How Continuous Criminal Monitoring Works
Pre-employment background checks have traditionally been a snapshot in time, with no insight into incidents that occur during employment.
5 min read
Employers often ask: what happens if an employee acquires a criminal record after we’ve already hired them? Until recently, the best option to discover new criminal records after hiring a candidate was to simply run a fresh order on a recurring basis, typically annually.
Now there’s a better option with Continuous Criminal Monitoring. Adding this to your background check package changes it from a single snapshot in time to an ongoing monthly monitoring service for as long as the employee works for your organization.
Who Needs Continuous Criminal Monitoring
Continuous Criminal Monitoring is most valuable for organizations where a new criminal record would create real risk to staff, customers, or the public. Organizations that work with vulnerable populations or that have employees working with customers in unmonitored environments (like in the customer’s home) may find it especially important.
How the Monthly Check Works
When running a typical criminal check, there are several searches that can be included. Most employers include at a minimum the Nationwide Criminal Database Search and the County Criminal Search for the counties that the candidate has lived in within the previous seven years. Some employers also run state searches and federal searches.
Continuous Criminal Monitoring runs a monthly check against one of those: the Nationwide Criminal Database Search (NCDS). That search is an aggregation of data from thousands of sources, including many counties, terrorist watch lists, sanctions lists, sex offender registries, and more. It provides a very broad search at an affordable price.
What Happens When a Record Is Discovered
The NCDS is a “pointer search” which means that it does not contain criminal records, but rather it’s a database search that points us to potential records. Database records can be stale, mismatched to the wrong person, or reflect cases that have been dismissed or expunged. The FCRA requires reasonable procedures to ensure public records are complete and up to date, so any records found in a pointer search must be verified at the original source.
When a record is found in the NCDS, we then run a direct search in the data source in which the NCDS found the record. If there is a live record, a new report will be generated and emailed to you. Reports are only sent when records are found. If no new records are found for any employees being monitored, no reports or emails will be sent. If you’re unsure how to handle what a report shows, call us and we’ll walk through your options.
Enrolling and Unenrolling Employees
Candidates and employees can be enrolled individually or in bulk. Most employers start with a bulk enrollment of their existing staff, then add continuous monitoring to their standard pre-employment package so new hires are enrolled automatically. Before enrolling your existing staff, confirm that the authorization you collected when you hired them covers ongoing monitoring. Forms signed years ago often don’t. We can help you collect updated authorizations for your current team (see Compliance below).
If you do not hire a candidate, email us to unenroll them. As long as you let us know before the next monthly run, you won’t be billed for them. When a person’s employment ends, notify us by email the same way and their monitoring stops.
Compliance
The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires authorization for continuous checks the same way it requires authorization for pre-hire checks. If you use our built-in “Order with Invitation” ordering method or if you use our provided forms, then you only need to collect the form once (with the exception of California - more on this below). If you use your own forms, you should work with your legal counsel to review them to ensure they specify use for continuous monitoring.
State and local rules vary, however. Most compliance-minded employers read California law to require fresh disclosure and authorization for each report, which makes continuous monitoring there impractical. A more workable alternative is to run less frequent ad-hoc rescreening (annually, for example) with a new authorization collected each time.
Some jurisdictions, including New York City, require a formal individualized assessment process before any action is taken on a conviction that occurs during employment. Confirm your forms and your response process with your legal counsel before enrolling employees in continuous monitoring.
Coverage Gaps
While the NCDS covers thousands of sources, it does not include all potential criminal record sources. For example, some counties still operate on paper records and/or require court runners to make manual and specific data requests in person. Additionally, the NCDS does not receive updates in real time - it rechecks sources on a recurring basis, so new records may not exist in the NCDS yet. It also excludes non-criminal records like driving history.
Cost of Continuous Criminal Monitoring
The Continuous Criminal Monitoring service is charged per person per month. You can find the current pricing on our Pricing Page, but it’s a small fraction of the cost of running the initial background check, only a couple of dollars per employee per month.
Conclusion
Continuous Criminal Monitoring can be added to any Perfect Fit account. You can see current pricing on our Pricing Page, or schedule a call to discuss in more detail.
About the Author
Travis Reiter
Owner-Operator, Perfect Fit Background Checks
Travis is an analytical problem solver committed to delivering an unrivaled customer experience. Perpetually curious, he wants to know how everything works and enjoys wearing the many hats of business ownership. He enjoys gardening, playing the piano, and gathering friends around the table for a home cooked meal and board game. In the Austin community, Travis works with youth-oriented organizations as a leader, fundraiser and volunteer.