Security dealers and integrators often know every minuscule detail of a client’s security solution — where the cameras are located, what triggers an alarm, how alerts are sent, and where the blind spots are. Having such knowledge about a client makes them valuable partners, but it also presents risks, particularly when it comes to hiring new employees. Imagine hiring a new employee who intends to use their intimate knowledge of a security system to plan an attack or large-scale robbery. The consequences could be devastating, and you could even be held liable for damages.
Because of these possibilities, employment background checks have long been a commonplace safeguard for many private-sector companies, particularly for those with workers who come into routine contact with sensitive data, children, the elderly or other vulnerable populations. They have been growing in importance for other types of organizations as well, including security dealers and integrators, who often find themselves with integral roles protecting lives and property.
While these checks are becoming essential to the security dealer/integrator’s business, the same needs has arisen for many of the dealer/integrator’s clients — a potential business partnership opportunity. Thus, it is vitally important to know how a provider conducts these background checks, to make sure they meet your internal needs while potentially meeting the needs of your commercial clients as well.
Fingerprints: Not Necessarily the Gold Standard
It is often said in psychology that “the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.” Of course, this is an oversimplification, but past behavior can certainly be a useful marker for determining how a person might behave in the future. The easiest way to examine a person’s past behavior is through a background check. This will obviously not provide complete insight into the person’s psyche, but it will raise red flags in terms of criminal and other unsavory activity.
Fingerprint checks have long been perceived as the gold standard; in fact, they are required by law in certain industries, which only adds to their aura of credibility. However, they are inherently flawed for the following reasons:
- One method used to determine prior criminal records is submitting a candidate’s fingerprints to a state database. In some industries — such as aviation and banking — the fingerprint will be compared to the FBI database, but this service is not available to the vast majority of organizations looking to conduct background checks.
- Both FBI and state fingerprint databases were developed as law enforcement tools — not employment background screening resources. It can take up to a year for a reporting jurisdiction, such as a county court, to get information into the database.
- In many cases, the requirement for an individual jurisdiction to contribute criminal records to FBI and state databases is purely voluntary.This results in alarming gaps in criminal histories. Some jurisdictions report different types of data: arrests, felonies only, or only specific types of felonies. As a result, most state databases provide a false sense of security when it comes to viewing complete criminal histories. In the case of the FBI fingerprint database, it is estimated that only about 50 percent of all records are included. The real source of criminal records should be the local jurisdiction where the conviction took place.
- State databases are often littered with arrest records that did not result in convictions, records with incomplete adjudication information, charges that were pleaded down, and even expunged records. Incomplete records should never provide the basis for hiring decisions.
- State databases also exclude arrests and court actions concerning non-serious offenses, such as drunkenness, vagrancy, disturbing the peace, loitering and traffic violations. For some safety-sensitive positions, a conviction for drunkenness or disturbing the peace could be highly relevant, but individuals with these violations on their record will not be found in a fingerprint database.
The Power of Name-Based Checks
Because of the limitations with fingerprint checks, comprehensive name-based checks conducted by a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) are a much better alternative. These screenings draw from a wider, deeper and fresher pool of sources in order to produce a more complete picture of the applicant. This is done using names, addresses and social security numbers in order to draw information from multiple services and sources.
Best practices for name-based screenings go well beyond state fingerprint databases and include checking the following sources:
- An address-history locator including alias/maiden names
- Criminal records search at primary and previous residential jurisdictions
- Federal district criminal records
- National sex offender registries
Criminal records are most likely to be found in the local jurisdiction where the applicant lives or has lived. Digging deeper into the records uncovered around an applicant’s location history is important because studies have found that most crimes are committed closer to home. If the potential employee or contractor lives in a county that does not routinely send records to the state database, then checking the database alone does little good.
Searching the above sources also goes well beyond criminal background checks. These checks will provide information such as driving and employment records, education and professional certifications, as well as local, state and federal records of arrests and their outcomes. In addition, a professional background screening company can review these sources and provide a comprehensive report in a matter of days, compared to a state’s turnaround time of several weeks.
Regardless of the industry, CRA reports are the most reliable way to screen potential hires. For example, the financial services industry routinely uses CRA reports in the hiring process, as do ride-sharing companies when screening potential drivers.
Why Use a Provider?
There are numerous laws enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as myriad state laws and municipal ordinances that regulate private background screening companies and employers that conduct background checks. As these regulations can be complex and are always evolving, it is best for security dealers and integrators to do their research and ensure that they are working with a reputable professional background screening provider that can guide them through the process.
Background checks compiled and assembled by CRAs are “consumer reports,” so those being screened have protections that fingerprint checks do not provide. For example, applicants have the right to challenge any information contained in a consumer report. CRAs are also regulated by states and are subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which is a federal statute that protects job applicants from unfair employment actions. Alternatively, an applicant who is the subject of an incomplete or inaccurate rap sheet reported as the result of a fingerprint check has no opportunity to set the record straight.
Finally, any employer who obtains a person’s criminal record from a CRA is obligated to follow the rules of the FCRA, which include:
- Seeking the applicant’s written permission to conduct a background check;
- Providing applicants with a summary of their rights under the FCRA and allowing them to request a free copy of their completed report;
- Allowing the candidate to dispute the findings of the background check and obligating the CRA to resolve the dispute within 30 days; and
- Sending proper adverse action notifications in the event an employer decides not to hire an applicant based on the findings of the report.
A New Business Opportunity
In addition to being a prudent safety measure when on-boarding new talent, background checks can also present a revenue opportunity for security dealers and integrators.
Many industry professionals will likely find that some of their clients are not yet conducting background checks or are using inadequate background checks that can leave worrying gaps in a candidate’s history. In these cases, clients could naturally expect their dealer or integrator to provide high-quality background checks.
Rather than performing a background check themselves — which we have seen can be a rather complex process — dealers and integrators can partner with professional screening companies to outsource the clients’ work and deliver fast, accurate background checks.
Most professional background screening companies have partner programs in place that offer revenue sharing opportunities for referrals. This can be an attractive solution for dealers and integrators that want to add background check services to their overall product offering. The investment is minimal and the added revenue stream is a bonus for the business.
Information to Act
Ultimately, there is no such thing as a perfect background check. Even the best professional background screening companies can never be certain that they have discovered everything that can be known before making a hiring decision. That said, their processes, practices and results have proven to be far more comprehensive, accurate and reliable than any fingerprint counterparts.
Searching more information sources simply increases the odds of finding relevant facts and being able to bring them to the attention of the potential employer.
David Dickson is Senior Vice President, Public Records Group, at SterlingBackcheck (www.sterlingbackcheck.com), the world's largest company focused entirely on background checks with offices in the United States, Canada, U.K., India and the Philippines.
