Foreign Care Workers Escape Background Check

Tens of thousands of immigrants are working with vulnerable elderly people and children without undergoing full criminal record checks, it has emerged.

Senior police officers have warned the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith of the scale of the problem in a report examining the affect on the UK of immigration from Eastern Europe.

It warns of the huge costs to police forces of having to carry out checks on behalf of a new watchdog to vet care workers, and says the authority will not redress the problem.

Many of Britain's care homes, which are currently home to 400,000 elderly people, rely on foreign staff because British workers are reluctant to take the jobs.

Cops Can Run Background Checks on Passengers

In a precedent-setting ruling for New Jersey, the state Supreme Court said yesterday police have the right to run a criminal background check on a passenger in a vehicle they pull over. The decision raises the question of whether background checks on passengers will become routine.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-0 that a passenger in a vehicle stopped by police is considered in custody and that it is not unconstitutional for an officer to run a background check on the individual.

Criminal Checks Urged for Renters

Pike UNITE is urging property owners within Pikeville city limits to help build a safer community by doing background checks on potential renters.

Pikeville City Commission has agreed to partner with the coalition, Pike UNITE Coordinator Amber Campbell reported to members last Thursday, “as long as no funding is needed.”

UW Campuses Begin Mandatory Criminal Background Checks

People with criminal pasts will be red-flagged if they’re applying for work on UW campuses. Mike Simonson reports from Superior.

When the Legislative Audit Bureau found that 40 convicted felons were working in the UW System in 2005—27 of them at UW-Madison—legislators decided that it was time for a change. A year after the UW Board of Regents approved giving virtually every new hire a background check, UW campuses are running background criminal checks of every new hire.

That 911 Operator Could Have a Criminal past

The 12-year-old was out of control, fighting and wrecking the house. Worried that someone would be injured, her mom called 911. The Watauga operator's response, in an incident three years ago, drew criticism nationwide. "OK," the operator told the mother, "do you want us to come over to shoot her?"

In North Richland Hills last year, a 911 operator answered a call from a man who announced, "I just shot my wife in the stomach with a .38."

Changes Likely for School Background Check Policy

Tougher regulations involving criminal background checks of employees, contractors and volunteers appear likely in ISD 831. The school board, meeting in regular session on Thursday, Jan. 3, agreed to call a special meeting to further discuss its background check policy. No date for that session has been scheduled as of press time this week.

Once the discussion has taken place, the board’s policy committee will be asked to take a new look at the policy that covers background checks.

New Law Requires Foster Home Background Checks

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has signed legislation requiring foster care providers to get national level criminal background checks.

The new law will bring Michigan into compliance with federal standards.

The law requires the state Department of Human Services to perform a criminal background check on all persons over age 18 living in a foster home.

Board Proposes Background Checks

The Board of Education recently introduced a policy that would require long-term volunteers at the elementary school to undergo a criminal background check.

Superintendent Stephen LaValva said the proposed policy is intended to ensure the safety of students interacting with volunteer coaches, club mentors and others who help with after-school activities on a regular basis.

Those volunteers, LaValva said, have more responsibility, influence, and, of course, interaction with students.

Pennsylvania Background Checks Available Online

People can do criminal background checks over the Internet for people living in Pennsylvania.

Police say anyone can run a background check using the "Pennsylvania Access to Criminal History" system. The system instantly determines if the name entered has a record associated with it.

If it doesn't, the system displays "no record." But if it does, troopers review the record and mail any findings to the person doing the check.

Sports Park Guard Had Criminal Record

Dennis Myers, the Visalia Riverway Sports Park "guest host" who has admitted to stealing more than $10,000 in copper wire — shutting down the park's soccer-field lighting system in the process — has a long criminal history, public records show.

But city officials considered a full criminal-background check unnecessary because of Myers' performance as a 24-hour security employee for the contractor who built most of the sports park's infrastructure, said Visalia Parks and Recreation Department Director Vince Elizondo.

"He passed his drug test," Elizondo said. "And [he] came highly recommended by everyone we talked to."

Criminal Background Check Required for Green Bay Cabbies

There's a new ordinance in Green Bay, and officials say they put in on the books just in time.

The ordinance to require criminal background checks of those who drive taxicabs, limos, day care vans and medical transport vans was passed after a cab driver was accused of raping one of his customers.

Background Check for Coaches on Way

A new policy requiring volunteer coaches in the Recreation Department to undergo criminal background checks will likely be submitted to the city attorney for review by the end of next month, officials said.

The announcement came as the Park, Beach and Recreation Commission on Wednesday once again discussed the issue of revamping the application process for coaches with tougher standards.

Background Checks Delay New Hires at Sea-Tac Airport

About 400 people hired this month for jobs at Sea-Tac Airport can't start work until the Transportation Security Administration completes new background checks.

Workers hired for cargo and baggage handling as well as restaurants in secure areas need to pass a regular criminal background check plus a new terrorism database search.

Green Card Plan Needs to be Thought Through

Don't you sometimes wonder what science-fiction world our government officials are inhabiting? These are clearly worlds without mathematics, reason, physics.

It's from just such a world that we get news from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reporting that the feds are planning to make immigrants who carry old-style green cards without expiration dates pay for new cards that must be renewed every 10 years.

Each new card must be applied for. Each carries a price of $370, requires a criminal background check, photos and fingerprints. If the background check shows a conviction that could include even misdemeanors - deportation.

Inaccurate Background Check Derails Job Hunter

During the past year, former real estate office manager Paul Davis sent out more than 100 resumes and applications and wondered why his efforts resulted in only two calls.

After talking to one helpful human resources manager, he was told he would find the answer by looking at his criminal background.

Revised UM Policy Will Require Criminal Background Checks of New Hires

Anyone who wants to work for the University of Missouri System will be subject to a criminal background check by a private contractor once a revised personnel policy takes effect on Oct. 1.

Newly hired, rehired or promoted employees and department transfers will be subject to the background checks. The new policy will apply to applicants for faculty and staff full-time, part-time and temporary positions. The policy will not apply to student workers.

Teachers Could Get Stuck With Tab for Fingerprints

More than 400,000 teachers and other school professionals in Texas might have to pay about $50 each to have their fingerprints taken under a new school safety law enacted this year.

Although teacher-group leaders were assured that the state would pick up the cost of the fingerprinting and mandatory criminal background checks, lawmakers did not include funding in the state budget, and efforts to find the money – about $25 million – through other channels have been unsuccessful.

Call for Better Background Checks for School Bus Drivers

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is calling for improvements to criminal background checks for bus drivers. His auditors found that many school districts and school bus companies will hire drivers, allow them on the road, while waiting up to 90 days for their criminal backgrounds to be cleared by the DMV.

After reviewing the records of 13 bus services in various parts of the State, the State Comptroller found that 12 percent of the bus drivers files did not include letters from the DMV indicating that their criminal history checks were complete.

MSU defends screening move

News-Leader.com | Local News: "Missouri State University officials insist that a new criminal background check policy had nothing to do with the recent revelation that a faculty member was a registered sex offender.

But it now appears that when Michael Hendrix's name showed up on Greene County's sex offender list four years ago, it triggered a series of changes in the faculty applicant-screening process - culminating with a policy approved Thursday that requires screening all faculty job finalists."

Criminals in the Classroom

Investigation News - Criminals in the Classroom - PInow.com Investigator Directory: "Every year images of teachers are plastered all over televisions and news stands and it’s not because they are being given some prestigious award.

In fact, it’s just the opposite. They are being accused of what many consider the worst crime in this country: sexual assault against a child.

Pamela Rogers, an elementary school teacher was charged with having sex with one of her 13 year old students. She was sentenced to 9 months in jail but was released in six months due to good behavior. However, she got into trouble again for violating her probation when she used the internet to contact the 13 year old boy and his family. She also sent him a home video of herself doing a striptease. When Rogers appeared in court on July 14, 2006, she told the judge., “I don’t know what I was thinking. It’s clear I wasn’t thinking. I was blinded by emotions that I’m ashamed that I had.” The judge sentenced her to seven years in prison for probation violation."