’s Law background checks for child or sexual abuse may be required by certain employers, as well as credit checks by financial employers looking at a potential hire.

“Before you consent to a credit background check, make sure you clean it up,” Krezmer advised.

“Make sure your bills are all paid up and you aren’t delinquent on any accounts.”

To that end, she said anyone can check on their own credit for free once per year by requesting a credit report on themselves from one of the major credit bureaus and then making sure the information in it is accurate. Any inaccuracies may be reported and revised.

Meanwhile, federal security clearances are more intensive, according to FBI field agent Bill Ebersole.

Ebersole said 40 percent of FBI employees are field agents like himself and the other 60 percent are professional staff. All have some type of security clearance to work at the federal agency.

“If you want to work for the federal government, you will need some form of clearance,” he said.

“It might be top secret clearance, or other levels of clearance. That also goes for Secret Service agents, CIA or other federal agencies.”

Even contractors that work closely with the federal agencies have to get security clearance, with a background check required.

Getting a security clearance involves allowing the government agency to scrutinize your background, including where you have traveled, who you have associated with, where you lived, where you worked, your character, your credit and past and present financial situation.

“Illegal or questionable activity can make it difficult to get clearance. Once you get that clearance, you also have to maintain it and go through a recheck every five years.”

Other information that applicants to the FBI and other federal agencies must be up front with include contact with people overseas, prior arrests and investigations that involved them, and any drug or alcohol abuse.

Grades in school, credit history, gaps in employment and other personal background will affect whether an applicant gets hired or turned down.

Reference: sungazette.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

U.S. Public Records (USPR): New Startup Website PeopleSearchers.com - Part of Formerly Sued Company (MPIS, Inc.)

2007-09-20T22:02:00.000-07:00

U.S. Public Records (USPR): New Startup Website PeopleSearchers.com - Part of Formerly Sued Company (MPIS, Inc.)

New Foster Care Bill Includes Stringent Background Checks

2007-09-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

Sen. Tom Niehaus recently introduced Senate Bill 163, a foster care reform bill spurred by an incident in Clermont County — the Marcus Fiesel case.

The 3-year-old boy’s foster parents bound him, tied him up and locked him in a closet where he died while they went to a family reunion in Kentucky for the weekend. The bill provides some requirements for additional background checks for foster parents. This would include a Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification background check and other additional checks that are required.

According SB 163, in part, the list of offenses that disqualify a person from providing out-of-home care, being certified as a foster parent, or being approved as an adoptive parent will be expanded to include the following: cruelty to animals, permitting child abuse, menacing by stalking, menacing, soliciting or providing support for act of terrorism, making terrorist threats, terrorism, identity fraud, inciting to violence, aggravated riot, ethnic intimidation, or two or more state OVI or state OVUAC violations committed or substantially equivalent offenses within the three years immediately preceding the submission of the person's application.

It also allows a public children services agency to access the otherwise confidential criminal records checks for prospective out-of-home care providers, foster caregivers, or adoptive parents.

“This list of violations is an obviously necessary list and probably should be expanded to more violations of the law,” said David Lambert, director of Mended Reeds, a small faith-based foster care and full-service adoption agency in Lawrence County. “Any violation or any illegal act that would jeopardize the safety or health of a child should be included in that list. This bill is long overdue.”

The qualifications to be certified as a foster parent are not that stringent, he said.

“But, there are some safeguards built into the process,” he said. “The laws been changed in the last few years to put more of a collaborative effort on social workers coming together and having a placement matching meeting so that professionals consider the parents and the needs of the child so they can match them more closely.”

They have always completed criminal background checks for employees and foster parents and anybody who is more than18 years old and lives in the home.

“There is also a process called the central registry check where we can check throughout the state of Ohio to see if anybody applying has ever been investigated for abuse and neglect of children,” said Bilreka Ferguson, foster and adoption manager at Mended Reeds. “Even though there’s no criminal record, there is still a process to see if they’ve ever been investigated or charged. So, there are safeguards.”

One concern that people in the social work field have about the central registry is that it may not be updated and properly funded so that it has accurate information, Lambert said.

Faye Blankenship, a social worker and certified home assessor, investigates the families who want to foster or adopt a child.

She interviews each parent separately, asking about their marriage and home life.

“Most of them are pretty honest because we’re in a small community,” she said. “We tell them that we will verify everything so they are aware of that. We do a very thorough investigation of all of our homes. We feel very secure before we ever place a child there.”

“Everyone who has been involved in an assault or domestic violence or in an alleged child abuse or neglect situation … will be placed on this registry and it will have an impact on the future,” Lambert said.

There are two levels of placement, he said.

One is to be approved for certification. The second layer is that social workers get together and make a subjective decision to make sure the family is a good match.

“Our license and reputation is on the line every time we do one of these,” said Nancy Varney, case manager at Mended Reeds. “We are incredibly thorough.”

Varney visits each foster home weekly to see what may be needed in the home and help connect them with services they may need.

“The most important thing about SB 163 is that it allows the agencies that work with foster care children both public and private to share information, which they could not do before and we’ve set up some electronic means for them to do that,” Niehaus said. “This is designed to be prospective. It links to some other systems.”

If, for instance, a foster parent is picked up for DUI, it would give the agency a red flag and they could check into the situation.

Niehaus and other senators worked on the legislation for more than six months. Several foster parents and foster children from both public and private agencies were involved in the meetings.

“Under this bill, the agency would get a red flag,” Niehaus said. “It has passed the Senate and pending before the House. I expect it will move pretty quickly over there and we hope it will be passed by both houses by the end of the year.”

Reference: irontontribune.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Revealing Facts You Wouldn't Volunteer

2007-09-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

Even if you perform a public service without pay, agencies may do a background check. But who controls the data?

Background checks have become so pervasive in the work world that you might as well count on undergoing one if you're a candidate for a big job.

And as some employees of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently found out, a background check might be required even if you've been on a job for decades.

But what if, outside of work, you volunteer to mentor students, teach Sunday school, take residents of a senior center on outings or referee amateur hockey games?

If you volunteer for any activity involving kids, the disabled or the elderly, the chances are growing that someone will be taking a tour through your past.

In the wake of national shock over sexual scandals and violence involving public and nonprofit institutions, volunteering increasingly triggers background checks.

"It's definitely a growth area," said Les Rosen, president of Employment Screening Resources, a Northern California company that performs background checks. "There might not be a law or rule that says organizations have to do it, but it's seen as part of due diligence."

Protests against background checks have been increasing along with their use. Last month, 28 JPL scientists filed suit in federal court to block a Bush administration directive that would require new, sweeping background checks.

"The thing that disturbed me is that we have to give them permission to look into anything they want to," said Susan Paradise, a software engineer who has been with JPL for 22 years.

But even longtime privacy advocates, such as the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, say background checks may be proper for volunteer groups.

"If it's a volunteer who will be working with children, then in those cases it could be appropriate to do a criminal record checks," said Beth Givens, director of the San Diego-based organization.

However, there are special problems when it comes to volunteer groups and privacy. A major company can be expected to have reliable procedures for keeping personal information private, but volunteer organizations might be unprepared to deal with documents that spell out criminal records, however minor, or that detail divorces, bankruptcies, civil lawsuits and the like.

"This could be an organization with an office in someone's basement," Givens said. "Or your records could end up rattling around in a box in the coach's trunk."

Not only could this information be sensitive, it could also be useful to identity thieves -- especially if it includes a Social Security number, age and birth date.

Protecting that information has become a part-time crusade for Steve Edwards, who last month was told he would have to undergo a background check to continue his work with amateur hockey, which he's been involved with for nearly 25 years.

"I started actively with a kids association in 1983 in Alaska, " said Edwards, 60, a senior policy advisor for the Justice Department. Back then he had a son starting in the sport. "I was coaching the Mites," he said. "That's the group for kids 8 years old and up."

Edwards, who now lives in the Washington area, strongly believes that background checks are a good idea for adults working with children in sports. He knows how important it can be, partly from personal experience.

"When I first got into coaching back in Alaska," he said, "there was a coach in the association that was charged with abusing kids. He went to prison."

Currently, Edwards is technically not a volunteer in the field. He gets paid a small fee to referee games from the college level down to the Mites. But that doesn't keep him from getting involved in the issue.

The information from the hockey organization's background checks is supposed to go to a designated screener who has volunteered for the task.

"I know him, and he is a very good guy," Edwards said.

But it's the nature of volunteer groups to have high turnover.

"Who comes after him?" Edwards asked. "How long is that information going to be around? Who will have access to it?"

And what happens if there is a leak, leading to identity theft?

"Are we covered?" he wanted to know. "Is the screener covered?"

Edwards has to wait a while longer to get the answers. The implementation of background checks has been put off until next year.

"There should be specific guidelines," he said.

Organizations haven't been doing background checks on volunteers for long, so many of these questions have yet to be addressed.

"We first started hearing from volunteer organizations in about 2000," said Rosen, who was founding director of the National Assn. of Professional Background Screeners. "There had been a shift in the national consciousness."

The shift, he said, was largely caused by the ever-increasing awareness of sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church as well as secular organizations.

A scandal could crush an organization by bringing gifts and grants to a near halt. And a group could be subject to big lawsuits if found lax in regard to its volunteers.

Still, organizations that relied on volunteers at first resisted background checks.

"There was a lot of push-back," Rosen said. "Volunteers were wonderful people. They were coming forward to do good work. It was almost not polite the ask them questions that might seem intrusive."

By federal law, a background check can't be done by an outside firm unless the subject of the check gives his or her consent in writing.

Those laws were designed to apply mainly on employers who wanted to run checks on job candidates or current employees. There hasn't been a major court case to determine if the rules also apply to volunteers, Rosen said, but most prominent background check firms apply the same rules to such organizations.

California has one of the strongest laws in the country supporting the rights of a person being checked. For example, he or she is entitled to see all the information that was unearthed. In most other states, that right exists only if the information was used to turn the person down for a position.

For the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse's advice on handling a background check situation, whether for volunteering or employment purposes, go online to www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs16-bck.htm.

The attitude toward background checks for volunteers has changed, Rosen said. They have become accepted, in large degree, as a necessary evil.

"It used to look like it was a '1984' kind of thing," he said. "But if it's presented as part of contributing to the greater good, it becomes part of the volunteer experience."

Reference: latimes.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

In-House Background Checks for Newbies

2007-09-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

Background checks can range from checking social security numbers and verifying identity, to criminal record checks and comprehensive reports on employment and credit history, education and character.

These searches can be performed by third-party services such as specialized employment screening companies, private investigators or online data brokers, or they can be performed in-house by a company's own employees.

Increasingly, companies and organizations are requesting background checks for job applicants, existing employees seeking promotions, volunteers and even dating service members. A bad hiring decision can be ruinous to an organization's reputation and finances.

The number of background checks being conducted is increasing for several reasons: national security concerns, a rise in negligent hiring lawsuits, recent corporate scandals and the ease of searching public records and commercial databases with the internet. Companies may use a background check as a way of verifying the information you give in your resume and application form.

In a comprehensive background check, records commonly searched include: social security, court, credit, criminal, incarceration, driving and vehicle registration, education, employment, property ownership, military, workers' compensation, drug test, state licensing, bankruptcy and sex offender lists.

The Americans with Disabilities Act limits access to medical records to inquiries about your ability to perform specific job functions. In addition, background checks may include interviews with your neighbors, friends and acquaintances.

Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), employers must get your written permission before doing a background check, but this only applies when an organization is using a third-party screening service. If the company is conducting the background search in-house, they do not have to follow the FCRA regulations.

Problems with background checks can arise in several ways. Identity theft can lead to criminal records being associated with your name, but not committed by you. If someone miswrites their social security number on an application form, their name can end up on your file.

Reputable employment screening companies check negative information from database searches against courthouse public records. But if the information is simply obtained from internet records and databases, it may not be up-to-date, accurate or complete.

If you know that you are likely to have a background check for a job application or other reason, there are several ways to prepare for this and minimize the chances of inaccurate or misleading information being reported.

Order a copy of your credit report, check court records, check Department of Motor Vehicle records, do your own background check (by hiring a record screening service yourself), request copies of previous background checks, and let your friends, neighbors and work colleagues know that they may be contacted by a background screening service.

Reference: backroundcheck.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Who's teaching your child?

2007-09-16T07:28:00.000-07:00

My little Ian has started the first grade. Gosh, he's growing up so quickly! It seems like he was a baby only yesterday.

Anyway, I took him to school on his first day. While there, I had a startling thought: I'm entrusting my boy to these people. And I don't know much about them!

Teachers in Arizona are certified, just like elsewhere in the country. They're also fingerprinted, as are administrators and other school employees. The fingerprints are checked through the Arizona system, and with the FBI. Practically everyone in Arizona is from somewhere else. So a national check is necessary.

The checks are done to weed out convicted felons. I don't want to continue to punish people endlessly. But I don't think felons should hold positions of authority over children. So I'm all for the fingerprint checks.

Some things don't fall in the criminal area, however. For instance, how have teachers' students done in the past? What about past complaints against teachers by parents?

Looking around online

Can you find this information online? Well, you never know what will pop up. There is a lot of information about people on the Web. Begin by putting the teacher's name in Google. See what shows up. Maybe an angry parent has a blog.

I would make my next stop the state's department of education. It may be called something else. Search for it in Google. It should be easy to find.

Check the department's site. It may show a way to check teachers' backgrounds. If not, call. Some states probably have public information; most probably do not. But ask what you can do.

Florida posts teacher records

Florida is probably the most advanced state in this area. It has a database available at www.myfloridateacher.com. Teachers who have had serious run-ins with the law are included. Other incidents may also be shown. If your child attends school in Florida, check it out.

Other states may also have databases. If yours doesn't, or you can't figure it out, call the state. Demand more information.

You can also do your own sleuthing. Court records practically everywhere are available. The National Center for State Courts lists links to local courts. Yours may not be online; some courts are not. Also, the teacher may be from somewhere else.

But checking locally is worthwhile. Court documents are public record. So, if they aren't online, you can still see them. You just have to go to the courthouse and ask. I've done this. I found the people at the courthouse helpful.

You might find paying a site to do this work worthwhile. A number of sites offer these services. Try eFindOutTheTruth.com and CaseBreakers.com. The listed fees are small.

I have more information in a tip.

More places to look online for info

Also, look at social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Younger people, especially, maintain pages on these sites. Sometimes they disclose remarkable amounts of information.

You should also check out blogs. There are countless blogs on the Internet, making a search difficult. But it can be done.

A tip on my site covers social-networking sites and blogs. It is geared toward helping parents find their kids' sites. But the information there will help you find teachers.

Also, check my newspaper column from June on finding background information.

Finally, you may want to check teachers' academic credentials. That would include their degrees. This information generally is not available online. But you can often get it from schools over the phone. Start with the registrar's office.

Reference: Kim Komando, komando.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia: Background Checks and U.S. Public Records

2007-09-16T07:09:00.000-07:00

Background Check:
Background check is a generic term for the process of acquiring information on an individual through third-party services, government organizations and private individuals in the hopes of making a determination on the future actions of an individual based on past actions. While the information can include potentially anything about the individual's employment, credit, or past history, the most common usage refers to criminal records. Information gathered in a background check can be abused and used to commit identity theft. The right to request background checks is enforced by the Patriot Act, as well as other Federal laws which surround the right of organizations to pursue information to make financial determinations before submitting to contracts.

Public Records Pay Sites:
Taking advantage of public records availability in the United States, a number of Web based companies began purchasing U.S. Public Records data and selling it online, primarily to assist the general public in locating people. Many of these sites advertise background research. Some of the reports provided by these pay sites are only expanded versions of a basic (people search) providing a 20 year history of addresses, phone numbers, marriages and divorces, businesses owned and property ownership. Usually, these sites will also provide a nationwide criminal report for an added charge.

(USPublicRecords.com)

The New Generation of Background Checks

2007-09-14T13:08:00.000-07:00

How do you know you have a trustworthy team? One way is through background checks. Thanks to technology, checking a potential employee’s background is a lot easier than it used to be.

Gone are the days of dealing with human resources or private detectives, to find out about an applicant many employees are taking it online. Here some things creative employers are doing to check out a candidate’s past.

"Googling"
It’s no secret many employees will run a candidate’s details through Google, Yahoo or other search engine to see what comes up. If the candidate has a blog featuring tirades about a past employer, you can bet a potential employer will find it. You can also find out if the candidate has been in the news, has a record, an amateur adult career or even lied about who she said she was.

Social Networking Sites
Social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebooklist lots of personal details. If you want to see how a candidate acts once she takes off her suit coat, you’ll find it here. You’ll also see what types of people she’s known to associate with.

Blogs
Employers are more frequently using blogs as part of their background checking process. This is often seen as a competitive practice, since more and more employers are searching for additional applicant information not supplied on a resume or application.

Many employers will do an online search of an employee’s credentials as soon as they receive a resume. This helps them to weed out the applicant beforehand and eliminates time wasted on unnecessary interviews.

Keep in mind that it’s illegal to ask questions regarding an applicant’s personal life, however, and to deny an applicant because of certain affiliations and physical attributes. Still, if you want to know about someone you’re hiring, the best way to learn is online.

Also, keep in mind that these practices aren't limited to potential employees. Employers are increasingly checking up on current employees by “googling” them or checking their MySpace profiles.

In fact, this is one way many employers discover who is goofing off during business hours! Many employees and job candidates still don’t think anyone will find embarrassing personal information online, but it can and does happen.

Reference: Deborah Ng, flexjobs.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

Bill OK'd to Tighten Rules on Medics

2007-09-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

The measure would create a state registry of emergency medical technicians and rules on checking for criminal activity in their pasts.

Ambulance and fire department medics disciplined for patient care problems and other wrongdoing would be tracked across the state and not be allowed to float unhindered from one jurisdiction to another under a last-minute bill that was passed late Tuesday by the California Legislature.

The measure would close two major loopholes in the oversight of the state's estimated 70,000 emergency medical technicians, or EMTs.

It would establish a centralized registry for EMTs, through which hundreds of fire departments and ambulance companies across the state could determine whether an employee had had a previous medical-care or disciplinary problem.

And for the first time, all prospective rescuers would be required to undergo FBI and California law enforcement background checks before being hired by a fire department or private ambulance company.

California is the only state in the nation that has no uniform registry for EMTs or statewide requirements for criminal background checks. Rescuers disciplined or fired in one jurisdiction have been able to get jobs in others, with their new employers unaware of their previous problems.

Emergency medical technicians in California can be certified by any one of dozens of local and regional agencies.

By contrast, paramedics, who receive far more training and perform advanced techniques such as injecting drugs and intubating patients, are certified by and ultimately accountable to one agency: the state Emergency Medical Service Authority.

"This is an important step forward," offering tools to weed out "any bad players that may be out there," said Bruce H. Lee, president of the state's association of local emergency medical administrators, which had pushed for stronger oversight.

A Times investigation earlier this year found that oversight of EMTs in California was fragmented and haphazard at best, with nothing to prevent EMTs in trouble in one jurisdiction from starting with a clean slate in another.

The newspaper reviewed all regulatory actions taken against EMTs in California from 2000 to 2006.

In one case, a rescuer was suspended by Kern County for allegedly impersonating a paramedic, then managed to work and renew her EMT credential in an adjacent jurisdiction.

State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles), one of the bill's sponsors, said the legislation would help correct such problems by creating uniform standards and a higher level of accountability.

"A person can't be guilty of misdeeds in one jurisdiction and go to the next jurisdiction and get hired," he said.

Not everyone was completely satisfied, however. A provision limiting public disclosure of investigative material gathered by employers against EMTs was opposed by the California Newspaper Publishers Assn.

The group said that the provision was placed in the bill in the final days of the legislative session, offering little time for public input.

In fact, public access to records about EMTs is already limited.

Basically, the only records that are available are one-page reports that local regulators send to the state listing the names of EMTs and the general types of health code violations allegedly committed.

The bill's language was not clear on whether the public could still receive such general records, but local EMT regulators who helped craft the measure said the intent was not to shut the public out of the process.

"I can't imagine what [is released] now will be withheld," said Virginia Hastings, executive director of the Inland Counties Emergency Services Agency, which oversees emergency medical technicians in San Bernardino, Inyo and Mono counties.

Hastings added that "nothing was ever intended to change that."

The bill is being sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office. His press office said Wednesday that the governor has not decided whether he will sign the measure.

Reference: latimes.com

(USPublicRecords.com)

National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Information

2007-09-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS)Information
General Information Statutes and Legislation Regulations Forms Links to Related Sites

General Information about NICS
NICS 2005 Operations Report (pdf) (html)
NICS 2003/2004 Operations Report (pdf) (html)
NICS 2001/2002 Operations Report (pdf) (html) 1999 and 2000 reports can be obtained by email request to a_nics@leo.gov
NICS New 24-Hour Retention Bulletin
NICS Fact Sheet
Information for Federal Firearm Licensees
NICS Index Brochure
NICS Appeals Brochure - in English (html) (pdf)
NICS Appeals Brochure - en Espanol (html) (pdf)
NICS Voluntary Appeal File Brochure - in English (html) (pdf)
NICS Voluntary Appeal File Brochure - en Espanol (html) (pdf)
NICS Delay Brochure (pdf) (html)
Guide for Obtaining your FBI Identification Record (pdf) (html)
A NICS Delay

Statutes and Legislation
Brady Law (P.L. 103-159, Title I; 107 Stat. 1536)
1968 Gun Control Act, as amended by Brady Law (18 U.S.C. Chapter 44)
Prohibited categories (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)-(9))
Lautenberg Amendment (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9))

Regulations
Federal Firearms Regulation Reference Guide Index
Definitions of Prohibited Persons
National Instant Criminal Background Check System Regulations (pdf)
Brady Implementation (pdf)
Privacy Act of 1974; Notice of New System of Records (Proposed Rule)
Exemption of System of Records Under the Privacy Act
Temporary Rule -- Misdemeanor Crimes of Domestic Violence (ATF) (Proposed Rule)
Proposed rulemaking cross-referenced to Temporary Rule

Forms
NICS Enrollment Form for FFL's
ATF Forms

Links to Related Sites
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)
State Laws and Published Ordinances
National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP)

Reference: NICS Operations Center

(USPublicRecords.com)

What the Trend in Online Databases Means to the Employment Screening Industry?

2007-09-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

The most prominent trend in the employment screening industry has been a proliferation of online databases offering cheap background checks.

Any one can access the internet and with a quick search be able to purchase, for example, criminal records for a low fee. While that is very appealing to companies looking to trim the budget on background checks, it may in fact be a dangerous trend.

What do the companies say that have been running background checks, back when employment screening industry was just a concept and not an accepted practice.

Tom Lawson, the founder of APSCREEN, the oldest screening firm in the country, says necessity of a background check has been established now, and that's why we are seeing such a proliferation of people getting into the business - particularly because the internet makes it an easy field to enter because of the low start-up costs.

Lawson continues, put back in 1980, when we practically invented the concept of employment screening, companies had to be convinced that there was a good reason to spend money on background checks. We have always been a business that focused on training our specialists to screen applications for completeness, thoroughness and accuracy and provide our customers with individualized service.

This trend of online databases is very disturbing to us because the potential for error and liability is very high. The Dangers of Databases - Caveat Emptor of the Quick Turnaround Databases are only as good as the search logic used to retrieve stored data, and search logic is expensive and only as good as the amount of money the database companies are wiling to invest in it.

Unfortunately, the advent of the internet has made starting an online business easy for anyone. As a result, many companies that start an internet data selling business do so because the start-up costs are small which means the databases can only provide limited information. Even worse, most online database providers lack an intimate working knowledge of how to screen potential applicants.

Their focus is on selling units of information for profit. Database companies cannot simply use off-the-shelf software to retrieve publicly compiled repository information. It comes in too many proprietary operating systems' and while good, expensive search logic helps to delineate between the different languages of the information entered into the database company's archival system, it can NEVER be 100% competent even if it is very robust retrieval architecture.

By the sheer science of databasing, 100% information retrieval capability is impossible, unless (as demonstrated recently by the IRS and FBI Computer fiascos) the source data originates from wholly compatible systems. This means that going in you can never expect to have a complete file when you compile data from different systems.

This results in data drops in which bytes of information mysteriously disappear, as well as computer viruses which can reside undetected in mainframes for years and indiscriminately wipe out data, which would be undecipherable in a foreign operating environment, such as a third party compiler.

A classic example of this occurred on January 17, 1990, when screening client District Cablevision received a now infamous incorrect report of a felony cocaine conviction on one James Russell Wiggins, which was not verified for accuracy or its relationship to the subject Wiggins, and which resulted in a serious elimination of candidacy lawsuit brought against the provider based upon slander.

This error dealt a major blow to the reputation of the provider and resulted in the payment of a substantial monetary settlement.

(US District Court, District of Columbia; Civil Action 90-199; Wiggins (et al) v. Equifax Services, Inc. (et al).) Database companies outnumber legitimate employment screeners almost 75 to 1 in the industry today.

The main problem with such vendors who advertise nationwide criminal checks, statewide criminal checks, instant or online, is the veracity of the data they are selling and the competency of the search used to retrieve the data.

Many vendors acquire data from a multitude of sources, not having any idea who compiled the information in the first place. This data is then combined into each vendor's own format, which often does not contain complete information.

The common term in the database industry is data drops, which in addition to the above meaning also means that not all of the data, such as criminal record information from a court jurisdiction that is put into the database, is available to be extracted, retrieved or researched.

This occurs because of the following: The bridge software used to import the jurisdictional data into the database company's memory banks can never be 100% reliable, as long as the compiler is gathering information from foreign repositories.

The computer has to handle many different formats while compiling information into a standardized format so that some of the data simply does not transfer.

This is a problem because of the technical department's inability to inform the sales/marketing department properly as to the database's limitations or unwillingness to tell the customer that the product it is selling may be deficient in some areas.

As a result, approximately 5 to 8% of the data is lost. That means that there is a 92% to 94% chance (at best) to identify a record on a candidate.

Also, data drops are indiscriminate. Rape convictions are dropped as easily as traffic tickets. The second problem with databases is the psychological dependence they engender on those using them.

As time progresses, the databases' ease-of-use causes the user to forget just how important it is that the database be accurate and complete, and that the need for thoroughness in screening an employment candidate should never vary, as to ensure consistency in the screening process, thus precluding the successful prosecution of the employer for Title 7 claims.

The results of falling into this pattern of laziness can be disastrous as litigation may not be far behind. Crucial Steps in the Employment Screening Process Historically and until the late 1970s when the personnel department recognized the need to get involved in employment screening, background checks were performed by security departments - typically comprised of highly qualified and often retired professionals.

Today it's up to the HR department to create the mandatory steps needed to develop a thorough employment screening procedure including for starters, a positive candidate identification process.

If this isn't the first step in the background check, the results of your searches could be faulty and therefore prove useless. For example, critical identification data needs to be gleaned from credit bureaus and other repositories including unused maiden names, or intentionally omitted information such as date of birth and variations in social security numbers.

This is where the difference between true employment screeners and data sellers comes into play. It takes years of experience to be able to differentiate, for example, intentionally omitted information versus an honest mistake.

The same holds true for incomplete disclosures such as partial criminal history in which the full story can dramatically change your assessment of the applicant. One such case involved an applicant who disclosed to the company that she was convicted of trespassing. When the criminal check came back, however, it was discovered that while she had indeed told the truth that she was convinced of trespassing, she had also been convicted of trafficking in child pornography and possession of controlled substances - a serious error by omission.

Hiring decisions must not be made on partial, incomplete or incorrect data, but on thorough information and a consistent application of thorough scrutiny of all of the information regarding criminal, credit, work and education history, driving attitude, whether or not the candidate has completed the application completely, as well as identity disclosure.

A screener must have extensive knowledge about each vendor source to make the appropriate follow-on decisions that develop into a full and comprehensive report. Online databases don't provide highly trained researchers who can spotted flags and other indicators in an application that demand further consideration.

You can only get this kind of service from an interactive screener who has years of experience in processing background checks. Another reason online databases can cause potential liability is because most databases contain information that may not be used in the screening process such as arrest records, or un-adjudicated matters, or matters for which an expungement exists at the Court but is not reflected in the database.

As previously stated, professional background checks require an experienced researcher who knows what to look for including: verifying a applicant's true identity, obtaining verification of past employment and education, fully investigating the applicant's criminal past (a skill that requires an intense, and multi-level knowledge of court procedures, credit evaluation including legal records such as bankruptcies, tax liens and judgments, driving analysis, as well as a history of being a sex offender or involved in domestic violence or retraining orders for stalking.

All of the factors contribute to, but may not necessarily be germane to the job description, at hand, and while exciting, could lead an employer into court, for using the information to deny candidacy, for inapplicability.

By now it should be fairly clear that professional background checks are a comprehensive package that far outweighs any bit’s and pieces of information that can be provided by any individual online database. When a person is thinking about hiring someone and they believe that I only really need to do is run a fingerprint check, they are really missing the point.

So much more information is needed to make a careful, informed hiring decision. Besides, only police departments run fingerprint checks, not employers. Liability risks of not performing background checks in today's hiring environment employers’ face ever increasing potential for liability from the workplace when they choose not to do background checks on their new hires.

Those liabilities include: Premises liability for not safeguarding customers from employees who steal, lie, cheat or injure Negligent hiring liability in the event of violence or fiduciary malfeasance, for not providing other employees a safe place to work Termination or investigation of the individual who hired an applicant who later steals from the company or exposes the company to the above-mentioned liabilities.

Litigation under officer/director liability theories because of incompetent or inept hiring practices involving the company and/or person who hired the employee to prevent this type of litigation, a company must have established a refined HR policy that includes a professional employment screening component. You must become knowledgeable about employment laws which a good background screener can help you with.

For example, did you know that it is illegal to make a decision to not hire someone based on an arrest record alone Usually, the only time it is legal for a third-party provider to release arrest information is in the case of daycare providers and nuclear facility workers.

An employer generally is not allowed to ask about arrests and cannot use this information to deny employment critical tips for choosing an employment screener, so what should you be looking for in an employment screening company First of all, look for longevity.

The longer a company has been providing background checks, the more experienced it is, and as a result, the knowledge, they will have in recognizing the signs of a suspect applicant. This is a field where screeners need not only be highly trained, but have extensive experience.

Ask for references and then call them. You want a company with an extensive and positive track record of providing factual information so you can make an informed hiring decision. Look for the company's professional memberships in organizations such as ASIS, SHRM, PIHRA, NPRRA, NAPBS, as well as others. This indicates a combined knowledge of the screening and security industries.

Do you as the hiring company; have a complete knowledge of employment laws. If not, you need your screening company to know the laws involving background checks. If is extremely beneficial if you hire a company that has an acute knowledge of negligent hiring practices, much in the way that an Expert Witness would know.

The company should have an intimate, thorough and long-term knowledge of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), as well as Sarbanes-Oxley, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and the myriad local statutes that may or may not apply to the employment process.

They should also have the ability to testify for you in a court of law if need be; or even better, keep you out of court in the first place. Does your prospective screener have knowledge and understanding of current HR management systems How about corporate due diligence programs or factual employment screening programs that train people to find fraudulent applications and false identities.

Are you beginning to see how there is so much more to background checks than first meets the eye In short, can your vendor help keep you from unwanted litigation Unless you or someone in your company is an expert in employment law, you are putting your company at significant risk by using an online database provider.

If you are using any of the multitudes of online databases, it's not likely you are protected. Not only do these online companies increase your risk of exposure, they may even add to it. For example, let's say you are currently using an employment screener that does not require you to provide a signed release for each applicant.

Sounds relatively harmless, doesn't it The truth is what these companies have done is had you waive liability to them when you signed up for an account so they can avoid the time and effort it takes involved in this critical step. Their focus in on increasing their sales; which isn't necessarily in your company's best interest.

In the case of a credit bureau audit, your company is now responsible for producing an original signed application and therefore also liable if you don't have one on file. A good employment screener is not only a long-term certified credit bureau, they also provide signatures for these audits on a regular basis and you should never even know when theses audits occur.

A typical lawsuit of this nature could cost your company six figures. There is no upside for a company purchasing background checks to take this kind of risk. What type of criminal conviction research, hand-researched or online databases, does the company provide? Most companies do not realize that there is absolutely NO single source of information available regarding criminal convictions.

It doesn't exist - anywhere. Do they verify these discoveries against subject identifiers and if so, how does your online provider claim to have worker's compensation claim records.

Any information provided regarding worker's compensation claims potentially provides a false sense of security for the user.

The truth is the only records available for worker's compensation are appeals, not claims, and much of the available files are sealed because they are not as yet adjudicated.

This means the file competency rate for this type of data is about 40% - not good enough. Does the employment screener have international research capability If not, how will they screen people you might want to hire from overseas

Without the kinds of connections and a network of relationships developed over long periods of time, this information would be almost impossible to get.

The screening investigation company that you want to hire ever been involved in a litigation themselves for improper screening processes. Can they provide you with at least three long-term references Do they have professional liability insurance including errors and omissions

Are they FACTA, FCRA; CCRRA, and G-L-B compliant and of course you need to know the practical things such as cost, turnaround time and reporting method.

Many competent employment screeners are listed in publications such as the Security Industry Buyers Guide as well as industry publications such as those connected with the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS).

What is needed now in this industry is a standardization of compliance for employment screeners and someone to step up and create an industry co-operative that can police it.

Reference: EmploymentScreening.biz

(USPublicRecords.com)