It seems that a week or so doesn’t go by that some city, county, or municipal agency doesn’t make embarrassing headlines because they mistakenly hired employees with criminal records. In most cases it seems they either failed to run background checks on their new employment candidates or they ran the necessary background checks but didn’t review them thoroughly when the final reports were returned.
So in cities and municipalities around the country, local news outlets proclaim yet one more person with an unsavory criminal past had mistakenly found gainful employment with one agency or another. In some cases that agency happened to be the local police force. Talk about an oxymoron.
In Broward County, it was discovered a convicted sexual offender was working the concession stands in the park. Near children. According to the SunSentinel, an employee for the contractor for the park concessions had erred by hiring a known sexual offender. The police arrested the sexual offender, as he was accused of fondling a young girl at his previous place of employment. The concession contractor was apologetic and claimed he thought the staffing agency was responsible for conducting the necessary background checks. So, amid the mass of confusion, a sexual offender almost had his chance to play with children in the park. Never a good thing.
Cities, counties, and states are hurting as a result of this economic downturn. Even if the economy does turnaround, it is questionable as to when the aforementioned agencies, which are so deeply in the hole, will have the budgets for appropriate funding. However, if they don’t find the money to at least run the most rudimentary of background checks, including the criminal report and the sexual offenders’ registry, there is a a disaster lurking and waiting to happen. Should such a disaster occur, liability costs alone would dwarf the costs of conducting background searches. And that is to say nothing of the emotional and physical damage to the victim and the public embarrassment.
In many cases there are hiring freezes. Where there are no hiring freezes, or where it is necessary to hire for even part-time or summer work, don’t pinch pennies where they shouldn’t be pinched. Check them out before you hire. And then review the results to be sure there was no criminal record you had overlooked.
