Can -do Foreign Criminal Record Searches

Many Pre-employment compnaies are forgetful that they check courthouses in the USA and not police departments for criminal records.
One difference they forget to note is that a criminal record at a court is not the same thing as a criminal record at the police staion.

If I were a betting man ;), maybe I'd wager that criminal records, not all but many, found at the police department are not FCRA complaint.

That is, there is no disposition of charges given, let alone the 7-year rule.

So be it, amnesia runs rank among the pre-employment cognosci, so much I hear about police records in foreign countries, blah, blah, blah.

How that;s how it's done, blah , blah, blah.

How third parties can't get them, blah, blah, blah.

The real hoot about the absent-mindeness is this - the pre-employment's can't get FBI records in the USA, either!

Blah, blah, blah.  Money talks.

Court records is the language money talks in the USA. 

Foriegn records.  I hear the greenbucks flying away out the hands of the doom. gloom, and naysayers and into the hands of the 'can do-ers.'

Cool Hand Steven Brownstein

Not unlike Paul Newman, the real Cool Hand, Steven Brownstein has made his mark on the pre-employment screening industry by first opening up a forum where companies and individuals in the background check industry could converse - openly and publishing the 'real deal,' The Background Investigator (www.thebackgroundinvestigator.com), a monthly newspaper found online and also mailed as a very popular print edition.
What's remarkable is that the pre-employment screening industry would even talk to itself.  The worst kept secret was the method that they used to obtain criminal records.
The joke was on us because it turned out veryone was pretty much using the same sources and denying it to anyone who would listen.
In stepped the cool hand.
Steven Brownstein promoted the first ever pre-employment screening conference almost a decade ago.  Now everyone wanted to talk .
He has promoted nearly a dozen more such conferences since.
We're still talking.
This year, 2011, he has taken time off due to his busy schedule, so there is no conference. He is currently on his way to Hong Kong and Bangkok to meet with several of his key researchers.
But he promises an invigorating 2012 schedule that includes many new innovations and methods for providing criminal records to the background screening industry.
And that might include a conference or two.
I've got to Hand it to him, that's Cool.

Avoid Criminal Record - Get Good Job

As one of the world's foremost experts on criminal background checks, Steven Brownstein should be listened to.

Brownstein catches us off guard with, "It amazes me how young people today are not taught more than just good morals.  They should be taught not to get caught."

Being taught g ood morals is somewhat disputable these days. But not getting caught?

"Hey, he continues, "I mean don't commit the cirme to begin with and keep your trash off of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.  I can't begin, well, yes I can, tell you how many background checking firms are offering WebSite and Internat based searches designed to trip you up."

Brownstein's words ring the bit of wisdom he does profess.  A recent Google search of "facebook background check" came back in seconds with more than 106 million results; the top ones being companies offering Facebook and Twitter checks.

Brownstein quite seriously suggests, "Keep a low profile on the Internet or you'll end up paying for it with job offer refusals or lower pay. And criminal records?  Come on.  We all know it's public record.  Get caught drinking underage, pulling off some stupid party prank that gets you busted, the list of idiotic things we do can only get you the same result - unemployed."

Some states have drafted and passed laws disallowing use of certain criminal records, even going so far as to declassify them as criminal making them lesser offenses called violations.  These violations are in turn not usuable in making an employment decision.

"Maybe in some other world," adds Brownstein, "not this one. Get a criminal record, even a minor one, whatever you may call it, 'violation, misdemeanor, ordinance offense, and you think the HR department is going to ignore that?  Especially when there are tens of more applicants that come up clean?"

We're afraid we have to agree with Brownstein.  The best bet woud be to walk the straight and narrow and keep your life off the social networks.  But what a boring life.  There's got to be some better way.

We're Still Receiving Leading-on Promises About International Criminal Record Search Turn-around Times

I can't believe that after 20+ years in the pre-employment screening biz that I (and you) receive ads, contemporarily in the form of E-Mail, that make outrgeous claims of international criminal record turnaround.

The ad also implies civil searches, employment verifivations and what-nots!

I know the FTC is too busy with the big guys to track down this Calif. company; some wish they did.

I don't want them shutdown - just shut up.
Or at least have them start telling the real story.

One pre-employment screening expert says they re using some meaningless database,;incomplete, and I mean incomplete.

I would be embarrassed and ashamed to use it for any reason.

I have no idea what this Calif. company is thinking.

Maybe trying to steal business with trickery and sleight of hand.

Like in once they got you the truth can come out.

Use them and I hope you have plenty of E&O insurance.

You're going to need it.

9% Of All Background Searches In Saipan Turn Up As A Criminal Record

In a recent nationwide survey by PRRN (The Public Record Retriever Network) taken nationwide, Steven Brownstein, the only background investigator west of Hawaii, found that 9% of all criminal background searches resulted in a record in Saipan.

Probably, you have seen Steven Brownstein's name pop up on the internet; his criminal record retrieval ads appearing on such Sites as the Saipan Tribune and the Marianas Variety.

"It's not rocket science or anything like that," admits Brownstein.

"But I have been at this more than 20 years."

"It (background checks) comes second nature to me."

Most of his previous experience has been in two of the largest metropolitan areas in the USA - Chicago and New York City.

But coming to work in Saipan is no let down, either.

Brownstein continues, "Convincingly enough, Saipan presents as much a challenge as the rest of the USA when it comes to getting the facts."

"A careful inspection of all criminal records and second guessing local Police Clearances takes a certain amount of skill."

An understanding of the CNMI (Saipan) judicial processs helps, too.

"There is never an area where I go to work," admits Brownstein, "that I don't begin by learning the Judiciary and their system."

Brownstein has been a member of NACM (National Association of Court Managers) for most of a decade and a half, and has served on the Membership Committee with past Alanta (Fulton County) Clerk of Court, Juanita Hicks.

"My experience with the Clerks of Courts has been tremendous in my continuing education and has provided a number of sources for quick record retrieval and turnaround."

"I can't say that I haven't used that to my advantage."

Many a television network and large metropolitan newspaper have used Brownstein on numerous occasions for information on a fast breaking story.

Coincidentally, Brownstein publishes a newspaper specifically for the background screening industry, http://www.thebackgroundinvestigator.com/

The Background Investigator has a circulation in the thousands and is used as a tool of reference by hundredes of pre-employment screening companies
.
Brownstein is also an investigative reporter and a member of IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors).

"It pays to get the facts."

Concluding, Brownstein had this to say, "It doesn't surprise me that there is a 9% hit ratio (the percentage of criminal records found) in Saipan."

"But. what does surprise me is the number of young adults that move off island, not paying a traffic citation, and then having a warrant issued for their arrest."

"That does not look good on a resume."

October 2011 Background Investigator Newspaper Now Onliine

The October 2011edition of The Background Investigation is now available for your viewing.
Some articles of interest are about courts using Facebook, novel ways criminals beat cases, and how Texas schools are filing cases against their students.
This and more at http://www.thebackgroundinvestigator.com/

Truck In Way - Court Closed

Authorities closed a 3-block stretch of Tucson, Arizona, and evacuated a nearby federal building September 28 after a suspicious vehicle was spotted by U.S. Marshals, police said.
A search of the vehicle, a white box truck, turned up several metal boxes of ammunition and duffel bags filled with clothing, a Tucson police spokeswoman told Reuters.
"There's no indication that there are any explosives inside the vehicle." She said investigators were speaking to a "person of interest" about the truck, and that the man was cooperating with investigators.
He was not taken into custody.
Police later gave the all-clear and opened a major street to traffic, but kept part of the area roped off as they processed the vehicle.
A bomb squad was initially called to the scene at about 11 a.m. local time after U.S. Marshals noticed the truck had been parked for an extended time near a building that houses federal bankruptcy court, the spokesman said.
About 30 people were evacuated from that building. Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tucson-police-evacuate-federal-building-over-truck- 001452978.html;_ylt=AsHqHaCbQSr3udH7ZKNxcfJvzwcF;_ylu=X3oDMTNudHY2M2cyBG1pdANUb3BTdG9yeSBVU1NGBHBrZwM1NjY2YWNiNS1hZTk0LTMxODgtYTNiMy1iNDcyODI3YTg5YjcEcG9zAzIEc2VjA3RvcF9zdG9yeQR2ZXID