Often we hear clients ask about national databases, search quality and options to access criminal reports. Our answer? Searching for criminal records isn’t the one-step process you may think it is.
It’s easy to assume that the process is simple. After all, film and television detectives pull up a person’s criminal history with a few keystrokes. But real life isn’t that convenient. While the United States government does have a database called the National Criminal Information Center (NCIC), it’s for law enforcement use only—companies that perform pre-employment screening for non-governmental jobs do not have access. And even those who have access use additional methods, since this is not a complete database of all U.S. criminal records.
To adequately search a person’s criminal history, it’s best to go to the source of data: the court where the case was judged. However, there are thousands of courthouses across the 3,141 counties, boroughs and census areas in the United States, each with their own access limitations and requirements. Since court records are “public” by law, every county court has a method for accessing records. Although it can be complex, this is the best practice because it provides the most accurate and up-to-date information possible. If a lawsuit was filed yesterday, it’s on the public record terminal tomorrow. If a record was expunged or sealed, it’s immediately removed from the public record terminal.
Therefore, Aurico recommends searching all counties a person has had known activity in: anywhere the individual has lived, worked or attended school. Performing county searches, along with checking other sources to locate possible offenses outside the “known” area, will provide the best possible public records check.
While most of our clients are satisfied with county reports, many also choose to run federal court record checks. And there’s a good reason why: federal cases will not be found in any county court. While it’s statistically much less likely that you’d have a federal case than a county case (1.5% of all criminal cases are handled at the federal level), these cases can be serious–Aurico has encountered applicants with federal cases for bank robbery, racketeering, kidnapping and embezzlement, to name a few. Now you know why no one wants to “make a federal case out of it”–federal cases are serious business.
To learn more about search options, screening strategies or to review your program please contact us at 866.255.2852 or submit a request online http://www.aurico.com/About_Aurico/Aurico_Challenge.asp.
No comments:
Post a Comment