The “Perfect” Background Check
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.
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
Coach Vince Lombardi – Green Bay Packers
People 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.
Is the Social Security Number (SSN) Magical?
A Social Security Number (SSN) is not 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 the primary identifier in determining the criminal history of an applicant. Yes, an SSN is a unique number, but in the background check industry, the Date of Birth (DOB) is regarded as the primary identifier for determining the criminal history of an applicant. Explanation of our SSN search types:
SSN Trace
The SSN Trace does not match the name to the SSN from the Social Security Administration (SSA). A SSN Trace discovers the past address history associated with the SSN within approximately the last 7 years and validates only the year and state of issuance.
SSN Name Match
A SSN Name Match officially matches the applicant’s SSN, name, DOB and gender directly from the Social Security Administration (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 uses Consent Based Social Security Number Verification (CBSV).
I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification
Only an I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification with a direct connection to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gives the applicant the right to work in the U.S., but has to be done within 3 days of the offer being made. This eVerify connection has been integrated into your GObackgrounds.com user account.
The original and essential purpose of the SSN is to keep track of the money you put into the Social Security program (est. 1937) so that you can get the benefits you’re entitled to. 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.
Does a “National” Criminal Check Really Exist?
A national criminal check does not exist. A lot of background check companies often use misleading words like “National” or “U.S.” to describe their criminal databases. We don’t subscribe to this nomenclature, because it would only mislead the client into thinking that they were getting a criminal check that researches every single municipality, county, state and federal repository in the country.
Although the FBI is attempting to create a so-called “uber” database, currently there is no public database that will check every jurisdiction in the U.S. simultaneously. Even a Nationwide Wants & Warrants search, named by law enforcement, not us, only has 41 states that participate. The National Crime Information Center (NCIC), which is a protected government database, has its flaws as well.
Do Sex Offender Databases have Missing Data?
Yes, the instant Multi-State Sex Offenders database, which contains currently registered sex and violent offenders with felony conviction records will only pull results for that jurisdiction if the state has provided a Date of Birth (DOB) in its sex offender data. As of (01/04/10) the following 14 states do not provide DOB’s: AZ, HI, IN, LA, MA, NE, NV, PA, SD, TX, VA, WA, WI and WY. Therefore we recommend you also conduct a non-instant Single State Sex Offenders search that concentrates in a specific state.
It is also very important to understand that some information contained in a sex offender database is reported by the offender themselves. The offender is “legally” obligated to notify the proper law enforcement authorities when he/she moves about the state and or country. These databases are updated at the discretion of the governing body.
Which is better an Instant Criminal or a County Criminal?
It depends on your time-frame, budget and level of quality desired. Instant Criminal Searches [pdf] [video] have immediate results, tend to be economical priced, but with a lower level of quality. A County Criminal takes about 24-48 hours to complete, tend to be higher priced, but with a higher level of quality.
Because Instant Criminal Searches are updated monthly, quarterly and sometimes yearly, they should not be used in place of a County Ciminal 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.
Instant Criminal Searches are “general” in scope and are provided as a “quick and economical” way of conducting a cursory search.
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.
