Volume XVI
August 2008

Criminal Records Checks: Finding the Balance Between a Comprehensive and Cost Effective Search

Kelly Lucha

At employeescreenIQ we pride ourselves on being a company that advocates best practices and compliance. These values are reflected in all client conversations and marketing materials. employeescreenIQ offers a variety of products and we try to recommend services that will best meet our clients’ needs. We recognize that, depending on the industry or position a client is hiring for, a credit report or reference interview may not always be necessary. However, there is one product we recommend all clients incorporate into each of their screening programs: the criminal records check.

Cost effective screening and comprehensive criminal records checks have been the subject of several past articles and blog postings. It is important to look at these two components together to help define your screening strategy.

Over the years clients have come to our sales team with common questions. For example: “Should I just check the current county of residence or conduct a limited year search?” In turn, our sales staff will give recommendations for running a comprehensive background check.

The bigger question is what constitutes a comprehensive background check and how much will it cost? At one extreme, to achieve 100% validity that any existing record is found, every county within The United States would have to be checked individually. Given that there are over 3,000 counties in the U.S., the price would be equivalent to some luxury vehicles. The other extreme is to search the current county of residence only. The danger with running only the current county of residence is the inherent risk of missing a large percentage of records that exist in other counties. The background check may only come to $16, but the cost of unknowingly hiring someone that does not meet your hiring criteria is much greater.

How do we find the balance between the scope of search and cost that will result in an effective screening program?

employeescreenIQ recommends running all names and counties associated with the Social Security Number Trace. The trace lists all names and addresses associated with the social security number for approximately the past 7-10 years. These areas are primarily linked by financial history. Running all names and counties reduces the risk of not finding records outside the current county of residence. This also allows a court researcher to enter each court with the personal identifiers needed. Each courthouse is unique in the manner in which records are researched and many only file data in a public access terminal by name (so it is also critical to ensure that the name is spelled correctly when placing an order).

“Vacation Criminal” is a term that is used internally at employeescreenIQ to describe someone who commits a crime in a random city that they may be visiting on vacation or while traveling to another area. These “vacation destinations” would normally not show up on a SSN Trace and there is a good chance the applicant is not going to list this area on a job application. How do you reduce the risk of missing these records without conducting the 3,000+ county search?

A step in the right direction is to order a National Criminal Database Search. Database searches should never be considered as the sole component of a criminal history search, but can be useful as a supplemental search to help locate additional records. The data comes from a variety of databases and can raise a flag to additional cases and courts that may not have been searched based on the address history. The national criminal database is not a substitute for a county court record search because no database is comprehensive and the data is frequently incomplete, out of date, or inaccurate. All information found through any database search is validated by employeescreenIQ against the prosecuting county’s actual court records to ensure that the information is correct and compliant.

employeescreenIQ is always happy to help new clients shape their current screening programs to fit their needs. In addition, we are consistently evaluating our existing client base and giving recommendations as to how to make their package of services more effective. In criminal court research, there is always the opportunity to add or do more. Please contact your employeescreenIQ Client Relations Department or Account Executive for recommendations on how to get the best return on your screening investment.

Kelly Lucha is the Director of Client Relations for Cleveland-based employeescreenIQ, a best practices provider of pre-employment screening services throughout the U.S. and worldwide. Kelly can be reached at (800) 235-3954 ext. 435 or by email at klucha@employeescreen.com.