FBI warning: Extremists want to drive our school buses
The FBI stirred up a firestorm this month by issuing a bulletin to police warning that suspected members of extremist groups had signed up as school bus drivers.
Naturally, this got immediate media attention. The FBI then held a press conference during which they appeared to be playing down the risk. A spokesman said, “Parents and children have nothing to fear” and “There are no threats, no plots and no history leading us to believe there is any reason for concern.” They added that most drivers were seeking jobs for legitimate reasons. However, the complete text of the bulletin was apparently not released. As others have noted, it seems to be impossible to find it on the FBI website, the Department of Homeland Security, or anywhere else. So there really is no information as to which extremist groups are involved, what characteristics the police should be looking for, or how school districts should protect themselves. Although I am not one for conspiracy theories, it seems likely that someone belatedly realized the political sensitivity of this issue and attempted to reduce its profile.
The scary thing is that as a means of spreading terror, the idea sounds effective. Packed school buses would surely play on public emotion as well as packed planes. Terrorist attacks on school buses have occured before, and the Beslan school attack that killed over 100 children was relatively recent. So more details on the […]
Medical background checks and the OIG exclusions list
Certain professions require more specialized screening than the traditional background check. Medical providers fall into this category. In this post we explore the medical exclusions database provided by the U.S. Office of the Inspector General (OIG), and how it is used for medical employment screening.
The OIG exclusions list is a powerful tool established by Congress to “prevent certain individuals and businesses from participating in Federally-funded health care programs”
. Specifically, the Federal government will not pay for any items furnished, ordered, or prescribed by an excluded person or business. Violations of this policy can be quite costly, at $10,000 per incident, and up to three times the cost of the service. It also goes beyond the obvious services such as those provided by doctors; ambulance drivers also fall under these provisions. Since the government controls the majority of the national health budget through Medicare and similar programs, this is tantamount to cutting off the target’s ability to work in virtually any medical setting. As stated in the OIG special advisory bulletin:
…A provider or entity that receives Federal health care funding may only employ an excluded individual in limited situations. Those situations would include instances where the provider is both able to pay the individual exclusively with private funds or from other non-federal funding sources, and where the services furnished by the excluded individual relate solely to non-federal program patients…In many instances, the practical effect of an OIG […]
The dilemma of volunteer background checks
The Red Cross recently made a public relations error. In the wake of fraudulent activity connected with Hurricane Katrina, they decided to implement a background check for all of their volunteers. Their background check release form, however, went beyond the standard waiver to examine criminal records. It included permission to pull credit reports as well. Not surprisingly, many people felt that this was very intrusive and the Red Cross ultimately removed references to credit reports from its release form.
How did the Red Cross make such a mistake? Apparently they had been considering using background checks since 2004. Like many organizations, they did not appreciate the subtleties involved in volunteer background checks. By their nature, background checks have the potential to be perceived as invasive. Since volunteers are donating time and energy to the organization, they can resent these safeguards unless they are properly introduced. Credit reports, as we explained in an earlier post, should be used sparingly. Finally, some consideration must be given to payment — who will bear the cost? Most people will not enjoy paying for the right to volunteer.
There are many valid reasons to run background checks on volunteers. When people are working with children or the elderly, or entering other people’s homes, it is valid to consider the safety of the community being served. Sad to say, volunteering to help in a disaster area can […]
Background checks, custody battles, and Anna Nicole Smith
Since Anna Nicole Smith’s death, a firestorm has broken out over her seemingly drug-related death, and custody of her child. Where there is money, there are lawyers, and many allegations of criminal activity have been made. In the latest round, the social services department has ordered a background check on Anna’s mother as well as two former boyfriends, all of them laying claim to the wealthy baby.
Anna Nicole Smith spent much of her life in court, and it seems the pattern is likely to continue for her child. Smith was known to associate with some interesting characters, so the odds are that the background checks will turn up a few tidbits. There have also been questions raised about the doctors who provided the drugs. It is fair to say that most would not have expected a background check on the judge to turn up anything — but Judge Korda became part of the drama, caught smoking dope in a park.
Celebrity antics aside, using a background check as part of a custody battle is nothing new. It is very common for a soon-to-be-ex-spouse to run one in an attempt to discredit their partner’s parenting ability. If there are no pre-existing criminal records, there may be attempts to make new ones through fresh allegations. The most powerful, if it can be made to stick, is a charge of sexual abuse — that will affect custody most directly. Anyone going through a custody dispute […]
Green is for sex offender
Pity the poor sex offender. They have to register their address, can’t live near schools and playgrounds, and their names are available for all to see at the national sex offender registry. And now, things are about to get worse. Ohio is considering a bill that would require sex offenders to put flourescent pink license plates on their cars. Apparently, this is not as original as I first thought. Drunk drivers in many states are required to have special colors on their license plates as well. But Ohio would be the first to have them for this particular type of criminal. On the theory that “your car is your office” for many sex offenders, they hope to make it harder for them to operate.
Ohio tried to pass a similar bill a few years ago but failed, partly because that version failed to distinguish between violent sex offenders and those who wound up on the list for consensual underage romance (16-year-old boy plus 15-year-old girl can get the boy on the database). They also aimed for pink that round, predictably upsetting everyone who sponsors breast cancer research.
It is hard to feel any sympathy for s.o.’s, particularly if they are of the violent strain. One wonders, though, if we wouldn’t be better off just tatooing it on their foreheads, that way they could be identified everywhere, and it would cost less. The problem with a car is that other people […]
Keeping the world safe for internet dating
Overlawyered.com recently described a New Jersey bill which would require internet dating sites to post prominent notices regarding criminal background checks for their members. The sites are required to post in 12-point type whether or not they have done a background check on their users. If the site has run the criminal checks, they are then required to post numerous disclaimers that it doesn’t really mean anything because their background checks are seriously flawed. Either way, not meant to give a potential dater a warm and fuzzy feeling.
It is a little amusing to see how this is turning out, after knowing how it started. A few years ago, True.com acquired exclusive rights to technology to determine if members were single. They combined this with a criminal background check to promote their service as the best place to find an eligible partner. Having established this competitive differentiator — and paying quite a lot to do so — they decided that the best way to capitalize on it was to force other dating sites to show that they didn’t take as much care. True.com CEO Herb Vest began a personal crusade to lobby state legislatures regarding mandatory notification. In fairness it must be said that he appears to have some non-monetary motives, but the move was widely interpreted as a form of marketing and was opposed by the industry, which did not see this as likely to increase sales. […]