State May Hire Vendors for Background Checks

The state is looking at hiring vendors to assist in doing background checks on companies seeking state tax credits, and it's also gathering information on other states' practices, economic development chief Greg Main said last week.

The steps are among several under way at the Michigan Economic Development Corp. as it revamps processes after the state granted a $9.1 million Michigan Economic Growth Authority program tax break to a company headed by a convicted embezzler.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm last week announced changes aimed at improving state transparency and accountability in regards to MEGA, including establishing a “business integrity verification program.” The program will include requirements that tax credit applicants fill out a questionnaire and submit other documentation.

MEDC President and CEO Main said the questionnaire will be “designed to provide assurance that the key persons in a particular company are upstanding people, that don't have felony convictions, other civil actions in their background that would impugn their business integrity.”

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New Program Makes Background Checks Easier in Ohio

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray recently announced that the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI) and the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) are teaming up to offer convenient, low-cost criminal background checks at local deputy registrar offices throughout the state. The program will use WebCheck, an electronic system that compares fingerprints and demographic data against state and national databases.

“More and more organizations and employers are finding these checks to be an invaluable safety tool,” Cordray said. “The range of Ohioans who must obtain these checks has become vast; from doctors to daycare teachers, from church volunteers to construction workers. Through our partnership with the Ohio BMV, people all across Ohio will be able to obtain a WebCheck close to home, at the lowest possible cost. And that cost will be consistent from one location to the next,” he added.

A state-level or BCI background check through BMV will cost $32, while a federal-level or FBI check will cost $34. Checks run through both databases will cost $61. BMV began offering the checks through more than 100 registrar offices in October, and anticipates adding more offices in the future. BCI used $300,000 in federal grant funding from the U.S. Department of Justice to train local deputy registrars and provide equipment.

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Background Checks Drop 45 AL Youth Football Coaches

The city of Mobile has sent letters to 45 volunteer youth football coaches saying that they could no longer participate in city-run leagues because background checks found that they had criminal histories.

Several coaches decried the move Friday, saying it was another example of the city's overbearing behavior toward a group of volunteers who give up their time — and parts of their paycheck — to help inner-city children.

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Montana Town Drops Password Requirements

A flood of criticism has prompted a Montana city to drop its request that government job applicants turn over their user names and passwords to Internet social networking and Web groups.

The city of Bozeman abruptly suspended the practice Friday, saying it "appears to have exceeded that which is acceptable to our community."

Read more here.

Police Probe Unauthorized Background Checks

Lawrence police said they do not yet know why Mark Rivera, 32, a former special assistant to schools superintendent Wilfredo Laboy, did unauthorized background checks on hundreds of people using school computers."It's not illegal. However, if this information was disseminated, it could become illegal," said police Chief John Romero.

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College of Charleston Employee Background Checks

Two College of Charleston employees have been arrested in the past two months and the college is putting new measures in place to screen employees.

The College employs about 1,800 people in the Lowcountry. Before now, background checks have not been required for all its workers.

The recent arrest of two of its workers is prompting the college to change the way it screens potential employees.

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Schiff: Make Background Checks Reliable and Accessible

Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced legislation to create a nationally-accessible background check system for youth-serving organizations. The Child Protection Improvements Act of 2009, builds on a highly successful pilot program to ensure that youth serving groups such as Big Brothers, Big Sisters and Boys and Girls Clubs can perform quick, accurate, and affordable background checks on prospective volunteers or employees. The bill is being introduced with Reps. John Conyers (D-MI) and Mike Rogers (R-MI) as original cosponsors.

"We are fortunate to live in a country where millions of volunteers generously make time to participate in community service," said Schiff, a former national Board Member of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America. "But with so many volunteers working with children we need to ensure that child predators are not preying on innocent children through the guise of volunteerism. Children´s safety is paramount, and we need to make certain that those working with our youth have been thoroughly and properly screened."

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Crooks With Toy Guns Still Look Deadly

The use of pellet, BB, airsoft and toy guns that look like real firearms in criminal activities appears to be on the rise, some law enforcement officials said.

Earlier this month, two officer-involved shooting incidents in the Sacramento region involved the use of such guns.

Experts, policy researchers and law enforcement officials The Bee interviewed said systematic data in recent years aren't available and little research has been done on the subject.

Read more at The Sacramento Bee.

Volunteer Won't Agree to Background Check from "Big Brother"

This Christmas, Donald McGinnis will not follow his annual tradition of filling in at Middlesex Hospice so others can spend valuable holiday time with family.

His volunteer position will very likely be terminated Tuesday.

McGinnis, who has been a volunteer at the hospice center for 18 years, is taking a stand against a new federal law that incenses him. After almost two decades of repositioning patients, shaving the men, giving bed baths, spending time and offering support, the Cromwell resident is being required by the government to submit to a criminal background check.

Texas DPS' criminal databases missing thousands of records

More than a third of criminal records are missing from the online Department of Public Safety database available to the public, a Fort Worth company found in a study.

Even government agencies, which have access to more detailed criminal records to screen teachers, doctors, volunteers and tradespeople, use a DPS system fraught with gaps, officials and experts said.

DCF Admits Mistake in Child's Death

Ashley and Tammi Baker were the care takers of five month old Gabriel Golden when he died earlier this month. They found him unresponsive inside their home, and he later died.

Top managers with DCF are admitting the agency made mistakes. William DAiuto is the top administrator for the Lake County area. He said that clearly the agency could have done more.

DCF first got involved when someone complained about Gabriel's biological parents. The Goldens left Gabriel with the Bakers to be his care takers. DCF now says they focused too much attention on the Goldens and not enough on the Bakers.

A new DCF report concludes the investigator was supposed to do a background check on the Bakers within 72 hours, but he waited almost thirty days to do the check.

State Passes Background Check

Do you know if your repairman has a criminal record? For the first time the state is requiring background checks for folks who come into your home to fix things. So when you turn on the heater this weekend - the state says you may want to worry about more than the safety of your home.

The capital city is bracing for a Canadian cold front. James Poole works for Austin's Strand Brothers, and knows a lot of folks are getting ready to switch on the heater. "It's the beginning of our season, as soon as the cold snap comes in that's when everything starts."

So besides checking your furnace and filter, the state says you many want to check the repairman's record.

Student Teachers' Backgrounds Often Go Unchecked

Background checks that are standard for Kansas teachers don't extend to teachers in training.

While some school districts are vigilant about checking the backgrounds of volunteers, no scrutiny is required of student teachers. Schools in Kansas often don't check their backgrounds, sometimes expecting that colleges and universities do that work. In reality, colleges and universities may do little checking before passing student teachers along to work in schools.

 

"I think we expected the institution had already done it for them to get their certificate," said Mike Mathes, Seaman Unified School District 345 superintendent.

Auburn-Washburn USD 437 has had such concerns that it will begin conducting checks on potential student teachers in January. None of the other Shawnee County school districts conduct criminal background checks on incoming student teachers.

92 Guards Hired Without Background Checks

A privately run immigration lockup in Tacoma hired nearly 100 security guards without background checks, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn't catch the practice for two years, court documents show.

Sylvia Wong, an administrator in charge of hiring at the Northwest Detention Center, pleaded guilty this week in federal court in Tacoma to one count of making a false statement, for lying to investigators. In her plea agreement, she admitted that soon after starting work in November 2005, she began hiring guards without background checks "because of the pressure she felt to get security personnel hired at the NWDC as quickly as possible."

ICE auditors discovered early this year that 92 guards had been hired without the checks. The agency acknowledges that some of the guards have been fired following subsequent background checks, but won't say how many.

"In response to this investigation we have implemented a multi-tiered vetting process ... so that no contractor or federal employee has sole responsibility to process and approve employment documents," ICE spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said Thursday. "We have taken proactive steps to prevent this from happening again."

NY Governor Orders Background Checks of His Staff

Gov. David Paterson has ordered background checks of all executive chamber employees after learning that such a check had not been done on his chief of staff, who came under fire for failing to pay taxes.

Sixty percent of executive chamber employees didn't have completed background checks and some of the material employees submitted for the checks is lost, Paterson said in a statement Wednesday night.

The background checks, which are not required by law, were started by Paterson's predecessor, Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

The checks were designed to discover and avoid any conflicts of interest. Potentially, an employee could lose his or her job if the check discovered a conflict or some other major problem, such as a felony conviction, that the employee hadn't reported to the governor.

A background check had not been completed on Paterson chief of staff Charles O'Byrne, who failed to pay nearly $300,000 in taxes from 2001-2005.

TSA Proposes Background Checks on Private Jet Passengers

Travelers who fly on private corporate jets would have to clear background checks before boarding under a new proposal made Thursday by the Transportation Security Administration.

The TSA is seeking to impose the security requirements on roughly 15,000 corporate jets and 315 small airports that currently have none.

A group of private-plane owners and pilots warned that the proposal could be costly and represent an unprecedented intrusion into private flying. Hundreds of thousands of people travel each year on such jets.

There is no specific threat to corporate jets, but the TSA said in its 260-page proposal that many are the same size and weight as commercial planes "and they could be used effectively to commit a terrorist act." Private jets, possibly packed with explosives, could fly into a building or could transport terrorists or dangerous materials, the TSA said.

"This is an important milestone," said Michal Morgan, TSA head of general aviation security. "It's the evolution of security into a new operating environment."

Law Puts Troops on Fast Track to Citizenship

A new law will help speed up the application process for foreign-born U.S. troops seeking American citizenship.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced the Military Personnel Processing Act, which will reduce FBI background check delays and other red-tape barriers holding back Iraq and Afghanistan service members' citizenship applications. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law yesterday.

"When men and women risk their lives overseas to serve and protect America, it is unconscionable that America would then leave them hanging by a thread for months and years while waiting for citizenship in the country," Schumer said.

City Considers Background Checks for Dog Owners

Sumner dog owners could face police background checks before they could get a pet license under one proposal heard Monday night by the City Council as it considered the city's first dangerous dog ordinance.

Sumner City Councilman Matt Richardson said some procedure is needed to try and spot dangerous dogs coming into the community, saying the ordinance must have "no loopholes." At the very least, he said anyone seeking a pet license must state under pain of perjury whether they have been convicted of a dangerous dog violation in the past.

If one dog owner must get a background check then all dog owners would need one.

Councilman Curt Brown wondered if that meant the person with the little wiener dog would need a background check.

Sumner Police Chief John Galle said his concern is that background checks by the State Patrol would simply mean people won't license their animals. It would also cost $10 and add to the cost of a license.

SUFFOLK CIRCUIT COURT PULLS ITS ONLINE RECORDS SERVICE

Trying to do a background check? Interested in seeing who has filed for divorce?Until recently, it was easy to search Suffolk Circuit Court documents online.Those records were pulled off the Internet in early September, a week after a Virginian-Pilot story pointed out people whose cases were slated to be heard by a grand jury were showing up as indicted before the grand jury had met.Now, those who regularly check Suffolk Circuit Court records must call or visit the clerk's office to access those records.
This should only be temporary, said Randy Carter, clerk of the Circuit Court. His office pulled the records from the Virginia Supreme Court's Web site at courts.state.va.us in order to review what was being posted for the public to see.The records should be back online within seven to 10 days, Carter said. This time, the cases pending before the grand jury won't show up as "true bill," meaning the grand jury found enough evidence for the case to stand trial, until after the grand jury makes that decision, he said.Legally, the clerk's office isn't obligated to make case information available online. Files must be available for inspection if someone comes to the office and requests them, Carter said. The online service was provided as a convenience, he said.And it has been inconvenient for a lot of people who used the records since they were taken offline. Carter said his office fielded "quite a few" calls from companies that do background checks on potential employees, as well as from newspapers and lawyers."Make no mistake about it, it has been an inconvenience for us," said C. Phillips "Phil" Ferguson, Suffolk's commonwealth's attorney. "But we can work with it as long as it is temporary in nature."

BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR VOLUNTEERS

The ConVal School District is working with area police departments to conduct background checks and collect fingerprint samples from parent and community volunteers.

In accordance with state law, the district has adopted a policy defining a "designated volunteer" as one who has regular or one-on-one contact with students. The law governing employee and volunteer background checks mandates criminal record checks for all school district employees, volunteers, or contractors.

District Superintendent Richard Bergeron plans to distribute a letter to all parents in the district explaining the process.

"We recognize that adherence to this requirement, while not a new regulation, is new to our parent/volunteer community," reads the letter. "However, our purpose is to maintain the safety of all of our students to the best of our ability."