The “Perfect” Background Check
Clients are often misguided into thinking that the “perfect” background check is immediately at their fingertips. Although there are many searches and variables that attempt to create the “perfect” background check. The solution for the “perfect” background check equation will always remain unsolvable.
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
Coach Vince Lombardi – Green Bay Packers
In November 2007, Nadia Nadim Prouty was convicted of improperly accessing information. It was discovered that Ms. Prouty was an illegal alien who emigrated from Lebanon, entered the U.S. on a student visa and had substantial ties to Hezbollah. She later became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. through a sham marriage. When Ms. Prouty was finally arrested, she simultaneously worked for the FBI and CIA, as a credentialed special agent and a fully cleared analyst respectively. So, do you still think that a “perfect” background check is attainable?
Social Security Number
It is a common misconception that a Social Security Number (SSN) is a “magical” number whereby all the world’s questions about a person are answered from birth to present day. Another misconception is that an SSN is used as an identifier in determining the criminal history of an applicant. Yes, an SSN is a unique number, but it is never used in determining a criminal history of an applicant. In the background check industry, the Date of Birth (DOB) is regarded as the primary identifier for determining the criminal history of an applicant.
The original and essential purpose of the SSN is to keep track of the money you put into the Social Security program so that you can get the benefits you’re entitled to.
The social security program began with the Social Security Act of 1935, originally titled the Economic Security Act. The term “Social Security” was coined in the United States by activist Abraham Epstein, who led a group called the American Association for Social Security.
Social Security taxes and benefit payments began in January 1937. Initially the government paid retirement benefits only to a family’s primary worker, but in 1939 it added survivor’s benefits and benefits for the retiree’s spouse and children. Disability benefits began in 1956, and in 1965 Congress signed Medicare into law. The Civil Service Commission adopted the SSN as an official federal employee identifier in 1961, and the Internal Revenue Service adopted it as the official taxpayer ID number in 1962. If you noticed, it doesn’t say anything about an SSN being used for tracking an individual’s criminal history, because that is not its purpose. Nor does it say that a SSN used for municipal, county or state concerns, because it is a federal number. Even though an SSN may be used on your state income tax return, a student ID or at the local DMV, it remains a federal number only.
An SSN Trace + Validation discovers the past address history of your applicant within the last 7 years and also validates the SSN by giving you the year and state issued only. The most effective way of using this tool is to take the current address and all the past addresses and focus your efforts in those counties, states and federal jurisdictions when selecting your criminal searches.
An SSN Trace + Validation does NOT give the applicant the right to work in the U.S. and does NOT link/match the SSN with the applicant. Only an I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification with a direct connection to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) can do this, but has to be done within 3 days of the offer being made. This eVerify connection has been conveniently integrated into the GObackgrounds.com platform.
However, an SSN Name Match Verification officially matches the applicant’s SSN, name, DOB and gender directly from the SSA. It also, cross-references the information with the Death Master Index to insure the SSN is not that of a deceased person, adding yet another layer of protection from ID thieves. The SSN Name Match Verification uses Consent Based Social Security Number Verification (CBSV) and just became available from the government in 2010 using a web-based platform.
Our vendor Computer Information Development, LLC (CID, LLC) located here in Southern CA is the only web-based company in the U.S. with a direct connection to the SSA, therefore the results will appear faster in your account and be more accurate than our competitors who are simply faxing in this form to the SSA only to wait for the results.
A SSN is NOT the primary identifier used when conducting a criminal background check.
Sex Offender Databases
Another misconception concerns the searches that involve sex offender databases. The instant Multi-State Sex Offenders database contains currently registered sex and violent offenders with felony conviction records. Data has been compiled from all 50 states, The District of Columbia, and Guam. When available, a picture will be included in your search. However, an instant Multi-State Sex Offenders within a state jurisdiction will only pull results for that jurisdiction if the state has provided a DOB in its sex offender data. Therefore we recommend you also conduct a non-instant Single State Sex Offenders search that concentrates in a specific state. As of (04/14/09) the following states do not provide DOB’s: AZ, HI, IN, LA, MA, NE, NV, PA, SD, TX, VA, WA, WI and WY.
Additionally, some information contained in a sex offender database is reported by the offender themselves. The offender is obligated to notify the proper law enforcement authorities when he/she moves about the state and or country. Also, these databases are updated at the discretion of the governing body.
Some states prohibit the employer from using a Sex Offender database for hiring.
Instant Criminal v. County Criminal
Databases vary as to the beginning date of the data contained therein: some date back several decades; others date back to the early 1990’s. In general, search results from these databases show name, DOB, race, sex, offense, disposition, date of disposition, county and case number. Because these databases are updated monthly, quarterly and sometimes yearly, they should not be used in place of a County Criminal search, which is done by a “live” person going to the courthouse to conduct the research. All of our county searches are conducted by “live” researchers in the field, not from a database, CD-ROM, or archived data.
Please keep in mind that our Instant Criminal Searches are “general” in scope and are provided as a “quick and economical” way of conducting a cursory search.
An Instant Criminal search is a mile wide and an inch deep.
A County Criminal search is an inch wide and a mile deep.
The Ubiquitous Criminal Check
A lot of background check companies use confusing words like “National” or “U.S.” to describe their criminal databases. At GObackgrounds.com, because we are investigators we don’t subscribe to this confusing nomenclature. Using words like “National” or “U.S.” only leads to client confusion, because the client thinks that they are getting a ubiquitous criminal check that reaches every single municipality, county, state and federal repository in the country. This misinformation is unfortunately a marketing tool, nothing else.
Although the FBI is attempting to create a so-called “uber” database, currently there is no database that will check every jurisdiction simultaneously. Even a Nationwide Wants & Warrants search, named by law enforcement, not us, only has forty-one (41) states that participate. The NCIC (National Crime Information Center), which is a protected government database, has its flaws as well, thus an attempt by the FBI to create the so-called “uber” database.
Movies unfortunately sensationalize the existence of the “uber” database.
As you can see the “perfect” background check is really “imperfect” at best. However, as a client of GObackgrounds.com you have our commitment that we will always chase perfection when it comes to conducting your background check. In doing so, we will catch excellence.
