About those criminal records... |
 | A check of criminal records is standard procedure when due diligence research is conducted on an individual. However, even in this age of instant access to digitized information, old fashioned investigative techniques usually must be relied upon for the research of criminal records. This segment will discuss how criminal records are maintained and how they are retrieved.
The Mythical Comprehensive Nationwide Criminal Records
There is no such thing as a nationwide criminal records check available, to the public for employment background screening purposes.. The FBI maintains a database called the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), which is not truly nationwide and does not include most misdemeanors. Many records never make their way to the NCIC because the records must be sent from the county to the state and from the state to the FBI, and frequently there are breakdowns in the process. Nevertheless, the NCIC database is the closest thing that we have to a national criminal database, and it is far more comprehensive than a proprietary National Criminal Profile Report. The NCIC is only available to law enforcement agencies while in the investigation of a crime, and generally does not include the final disposition of the cases it contains. It was not created for employment background screening and it is not suitable for that purpose; in fact it is a federal crime to access the NCIC under false pretenses. The NCIC contains only specific crimes and does not generally contain the final disposition of the charge.
 There are thousands of separate criminal indexes maintained at the county, parish, township, and city levels throughout the United States To conduct a nationwide search would require accessing each individual index. Recently, proprietary databases have been created to access that information in its’ raw format. Because of the very nature of these databases they are NOT compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) as a primary tool for hiring decisions. They also seldom contain a date-of-birth, making the records found “name-match-only”. What role these database searches do play is as an “indicator” for searching for criminal records beyond the address of record of the applicant.
For compliance with the FCRA, any records (hit’s) found within these database searches must be cross-checked with an onsite county courthouse record search. When common names are involved, this could be difficult, time consuming and expensive. The HireSafe product is called the National Criminal Profile Report, which is used as a supplement to the onsite county courthouse search or as a “pointer” to locate criminal records beyond where the address history suggests to look. |
There is another serious problem with the all database criminal records --the data is “stale.” Typically these databases are updated only every six months, or even less frequently. For this and other reasons, the National Criminal Profile Report alone is not compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) for employment evaluation purposes. HireSafe offers the National Profile Report with the understanding that it is to be used only with a FCRA-compliant search, as a tool to throw out a geographically "wider net" than a county criminal check. Furthermore, many records found within the NCPR do not contain a secondary identifier such as the subjects’ date of birth, making positive identification difficult with common names.
The National Criminal Profile Report does comply with FCRA when used simply as a prescreening locating tool to "generate leads" and when records found are verified in their local county courthouse for accuracy. It is this purpose alone that HireSafe utilizes the NCPR.
There are NO commercial database searches that contain sufficient information for employment or tenant suitability decisions for California based companies and residents. ALL CRIMINAL RECORDS FOUND IN DATABASE SEARCHES MUST BE FIRST VERIFIED BY COUNTY COURT RECORDS PRIOR TO TAKING ADVERSE ACTION. The employer is legally responsible for violations of this state law, and fines can be heavy. The employer is legally responsible for violations of this state law, and fines are heavy.
Statewide Criminal Checks
It is possible to search statewide for criminal records in 38 states. From a practical perspective, a count level check may be a better option even though a particular state may have a publicly available statewide index, as it may take weeks or months to receive the information. Also, the state criminal indexes receive their data from the counties. If a county fails to report criminal data to the state, the statewide index may not be complete. The most thorough approach is to search at the county level in the counties where the subject has lived.
Statewide searches are available within 3 to 5 days in: AL, AR, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, IL, ID, IA, KS, KY, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NJ, NC, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TX, UT, VA, WA and WI. However, some of these states may require a signed release and do not provide a complete history of felonies and misdemeanors.
A word of warning about statewide criminal public commercial public records vendors claiming to provide statewide criminal records are actually providing statewide inmate searches, and calling them criminal searches. If the subject has been placed on probation, released from prison, or is sentenced to the county jail rather than state prison, the search will yield a “no record.” Prisoner locator services are available free from the states’ corrections or prisons departments, and online inmate locator searches for several states can be found at the Corrections Connections site. Visit the States & Counties page for more detailed information.
County Level Criminal Checks
Checking for criminal court records at the county level is the primary method used by HireSafe. The county courthouse is where the record originated, and therefore represents the logical and accurate starting point. The information is current, which is a requirement of the Fair Credit Reporting Act for employment evaluation purposes. In some counties felony and misdemeanor records are maintained in a combined index, in others felonies and misdemeanor records must be checked separately.
The Bottom Line
There is no substitute for a tightly focused county criminal court search conducted in the locations where the individual has lived. A county criminal check should be requested in conjunction with a Social Security number verification, which identifies the counties that should be searched for criminal records.
The net is smaller, but it is tightly woven and directed where the applicant has most likely left a record that needs to be investigated
