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One Massachusetts city is imposing stronger background checks on its police department.

Pretty soon, if a new background checklist is approved by the City Council, it will be tougher to become a Taunton police officer. The approval would make future background checks of prospective police officers more thorough and comprehensive, according to an article by the Taunton Daily Gazette.

The checklist, created by Capt. Edward Walsh, consists of 10 dimensions in evaluating a candidate's moral character and personal history. The list also recommends five steps to implement the "pre-employment background investigative process."

The procedures and forms of the checklist were adopted for the detective division using guidelines already implemented by the Massachusetts State Police Certification Unit and the Peace Officer Standards and Training format.

Walsh said the checklist would help the police department return to an earlier era when a candidate's personal history was truly scrutinized.

“In the old days they would knock on neighbors’ doors [for references]," he said in the article. "That’s how it was when I was hired."

The City Council is expected to review the application and consider a recommendation within three weeks.

The proposed checklist comes on the heels of two months of hearings and testimony, which led to the suspension and eventual firing of a rookie police officer, the suspension of the police chief and the suspension of the city clerk.

Labels: Background checks

Some Canadian officials are upping their security measures - including implementing background checks - for employees. Click here to read more about background checks.

A new deal between the federal Department of Transport and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is aimed at eliminating organized crime operatives from restricted areas and improving security for passengers and cargo traveling throughout Canada.

The new agreement should improve information sharing between the DOT and RCMP. It also will allow the RCMP to conduct detailed background checks on employees applying for new security passes or renewals, according to an article by the Delta Optimist.

The measures will allow the RCMP to run names of employees seeking security passes in restricted areas through 10 different databases, which include information about complaints, victims, suspects and other criminal intelligence. Also as part of the background checks, authorities will have access to an Interpol database with police information from 187 member countries.

Transport Canada issues about 45,000 security passes a year to new applicants and existing employees seeking a renewal of their five-year passes.

About 100,000 workers throughout Canada could be effected by the new measures, including thousands of workers at Deltaport. At Port Metro Vancouver, port authority already has security background checks in place for container ports and areas of international trade. That port accounts for 3,300 jobs in Delta; 5,600 jobs on the North Shore and more than 20,000 jobs in Vancouver.

Federal Transport Minister John Baird agreed to have the deal signed last month after Auditor General Sheila Fraser warned that members of organized crime were infiltrating ports because of poor communication.

Labels: Background checks

Rhode Island Gov. Donald L. Carcieri is hoping to increase the fees for a basic background check, but not without opposition.

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch and his office are highly criticizing Carcieri's proposal, saying an increase in fees would only create more of a barrier for jobless people searching for work in Rhode Island.

According to an article by The Providence Journal, the plan to raise background check fees is part of Carcieri's budget proposal. The plan would raise the fee from $5 per check to $25 per check, which would create almost $900,000 in new state revenue.

The Attorney General's office processes about 150 background check requests every day. Director of Administration Christopher Cotta thinks the price increase will create financial hardship for applicants.

“If you’re applying to five jobs and need five of them, that’s $125,” Cotta said in the article. “This is often put on the backs of people who are out of work. That’s why it’s historically been $5.”

Another potential flaw is that the proposal is worded so that local police departments completing checks for investigations or arrests also would have to pay $25, which would add hundreds of thousands of dollars to their yearly budgets. However, officials say this was not done intentionally and will be corrected.

“$25 might not seem like a lot, but some of these positions that require [background checks] are low-paying, such as work in daycare facilities or nursing homes,” ACLU coordinator Amy Vitale said in the article.

Labels: Background check

One company is offering a free background check tool.

Snoopstation.com allows users to easily investigate the background of any person, free of charge. Users only have to provide the name of person they want to perform the background check on, and Snoopstation.com's wizard will provide a list of linked Web sites where you can find information.

Snoopstation.com allows users to check everything from criminal backgrounds to public records directories to sex offender records. There also is a reverse mobile phone number lookup.

Users can use the site's services to find records on: criminal history, sex offender, prison and inmate history, FBI, bankruptcy, marriage, divorce, birth, death and adoption, credit reports, unclaimed money and properties, government and policy auctions and Social Security numbers. The site also allows users to search for wanted criminals, as well as provides a reverse address search, reverse phone search and e-mail search.

"Snoopstation.com is a very sophisticated site that shows genuine and comprehensive records," the company stated in a press release. "Other such Web sites charge an outsized fee amount from their enthusiasts in return for providing information. Although the information provided by this site is very thin, Snoopstation.com has maintained a very high standard for providing data.

"They are literally the front runner in the sphere of background check and public records," the company adds. "Snoopstation.com is really a free website. No fee is charged in exchange for the services rendered. Being a decentralized Web site, it is extremely speedy. The entire investigation is done within a fraction of seconds. The public records provider exercised at snoopstation.com is one of the best in the industry."

Snoopstation.com is currently partnered with the Area Code Lookup USA and offers software such as Net Detective, eDetective, Web Detective and Keylogger.

Labels: Background check