It is a lousy economy, I know. And while states are raging and wrangling over the economy, their budgets and just about everything else under the sun, some are still hiring. But because of the economy, they are either cutting back on the necessary background checks, to save money, or they runt he background check and no one responsible bothers to read them. Or if they do read them, they overlook key things. Or, finally, the background check was shoddy, which makes the employment screening less than perfect, and people with criminal records are hired for any variety of jobs. Including police and fire work.
Remarkable? Maybe. But it’s really pretty commonplace. The headlines are filled with these incidents. Here is yet another one, straight from the Baltimore Sun. A housing inspector was hired and, later, promoted despite his having lied about a criminal record. He and an total of nine other inspectors failed to meet the requirements to be certified as Special Enforcement Officers.
Special Enforcement Officers apparently go through “rigorous” background checks as part of their employment screening program. They have the authority to make arrests. Which is the type of authority you don’t necessarily want to casually hand over to convicted felons. Although, this little oversight has been evidenced in police and sheriff’s departments around the country as well.
The once promoted housing inspector had upon application for the job submitted a phony social security number. A mere and simple Social Security Trace should have demonstrated the social security number didn’t belong to him. But, nevertheless, he got the job.
It is remarkable that in an advanced age of both information and technology there are so many bungles on the part of state and local governments and public service agencies. It would seem pretty elementary to order a background check and then actually read it. Verify the information. Be discerning. This really doesn’t seem all that difficult to me.
But here we are. Again. A city embarrassed by its dysfunctional bureaucracy. Oh what a surprise. Oh, and what will the city be doing about that nettlesome certification as a Special Enforcement Officer? Get rid of it. Make it no longer necessary, call it a relic, a throwback to another time. Maybe a time when standards were higher. Or maybe it is just a relic, a leftover from a different era. I don’t know.
What I do know is that if you are posting jobs and the job requires that the applicant undergo a background check for criminal records, especially. Then run the background check. And then read it.