Criminal Background Checks:
Why, What and Who

By Alan Nusz

Your church is a caring, trusted organization, and you can't afford to breach that trust. Should an incident occur, how would you answer the media's main question: What did you do to prevent it?

Not enough church leaders are prepared to answer. Too many would be forced to shrug their shoulders and watch their identity crash from a caring and trusted organization to "the church where the child was molested."

In addition to severely damaging your church's reputation, the financial repercussions of such an incident could be devastating. As such, the need to perform critical background checks on church staff and volunteers is rapidly increasing. Church insurers now emphasize the importance of conducting background checks to attain certain levels of coverage. If you haven't put such a policy in place yet, get started. Here's how.

The ABCs of background checking

Criminal records information (Esse-ntial). This type of criminal search is ideal for pre-employment screening. At the county level, criminal records provide the most accurate, thorough and up-to-date information. Checking these records usually involves physical examination of records on file at the county courthouse. In the screening industry, the standard is to research counties in which an applicant has lived, worked or attended school in the last seven years.

Statewide database searches offer comparatively limited information. For example, the Texas Statewide Criminal Database reports only felony and misdemeanor convictions and felony-deferred adjudication, and pending criminal or dismissed cases are not usually included in any state. The data generated by such searches is also questionably reliable, but it is affordable. Each state has its own rules and regulations concerning the availability of their database information, but these records are typically made available at a very low cost. The downside is that such information is also slow in coming--and time is certainly of the essence when screening volunteers.

My professional recommendation is that church leaders conduct statewide database searches to complement criminal searches at the county level, at least in the county's residence. If reasonable access to a statewide database is available, I recommend checking that as well.

ID tracing (Essential). An ID trace is recommended when screening volunteers and employees. It involves searching Consumer Credit Bureau databases for prior addresses and prior employers. His or her Social Security Number should be verified against the issued number to establish authenticity and cross-referenced against additional names and/or aliases associated with the number. This is important because at the county level, criminal records are filed by name and birth date. If a volunteer or applicant is operating under an alias, they could also have been arrested under an alias. Maiden names are the most common aliases. Also, any prior addresses an applicant or volunteer reports might indicate additional counties that need to be searched.

Credit checks (Optional). A credit report should be obtained when screening employees but not necessarily volunteers. Credit files report the current status and history of an employee's accounts and payment habits. This information may or may not be useful depending upon the duties he or she is expected to perform. It can, however, be a good indicator of responsibility.

Motor Vehicle records (Optional). This information is vital when screening applicants whose duties will include transporting children in church vehicles or for church purposes. Motor vehicle records include an applicant's driving record, including traffic violations, accidents, speeding tickets, DWIs, DUIs, license suspensions and more. Driving records are also excellent sources of prior residential addresses since people do not always change this information on their licenses when they move.

Education and employment verification (Optional). Falsifying degrees earned or prior employment information is certainly unacceptable but far too common among today's applicants. You may or may not want to outsource this portion of pre-employment screening since it is increasingly difficult to obtain quality employment and education verifications. Outsourcing to a professional can save time and energy, and it spares church leaders embarrassing confrontations with applicants who dispute the findings' accuracy.

Time to screen the screeners!

If you do decide to hire a vendor, which agency should you choose? Getting the right answer means asking the right questions.

Are they experienced? First, make sure you choose a vendor familiar with nonprofits' unique needs--decision-making processes and budgetary constraints, to name a few. Thousands of screening companies are available for hire, but very few work specifically with churches.

Who is responsible for the information? Look for any and all opportunities to transfer liability away from your church. Do not sign a contract or agreement containing a hold harmless clause. Such clauses mean vendors are not willing to take responsibility for information provided. Unfortunately, it is common practice in the screening industry to incorporate these clauses, so seek out vendors that are fully insured for errors and omissions as well as general liability by requesting a certificate of insurance.

We're all guilty of thinking it can't happen here. But that's exactly what criminals are counting on!

Alan Nusz manages HR First Contact in Richardson, Texas. For more information, log on to www.hrfirstcontact.com