Beware the thumb drive
Several newspapers recently carried the story of an outside firm doing background checks for the Nevada Department of Public safety lost the personal data of over one hundred applicants. It seems that an employee of the firm had the data on a thumb drive and lost the device.
“Thumb drive” is the name given to little memory devices that hold a lot of data and plug into a USB port on your computer. They’re sometimes called “keychain drives” or “flash drives.” Thumb drives are about the size of your index finger and can hold up to 16 gigabytes of data.
Thumb drives have become popular devices for transporting data or transferring them from one computer to another. A worker from the Nevada company there probably put sensitive files on the thumb drive and slipped it into a pocket or purse.
The very convenience that lets you slip a thumb drive into your pocket makes it a security risk. That’s because it can easily slip out without you noticing.
You owe it to applicants and employees to keep their information safe. Most of the time that will mean keeping it on a secure computer with limited access. If you’re using a thumb drive, or any portable media, to store sensitive information, make sure the data is encrypted.
If you’re using a thumb drive to transport data the encryption rule holds but you also need to keep the device secure. There are three common ways that users do this.
Some users carry their thumb drive on a key […]
One more way applicants can slip through the cracks
An article in the Colorado Springs Gazette outlines how deferred sentences can let someone convicted of a crime pass your background check. Here’s what happened in Colorado.
Robert Lawrence Psaty worked as a mental health clinician at the Colorado Mental Health Institute. A waiter noticed him slip a pill into his companion’s drink while having dinner. The waiter, smart fellow, took the drink from the table and called police.
Psaty was arrested. It turns out that he’s been in trouble before, in 1994 and again in 2002. In both cases he received a “deferred sentence.” Here’s what that means according to the Colorado Judicial Branch:
An arrangement in which a defendant who pleads guilty is placed on probation for up to two years, usually with conditions. If the defendant successfully completes probation, the guilty plea is withdrawn and the case is dismissed. If the defendant fails probation, he or she may be sentenced based upon the guilty plea.
Here’s what that means for Psaty, for the Colorado Department of Human Services who ran the background check on him, and for you. It’s like that conviction never even happened.
The court decided, in 1994 and in 2002 that Mr. Psaty had met the conditions established by the court at sentencing. The cases were then dismissed. When the Department of Human Services ran their background check, there were no convictions on the record.
This just emphasizes the point that while a background check should be part of your hiring process, it shouldn’t be the only part. […]
How a church uses background checks
Seems like lately we’ve seen story after story about how one church or another didn’t do background checks that should have been done. So it was great to see the story in Christianity Today about how one church uses background checks and other tactics to preserve the safety of the children in its care.
The article is titled “Playing It Safe.” It’s about how they handle background checks and other security at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois.
You should read this piece whether you’re a church or a business or a day care center or any other kind of organization looking for best practices on security. I’m just going to hit some highlights.
The story quotes David Staal who is director of the church’s Promisland Program for children. Here’s a quote I loved. “Safety is one area you can’t ever compromise on or the whole ministry is at risk. You need to bat a thousand every time.”
That’s a good attitude for security anywhere. Here are some of the things Staal does that you can emulate.
The children’s program is in a secure area of the church. Access is limited. The church maintains a “No access” list for people not allowed in, and enforce it with a check-in procedure.
They also have a thorough application process for volunteers who want to work with children. It’s a good model for any application process. Here’s Staal’s description of it.
“The application process deters a lot of people. Because we ask a lot of personal questions, […]
Bad communication can wreck a good policy decision
The headline pretty much said it all: “CMS: ‘We blew it’ on staff memo.” CMS? That’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Here’s the story of what happened.
The school system has been doing criminal background checks on new hires for years. When a teacher was caught shooting heroin on school property and when it turned out that same teacher had a history of drug abuse, the school system decided that they ought to check out current employees, too.
So far, so good. The idea was to take steps so that students and teachers in the system were kept safe. Background checks for current employees seem to becoming more common. Teachers even supported the idea, according to the Charlotte Observer.
So a staffer put together a memo and that’s where the problem started. It went out to 18,000 workers and informed them that unless they authorized the district to investigate their finances, background, character and “mode of living” they could be fired. They had a couple of days to sign the form.
Even though the additional background checks had been discussed, workers simply weren’t ready for anything like this. It arrived out of the blue. It was a shock.
The tone was heavy-handed. Comply by Friday, or else!
Just to add insult to injury, the memo didn’t represent the policy accurately. The district wanted to do criminal checks to look for people who might be a danger to students and staff. The memo described a credit check and even used wording taken from the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
To his […]
Praise for background checks
Yvonne Mintz, managing editor of The Facts, a newspaper in Brazoria Country, Texas wrote an insightful editorial titled: “BISD made right decision [budgeting money for quality background checks] for our children.” Here’s the core of her argument.
Sad as it is for a school district to have to pay big bucks for advanced background checks on potential and current employees, as well as volunteers, there is no question about the need for a thorough system for vetting people who work with our children — or our money. That’s why Brazosport ISD’s school board made the right decision in voting to spend $14,620 a year on quality background checks that go far beyond what the district has in place now. The number of teachers accused of abusing students and staff members caught with their hands in the taxpayer till or worse is high all over the place, it seems. Not all accused offenders have prior history, but schools who aren’t doing everything they can to weed out applicants who do simply are inviting trouble.
It’s good to see someone who gets it. You don’t do background checks and expect to catch everyone who might later do something evil or predatory. You do them because it’s smart.
As Damon Runyon, author of Guys and Dolls, put it: “The race may not always be to the swift, nor victory to the strong, but that’s the way you bet.”
In the case of background checks, you “bet” that most of the people who will prey on children […]
Look, I’ve got my background check right here
WBNS-TV10 in Central Ohio reports on a really horrific story. It involves an unusual twist on the issue of criminal background checks as part of hiring. Here’s how it goes.
Karen Carter applied for and got a job as business office manager at a nursing home called the Sanctuary at Tuttle Crossing in Central Ohio. According to the station, “Carter’s state criminal records background check was forged.” She also lied on her application and said she had no criminal record.
In fact, Ms Carter has quite a record. She’s on probation for theft. She was already set to appear in court to answer charges “including forgery, theft, identity theft and falsification.” And now there’s a warrant for her arrest on charges of stealing thousands of dollars from patients at the nursing home where she worked.
I’d call her a pro, except she keeps getting caught. But Ms Carter certainly is a predator.
You may be thinking, “Wow. We’d never have caught her either. She had a forged background check.” Think again.
A forged background check means that someone at the nursing home and involved in the hiring process was either lazy, extremely gullible, or asleep at the switch. If the home relied on a forged document, either Ms. Carter brought it with her or she selected the person or company who provided it.
My guess is that she went from home to home with her forged document, hoping to find someone dumb enough or lazy enough or dishonest enough to hire her. Evidently she […]