What Exactly Are Criminal Records - And How Are They Used?

Investigation News - What Exactly Are Criminal Records - And How Are They Used? - PInow.com Investigator Directory: "A recent arrest in Colorado shows how fallible criminal records searches can be - and why hiring a professional investigator to run a criminal records search is the best option.

When running a criminal background check, if you are searching records only in your state, you may not be getting the whole story.

In July 2006, convicted sex offender Jermaine Vaden was arrested in Aurora, Colorado for assaulting a minor. Vaden was working as a city worker at the time of the incident and had a previous conviction for sex offenses against minors in Oklahoma. The state laws did not require a criminal check to be run on Vaden because his job did not put him into direct contact with money or children, but he met his victim while working for the city, prompting many to request changes in the way background checks are run.

Following Vaden’s arrest, tough new laws require all city workers in Aurora to undergo nationwide background checks. That’s because a routine background and criminal check then required of some potential city employees would not have revealed Vaden’s criminal background outside of Colorado."