The Association of Premier Nanny Agencies - News and Articles Blog

By Lynn Peterson, President of PFC Information Services, Inc.

The quality of criminal background checks conducted by nanny agencies varies greatly. Agency A’s standard background check is a “National Criminal File” search. Agency B’s standard check includes county level criminal checks in the location or locations where the applicant has lived. It sounds as if Agency A’s check is more extensive. Wrong!
In reality, Agency B’s criminal checks are far superior. This isn’t readily apparent because the background screening industry uses confusing terminology to describe its products, and many Internet-based companies deliberately make misleading claims about their criminal checks’ contents.
The Non-Existent Nationwide Criminal Check

The National Criminal File (NCF) search sounds extremely good. However, the truth is that there is no such thing as a nationwide criminal records check. Even the FBI database is not truly nationwide. The FBI database (NCIC) does not include most misdemeanors. Many crime records never reach the FBI because they must be sent from the city and county, to the state. Then, from the state to the FBI, leaving numerous opportunities for a breakdown in the process. Nevertheless, the NCIC is the closest thing we have to a national criminal database, and it is far more comprehensive than the NCF.
The vast majority of data included in the NCF is made up of corrections records from state prisons. Only the most serious criminals are sent to state prison. Our company has been conducting background checks since 1987. We have found criminal records on approximately 7% of the applicants we have checked. Their offenses range from murder to jaywalking. One point to note, most of their convictions are for misdemeanors rather than felonies. Most of these individuals did not even go to jail, let alone serve time in a state prison. Since the NCF includes few misdemeanors, most of their records would never be found through an NCF search.

Case in Point:

One of our clients requested a background check on an applicant who was a CNA at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center. Since she was licensed, she had been cleared through California’s criminal repository. Even so, our client requested a San Francisco county check.
We discovered she had been convicted of killing her boyfriend with a kitchen knife. She was sentenced to one year in jail, then probation. An NCF search would not have found her manslaughter conviction, as she was sent to jail rather than prison. The state repository did not have a record of her conviction, neither did the FBI.

The Claims: 

While many of the companies offering NCF searches claim that data from state criminal repositories, corrections records, county criminal-court records, traffic records, and sex offender records are included, the truth is that these databases contain very little in the way of records from state repositories or county criminal courts. For example, the NCF does not include any data from Arizona’s most populous counties: Maricopa, Mohave, and Pima. Phoenix and Tucson are located in those counties. Arizona is considered a “premium state” by some background screeners because some rural counties are included. You really have to study the fine print to find out what is missing.
The largest of the NCF databases includes criminal repository records from only 10 states. Most of the state repositories include only some misdemeanors or none at all. In our experience, the vast majority of nanny candidates with criminal records have committed misdemeanors, not felonies. Many statewide repositories do not contain records from all counties, as the counties often fail to send records to the state repository.
There is another serious problem with the NCF– much of the data is stale. For example, some versions of the NCF include a “Florida courts database from all 67 counties”. The problem is that the database is only updated every six months, or even less frequently.
An additional problem exists. Most records in the NCF databases do not include identifiers, like Social Security numbers or dates of birth. Run an NCF search on someone with a common name, and you will receive many records that have absolutely nothing to do with your applicant. You will have to request county criminal checks where records are reported to determine whether the NCF records are relevant.

The Most Thorough Background Check: 

Many companies offering National Criminal File (NCF) searches claim that information from state criminal repositories, corrections records, county criminal- court records, traffic records, and sex offender records are included. The truth is that the NCF and similar databases contain very little in the way of records from state repositories or county criminal courts. The most thorough background searches encompass separate state and county checks everywhere the subject has lived.
STATEWIDE CRIMINAL CHECKS:
When the criminal records process works as it should, law enforcement and courts send information about arrests, court filings, and incarcerations to their respective state records repositories. In some states, the records are public. In others, access is limited to law enforcement and the courts.
Unfortunately, the quality of the state repository information varies a great deal. As of 2003, a handful of states still did not use computer editing and verification programs to ensure data quality. Moreover, county courts often fail to send disposition or other information to their state repository, which has a significant impact on the quality of statewide searches.
Our company provides statewide searches for Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Some of these are state repository records searches, and some are criminal court data searches. While there are additional states that allow access to their criminal repositories, data from the other states may be grossly incomplete. From a quality perspective, a county records check may be a better option in the states not listed above.
A word of warning about statewide criminal records: the NCF and some other vendors claiming they provide state criminal checks are actually providing state corrections searches, and calling them “criminal searches.” If a subject has been placed on probation, released from prison, or is sentenced to county jail rather than state prison, it is likely a criminal record will not be found with one of these searches.

COUNTY CRIMINAL CHECKS:

In a location where a statewide check is not a viable option, a county check is the only way to search for criminal records. Despite the inherent geographic limitations of a county criminal search, it is still the prevailing method by which criminal records are checked in the U.S.
It is surprising in this day and age that less than 30% of county criminal records are available online. As a result, in the majority of jurisdictions, a human being must be injected into the research process.
Normally called “court runners”, they are dispatched to a courthouse to check records manually. If there is a match with the subject’s name, the physical case file needs to be pulled and examined to determine whether the defendant’s birth date matches the candidate’s, what the offense was, and whether the defendant was convicted. Because county criminal checks still involve “gum shoe” methods, they take longer than online state checks.

BUYER BEWARE!

The bottom line is that there is no 100% foolproof way to check for criminal records. Record keeping is still so fragmented, it is quite possible you won’t find someone’s criminal past. While some searches are geographically broader that does not mean they are better.
Staffing agencies need to adopt a buyer beware attitude when evaluating background screening firms. While many offer inexpensive checks which are available online instantly, what those companies are really providing is a false sense of security. There is simply no viable substitute for a tightly focused, county court search, and/or a statewide check in the locations where the individual has lived.
PFC Information Services, Inc., in Oakland, CA provides public records research for employers, law firms, corporations, lenders, venture capitalists, the media, and others. Pre-employment background checks are among the public records research conducted by PFC.
PFC is an APNA Sponsor Member & offers discounted rates to APNA members
Tips from PFC Information Services:
 
Parents frequently ask about Sex Offender searches. These searches are free, easy, and available to the public at the U.S. Department of Justice web site: http://www.nsopr.gov This site includes sex offender information from all 50 states. However, some states only provide information on their most serious sex offenders. If you are not routinely conducting this search on all candidates, you may want to consider doing so.

Social Security Numbers
 
Contrary to what many assume, it is not possible to “plug ” a Social Security number into a criminal records database and find all of a person’s criminal convictions. Criminal records are indexed by a defendant’s name. Therefore, the correct spelling of a name is critical to obtaining accurate results. If a person has used other names, they should also be checked. If a name match is found, a date of birth is required to determine whether the records are relevant.

Want to know if a candidate’s Social Security number is valid? Click this box to connect to the free, web site, www.ssnvalidator.com. It will tell you if a SSN has been validly issued, as well as when and where it was issued.

Don’t Get Tripped Up
 
Numerous crime mapping studies have shown that criminals generally commit crimes within 1 or 2 miles of their homes. If you check the locations where individuals have lived and worked, the chances of finding their records are maximized. Therefore, it is critical for an agency to request a Social Security Number verification from its background screening vendor, as the SSN verification includes an address history. This address history should be checked against the candidate’s application for inconsistencies.

Many in the background screening business refer to the National Criminal File as the NCF. However, it is called other things, too. For example, the “National Super Search”; the “National Comprehensive Criminal Check”; and the “Multi-State Criminal Check”.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 10:06 am and is filed under APNA News, Articles for Parents, Articles for Nannies, Articles for Agencies, Press Releases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.