Nov
24
Security concerns don’t stop when you hire
Filed Under Employment screening, Criminal checks, Background checks | 1 Comment
CBS Channel 4 in Denver has broken a story about how people with criminal backgrounds including child abuse, assault, and theft wind up working on group homes around the state. Here’s a substantive excerpt from their story.
“A CBS4 investigation found many of the employees in the state’s group homes have criminal records that might disqualify […]
Nov
22
Checking out the notaries
Filed Under Criminal checks | Leave a Comment
The Investigative Team at WBZ TV in Boston has turned up an interesting fact. It seems you can become a Notary Public in Massachusetts no matter what kind of background you’ve got. Nobody apparently reads the applications and there are no background checks, even if you admit to convictions for using false documents and writing […]
Nov
14
Library volunteers upset over background checks
Filed Under Criminal checks, Background checks, Privacy | Leave a Comment
The Fayetteville, Arkansas Public Library has a problem. For the last several months, the staff has been working on a policy that will protect members of the public, especially children, from predators while they’re at the library. How could anyone object to that?
Well, it depends on how you do things. The Northwest Arkansas News reports […]
Nov
8
Bill to combat elder abuse is still going nowhere
Filed Under Criminal checks, Legal | Leave a Comment
Maybe it’s because we’ve got older relatives in a nursing home that this story makes me so angry. Here’s how it was reported in the Chicago Tribune.
The Elder Justice Act, designed to combat abuse, neglect and exploitation of older Americans, still gathers dust in Congress. It has been doing that for five years, odd for […]
Oct
25
Felons on the KU payroll
Filed Under Employment screening, Criminal checks, Background checks | Leave a Comment
I love how official spokespersons try to slide around issues. Consider the case of Kansas University and background checks.
The Lawrence Journal-World and News reported on October 14, 2007 that there were felons employed at the university. They also reported that “the University does not conduct criminal background checks on most employees.”
The University sprang into public […]
Oct
22
Government increases background checks at ports
Filed Under Criminal checks, Background checks | Leave a Comment
Delaware Online reports on a major security effort involving port workers with the headline: “Port is first in U.S. to get new ID cards.” Here’s the lead.
After months of delays and nearly $100 million spent, a nationwide effort to issue standardized, high-security ID cards to more than a million longshoreman, dock workers, truckers and port […]
Oct
15
Follow the rules
Filed Under Criminal checks, Legal, Background checks | Leave a Comment
Up in Boston, Harvard School System Superintendent Thomas Jefferson has escaped one kind of trouble just in time to land in another kind. When the Worcester district attorney’s office announced that it wouldn’t pursue a criminal case on alleged illegal payments, Johnson must have breathed a sigh of relief.
Now he’s in trouble in a different […]
Oct
5
A Texas horror story
Filed Under Employment screening, Criminal checks, Background checks | Leave a Comment
On Sunday, September 23, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram ran a major story by Darren Barbee about the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Service and that agency’s background check and certification procedures for nurse aides. The headline was “Nurse aides let back into jobs despite ban: Texas recertifies some caregivers who were disciplined in theft […]
Sep
27
It can happen to anyone
Filed Under Criminal checks, Background checks | 1 Comment
Just when you were thinking that big, sophisticated, organizations have so many resources that they don’t have background check problems, you catch sight of an article in the Washington Post with the title: “Clinton Campaign Cites Flawed Background Check.” Here’s the core of the article.
A spokesman for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign yesterday blamed […]
Sep
18
Accidental felons
Filed Under Employment screening, Criminal checks | 3 Comments
If you watch this space and read the news, you might think that everyone is ramping up their use of background checks in hiring. You’d be wrong. An example of someone who’s resisting the trend is Steve Mangan, general manager of Indiana Memorial Union Dining Services at Indiana University.
In a story titled, “Hiring practices might […]
Sep
12
Dodging a bullet
Filed Under Employment screening, Criminal checks, Background checks | Leave a Comment
Lots of organizations begin an aggressive or comprehensive background check program because of something that happens to them. A violent attack or a charge of sexual misconduct or theft against an employee provides a wake-up call and the organization starts or improves a program of background checks.
The case at the University of Colorado is […]
Aug
30
Dallas schools cracking down
Filed Under Criminal checks | Leave a Comment
The Dallas Morning News reports on a Dallas Independent School District (DISD) operation to deal with employees with a criminal past. Here’s the lead paragraph.
The Dallas Independent School District has fired, or forced to resign, 24 employees since November for failing to notify the district of arrests or court judgments for serious crimes, including indecent […]
Aug
29
According to the Akron Beacon Journal, officials at the Scioto Youth Camp in Perry County, Ohio and Fairfield Christian Church in Lancaster, Ohio are pointing fingers at each other over a volunteer camp counselor accused of inappropriately touching three young boys at a church camp.
The camp officials say that they didn’t do a background […]
Jul
13
Who watches the watchmen?
Filed Under Criminal checks | Leave a Comment
Hired any good security guards lately? Unless you’re a really big business, the answer to that question is probably, “No.”
Most small companies don’t hire security guards. Instead they contract with a security company to provide guard services. And that can be dangerous.
According to Bill Whitmore, President and CEO, AlliedBarton Security Services, quoted in Chief Engineer: […]
Jul
3
Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act
Filed Under Criminal checks, Legal | 3 Comments
It’s scary that you should have to check the backgrounds of people who care for the elderly, but that’s part of what will be legally required when the Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act becomes law. Note that I said, “when” and not “if.”
The bill, authored by Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), Chairman of the Senate […]
Jun
29
Preventing workplace violence with background checks
Filed Under Employment screening, Criminal checks, Legal | 2 Comments
In 1995, the Workplace Violence Research Institute found that: “Every workday, an estimated 16,400 threats are made, 723 workers are attacked, and 43,800 are harassed.”
That’s a lot of violence. Most of it isn’t dramatic cable-news-coverage stuff, but none of it makes for a better workplace. When violence is part of the working environment, productivity and […]
Jun
19
Trust, but verify
Filed Under Criminal checks | Leave a Comment
President Ronald Reagan described his policy on dealing with the Soviet Union on arms treaties this way: “Trust, but verify.” That’s not a bad position to take when you’re considering hiring someone to provide elder care for your parents.
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the largest senior advocacy organization in the United States, has […]
Jun
13
There’s an interesting discussion going on at the EvilHR Lady Blog about “Red Flags” and hiring. It got me thinking about some basic things you should do when you receive an employment application that looks good enough for you to consider the person.
A “red flag” is any indicator that you may want to find […]
Jun
8
Avoiding drug labs with tenant screening
Filed Under Criminal checks, Tenant screening | Leave a Comment
One of the worst things that can happen to a landlord is to have the police find a drug lab on the landlord’s property. That happens a lot. According to statistics published by the state of Washington, half of all residential drug labs are found on rental property. If that happens to you, the […]
Jun
1
Study: Background screening uncovering more problems with potential hires
Filed Under Employment screening, Criminal checks | Leave a Comment
How bad is it?
Hiring managers are forever complaining that the quality of candidates simply isn’t what it used to be. When it comes to the information in a criminal background check or driving record check, they just might be right.
Kroll Inc. is a private investigation firm. They also study topics such as background […]



