How times have changed
The Arizona Daily Star ran a story with the headline "Tucson police hope PDA's make background checks quicker." Here's the lead. Tucson police have turned to palm-sized technology to help its officers and those at other law enforcement agencies conduct background checks and keep track of crime trends. A grant from the Department of Homeland Security has enabled the department to acquire more than 200 PDAs, which they have decided to distribute among their own officers as well as about 20 other agencies across Southern Arizona. Frankly, it got me thinking about the old days. We never used to use [...]
No background check is perfect
According to a headline in the Waco Tribune, "Bus driver charged with assault aced background check". In the story, the claim is even stronger. "Hillsboro schools Superintendent Jerry Maze said the 64-year-old school bus driver accused of propositioning a 14-year-old student for sex passed the school’s 'very comprehensive' background checks.'" There are people out there who will trot out stories like this one to prove that background checks are a waste of time and money because they don't actually catch any bad guys. Those people are wrong. The first thing to agree on is what everyone means by "background check." [...]
Balking at background checks
The Dallas Morning News reports that completing required background checks on non-educational school workers is turning into a real nightmare. The title of the article is "Costly fingerprinting required for Texas public school workers." Here's an excerpt. Red tape and resistance have tripped up the state's first crack at collecting fingerprints for an estimated 1 million people who work in Texas public schools. School districts across Texas have reported paperwork delays in hiring new janitors, bus drivers and other non-educational employees who must provide fingerprints to the state before they can start work this month. Most of the troubles are [...]
Learning from the banks
Bank Info Security just ran a great article titled: 6 Steps for Better Background Checks. You need to register to see the article which shows this arresting subtitle: "Stopping the Insider Threat Starts With Screening Your Job Applicants." As the article notes, more and more organizations are doing background checks for internal security and to protect themselves against negligent hiring lawsuits. While the article is written for banks, it includes some tips that are good advice for any business. Let me pick out a few. Managing editor Linda McGlasson suggests that you start with verifying the resume. You can use [...]
Do background checks on prospective tenants for the good of the community
In Pikeville, KY, a community group is "urging property owners within Pikeville city limits to help build a safer community by doing background checks on potential renters". Makes sense to me. What's unique about this story is that this is not a law enforcement agency or landlord's association that's urging the background checks. It's a community group. They think that having landlords do background checks on prospective tenants is good for the community. They're right. You may have heard of the "Broken Windows" theory first named in an article by James Wilson and George Kelling. The theory says that neighborhoods [...]
Checking out the coaches in Bucks County
In Bucks County, PA, the Bucks County Courier Times reports on how "Parents urge board to make background checks a must." Here's what's going on. Pennsylvania laws require employees of schools and daycare centers submit to background checks. It requires foster parents to get checked. The idea is that people in those positions have privileged access to children. But the state laws don't cover coaches and other people working with sports teams, even though they have the same access to children. That's why the Upper Southampton Board of Supervisors took up the issue and wound up passing a resolution to [...]