Beware the Bargain Background Check
When It Comes to Criminal History, You Need to Trust Where Your Information Is Coming From
Google “online background check” and you will find pages of results for sites boasting that they will save you time and money weeding out bad renters or job applicants using national searches. What these sites fail to tell you is what national searches they are using or how they get any of their information. The most complete national criminal database for US records is the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) which is a collection of databases only available to law enforcement agencies; the NCIC states on its website that they require “the inquiring agency to make contact with the entering agency to verify the information is accurate and up-to-date. ” If the FBI can’t rely on their database being accurate and up-to-date, we can safely assume that background screening services completely unconnected with the government are not completely accurate either.
Part of the reason why online screening services are unreliable is because each state and county has different regulations and restrictions about what they will release and how. The best example of this variation is Oregon, Washington, and California, states that we at Bemrose check daily. Both Oregon and Washington have statewide databases for criminal information that are accessible with a login. Both systems though, rely on each municipal and district court to report information to the system. California does things entirely differently. The Department of Corrections is separate from each county, requiring us to check the state (which requires calling the ID unit, receiving the offender’s ID number, faxing a request for additional information, and waiting, sometimes months for a response) and check each county separately, some of which only release criminal history, or only civil information or only felonies. Some counties, like Los Angeles County, require a fee before searching the records; some counties require an in-person search. And some, like San Louis Obispo County, will only release information with a written request mailed to them along with a fee. All of these differences and complications mean that many quick online searches cannot reliably supply criminal records for California, while a person doing the searches in person can make adjustments, use different methods, and, sometimes get courts to release information they might not otherwise release. And, this does not apply only to California. Many other states have limited records available for immediate use, or require a person to request information over the phone or in writing.
At the end of the day, the best way to get the most complete criminal information on a potential tenant or employee is through a screening company where an employee can take the time to look through dockets, talk to court employees on the phone and use logic, experience and intuition to get you the most complete picture of an applicant.
DISCLAIMER: READ CAREFULLY: The information provided in this article is not considered legal advice and is given only for information purposes. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF YOUR LEGAL COUNSEL.