December 2012 edition

1. Volume 12 Numbe12
December 2012
All Because of
‘Arnold’
California Marijuana
Decriminalization Drops Youth
Crime Rate To Record Low
Between 2010 and 2011, California experi-
enced a drastic 20 percent decrease in juve-
nile crime--bringing the underage crime rate
to the lowest level since the state started
keeping records in 1954.
According to a recently released study,
much of that improvement can be credited to
the decriminalization of marijuana.
The research not only found juvenile crime
to be at its lowest level ever but, in the wake
of then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
signing a bill reducing the punishment for
possessing a small amount of marijuana from
a misdemeanor to simply an infraction, the
drop in rates was particularity significant.
This story continues on Page 7
Chicago, IL Courthouse
Photograph by Steven Brownstein PRSRT STD
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
PERMIT NO. 164
MORTONGROVE, IL
Read
Who’s To
Blame
Page 7

2. D.C. Federal court had the smallest aver- would be a useful measur- different courts.
age criminal caseload of ing tool because most crim- "In other courts, most of
Court Has any federal court nation- inal cases in the federal those cases are one-hour Lamberth noted that the
Smallest Average wide during that time. courts end in a guilty plea guilty pleas. If that's the study didn't include the
or conviction. case, compared to Roger large number of cases the
Criminal Case- The Transactional Rec- Clemens or large cases we D.C. court has handled re-
load, Survey ords Access Clearinghouse, But U.S. District Chief have here that go on for lated to detainees at the
or TRAC, released the re- Judge Royce Lamberth of weeks, I don't think it's Guantanamo Bay detention
Finds sults of a new analysis of the D.C.-based court said helpful for understanding center. Those cases, which
sentencing data from the he didn't think the study the process," he said, refer- are mostly habeas petitions
Between October 2006 federal courts. TRAC, was a helpful way to gauge ring to the years-long pro- filed by detainees, aren't
and July of this year, judges which is based at Syracuse criminal caseloads and ju- ceedings against Clemens, considered criminal cases,
in the U.S. District Court University, measured crim- dicial workloads, since it the former professional he said, but they had
for the District of Columbia inal caseloads by the num- put all criminal cases on an baseball player who was "swamped" the court.
on average sentenced 147 ber of defendants sentenced even playing field, regard- ultimately acquitted of
defendants in criminal cas- per judge; TRAC Co- less of their complexity or charges of lying to Con- Besides comparing case-
es. According to a new Director Susan Long said how long they took to re- gress. loads at different courts, the
study, the city's federal they thought sentencings solve. TRAC study explored the
Courthouses in states differences in caseloads
along the U.S.-Mexico bor- among judges serving in
der had the largest average the same court. Although
caseloads, according to the caseloads varied widely
TRAC study. In the Las among judges in some
Cruces, N.M., courthouse, courts, including the Los
the one active judge studied Angeles courthouse of the
there handled 7,020 sen- Central District of Califor-
tencings alone, the most of nia and the Beaumont, Tex-
any other court's average as courthouse of the East-
caseload. According to ern District of Texas, case-
TRAC, sentencings have loads in the Washington
been higher in the South- federal courthouse were
west because of the federal fairly consistent.
government's increased ef-
forts to prosecute immigra-
tion-related matters.
Long said that while dif-
ferent cases might have dif-
ferent lengths, the length of
the study period – more
than five years – was
enough to take into account
the varying lengths of cases
and provide an accurate
sense of the criminal case-
load in any given court. She
said that a previous study
looking at the total number
of defendants yielded simi-
lar results as far as showing
varying caseloads between
Meet Steven Brownstein
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PUBLISHER
Steven Brownstein
CONTRIBUTORS:
Mike Sankey, Les Rosen, Dennis Brownstein, Derek Hinton
COVER PHOTOGRAPH: Chicago, Illinois USA Court
COVER PHOTOGRAPHER:
Steven Brownstein
PURPOSE: “Dedicated to pre-employment screenings everywhere”
The Background Investigator is published by Steven Brownstein, LLC,
PMB 1007, Box 10001, Saipan, MP 96950. Phone: 670-256-7000. Copyright
2012 by Steven Brownstein. Some material in this publication must not be repro-
duced by any method without the written permission of the copyright holder.

3. Even The Feds
Make Money
Off Criminal
Records
The federal government
has collected millions from
the online Public Access to
Court Electronic Records
system, or PACER – nearly
five times what it cost to
run the system.
Between fiscal years 2006
and 2010, the government
services.” But lawmakers Wayne County able via the Internet.
collected an average of $77
on the House Appropria- In recent years, U.S. Sen.
million a year from PAC- Circuit Court
tions Committee have al- Joe Lieberman of Connecti- This is much easier than
ER fees, according to the
lowed the courts to invest cut and the American Asso- Records Now calling or visiting a kiosk
most recent federal figures
in a wider range of infor- ciation of Law Libraries, downtown for basic infor-
available. Online
mation technology projects which represents 5,000 law mation about a case.
using fees collected from librarians nationwide, have
Critics have derided PAC-
PACER. Fees for online tried without success to Check it out: https://
ER, saying the government
access have risen from 7 persuade the Administra- cmspublic.3rdcc.org
has increased user fees over
cents to 10 cents per page. tive Office of the U.S.
the years without making
Courts and members of
the system easier to use.
“Given the lack of over- Congress to provide free Wayne County's 3rd Circuit Better Than The
The fees, some say, act as a
sight for what the fees are access to PACER records. Court has had a technologi- Police
deterrent to public access.
being used for, the incen- cal breakthrough. -/-/-/-/-/-
tive for the courts is to raise Straightline
The Judiciary Appropria- International’s
fees,” said Stephen Court records, at least cer-
tions Act of 1992 limited Puerto Rico search
Schultze, associate director tain details about cases —
the use of PACER fees to will get you the hits
of Princeton University’s mostly scheduling, charges,
“reimburse expenses in- the police and courts
Center for Information party information and
curred in providing these miss.
Technology Policy. pleadings — are now avail-

4. Thousands Of A majority of these rings rings also form ID fraud
are what the firm calls rings, the most surprising
ID Scammers "Friends & Family" groups, result of this research was
Reside In USA not professional criminal the prevalence of what he
organizations, the report called "Friends and Fami-
concludes. The rings are ly" fraud rings. More than
There are 10,000 active
most highly concentrated in half of the rings include
identity theft crime rings
Washington D.C.; Detroit; multiple family members.
across the United States,
Tampa, Fla.; Greenville,
with the greatest concentra-
Miss., Macon, Georgia; and "This is a strong indica-
tion in a "ring of fraud" that
Montgomery, Ala., the re- tion that more than half are
stretches across the South-
port found. not what we’d think of as
east from Virginia to Mis-
professional groups," says
sissippi, according to a new
While traditional orga- head researcher Stephen
report by fraud-fighting
nized crime and drug crime Coggeshall. "(It’s) a family
firm ID Analytics.
or an innocuous neighbor
committing fraud.”
Continuing he added, “"It
appears that the children in
these groups are (even)
stealing their own parents’
identities."
POINT TO POINT SERVICE
XR2
Criminal Search
PUERTO RICO
The ‘XR2’ Puerto Rico search is your
insurance that you are getting the best possible re-
sults.
It is proven that police searches in Puerto Rico
can contain more than 50% more missed hits than
the XR2.
The XR2 signifies a new plateau of search results
never before heard of.
And no one else but Straightline offers the XR2. or
anything similar.
Shouldn’t you be offering your clients the best?
Call 1-866-909-6678
Or Fax 1-866-909-6679 Alberta Nova Scotia
Straightline International
British Columbia Ontario
Manitoba Prince Edward Islands
New Brunswick Quebec
New Foundland Saskatchewan
Northwest Territories Yukon Territories

5. The Public Record Update
A Service from BRB Publications, Inc.
Alabama
Effective October 1, 2012, Chief Justice Chuck Malone entered an Order mandating that all attorneys must e-file their documents in civil, do-
mestic relations, and child support cases. Per this Order and the Administrative Procedures, the Circuit Clerks' offices will eventually go com-
pletely paperless in civil cases.
See www.alacourt.gov/pdfppt/EfilingAdminOrder%209-6-12_001.pdf
Colorado
This month Eagle County is in the process of moving to a new software provider for searching recorded documents. The site has new options
available, see http://acclaim.eaglecounty.us/.
California
California counties continue to close court sites or cut back on operations. The Kings County Superior Court location in Lemoore was closed
last month. Also all Kings County court location hours have been permanently cut back. All clerk's windows are now open 8AM-4PM Monday
thru Thursday and 8AM-Noon on Friday. In addition the Court intends to close locations in Avenal and Corcoran and reduce hours and staff at
Hanford over the Christmas week.
As many other CA counties have already done, effective November 5, 2012 the San Diego Superior Court will only provide court reporters in
criminal felony, family, and juvenile matters during regular court hours. Official court reporters will not be available in probate or other civil
matters. Also, effective December 28, 2012, official court reporters will only be available in family matters for Domestic Violence Restraining
Order hearings, Contempt hearings, and Request for Order hearings of 40 minutes or less.
Oregon
OJIN is the acronym for the online program provides court case information from Circuit Courts in all 36 counties in the state. The Oregon Judi-
cial Department OJD is working to migrate the online platform from OJIN to a designated vendor (Odyssey). The purpose is to create a more
modern, user-friendly environment for record access, compared to the OJIN command line based system.
South Dakota
The South Dakota Unified Judicial System (UJS) recently changed the county serving as the centralized mail request center for statewide crimi-
nal record searches. The UJS asks that all mail requests be directed to the processing We welcome your comments and observations about The Public Record Update
Please address your comments to Michael Sankey at mike@brbpublications.com
center at: Jackson County Clerk of Court, PO Box 128, Kadoka, SD 57543. 605- Making copies of any part of the Public Record Update© for any purpose other than your own personal use
is prohibited unless written authorization is obtained from BRB Publications. Phone - 480-829-7475
837-2122, fax 605-837-2120. Note the UJS will periodically change the designated Public Record Retriever Network - www.prrn.us
The CRA Help Desk - www.CRAHelpDesk.com
county to operate the processing center. Be sure to call first. BRB's Free Public Record Resource Center - www.brbpublications.com/pubrecsites.asp
Motor Vehicle Record Decoder - www.mvrdecoder.com
BRB's Public Record Blog - www.publicrecordsblog.net
BRB's Bookstore - www.brbpublications.com/books
BRB's Public Record Blog - www.publicrecordsblog.net

6. firm provided inaccurate that the information is only gal and financial nightmare her air ducts six months
Les Rosen’s reports by providing a pro- disseminated to an employ- of a bad hire. The solution earlier. Both employees had
Corner spective employer with in- er that purchases the ser- is a background check pro- criminal backgrounds and
formation on past arrests vices. After a lengthy re- gram done in full legal one was a twice convicted
A monthly column that were dismissed and view of the arguments and compliance. sexual offender on parole;
By Lester Rosen, were older than seven an analysis of the applica- however the company that
Attorney at Law
years, which is prohibited ble law, the court conclud- hired them did not conduct
by FCRA section 605 ed that the FCRA was con- A Nice Letter any criminal record check
(U.S.C 1681c). That law stitutional. prior to hiring them. This
prohibits a background About Us tragedy inspired the vic-
firm, known as a Consumer The Court also noted that by Jayme Klauser tim’s sister to start the Sue
Reporting Agency (CRA) "...the federal government Weaver CAUSE — Con-
During my employment
from providing arrests rec- enacted section 1681c of sumer Awareness of Un-
and as manager of a small
ords to employers that are the FCRA to provide busi- safe Service Employment
human resource company,
more than seven years old. nesses with the most accu- — to educate people on the
we have performed and au-
There is an exception, how- rate and relevant infor- necessity of criminal back-
thorized background
ever, if the annual salary is mation while simultaneous- ground checks on workers
screenings for years. In
expected to be $75,000 or ly protecting the privacy entering homes. The web-
several instances we have
more a year. . right of consumers. More site is
received potentially nega-
important, section 1681c's www.sueweavercause.org.
tive information on an ap-
A large background In this case, the lead plain- speech restriction is appro-
plicant for employment that
screening firm facing a tiff in the class action law- priately justified." As a member of the Na-
would adversely affect their
class action lawsuit alleg- suit alleged that the CRA tional Association of Pro-
chances of gaining employ-
ing inaccurate reports in reported ten cases older The ruling had the effect fessional Background
ment. At those times, we
violation of the federal Fair than seven years where she of denying the background Screeners, we comply with
conducted additional in-
Credit Reporting Act was arrested but no prose- firm's effort to have the Federal Trade Commission
quiries of both the employ-
(FCRA) failed in its at- cutions occurred. It appears case dismissed. requirements and promote
ee and the reporting agen-
tempt to have the FCRA that the parties agreed with the importance of back-
cy. We have called court-
declared unconstitutional the fact that the arrests too (NOTE: The case is from ground screening.
houses where the charges
on the basis that it violates old to report under the the U.S. District Court for
originated to prove or dis-
the right to free speech un- FCRA. However, the CRA the Eastern District of We encourage all busi-
prove the information on a
der the First Amendment. argued that the FCRA itself Pennsylvania, No. 10-6850, nesses to know who they
report. Our clients realize
A Pennsylvania federal was unconstitutional since and filed 11/06/12). It is are hiring and protect their
the importance of checking
court ruled on November 6, it violated the CRA's right this author's policy not to workplace and the safety of
the people that work for
2012 that the FCRA was to free speech. identify firms where a mat- their employees and cus-
them and we do all we can
constitutional since it regu- ter is only in the pre-trial tomers, especially our chil-
to protect the integrity of
lated information dissemi- The CRA contended that a state since the complaints dren
their workplace while re-
nated for private purposes 2011 U.S. Supreme Court are just allegations.)
specting an individual ap-
for a fee, and not to the case on commercial speech
plicant from unfair deci-
public. More information marked a major change in Regardless of the eventual NO DELAYS
sions based on incorrect
about the ruling is available the protections provided to outcome of the lawsuit, the
information. Not a Police
at http:// commercial speech and re- case demonstrates yet again
www.paed.uscourts.gov/ quired a court to apply a that background checks are Data Base Search
One specific example of Canada
documents/ stricter standard of review. subject to ever increasing
the failure to do back-
opinions/12D1046P.pdf. The plaintiff, as well as the levels of litigation, legisla- Provincial Courts
ground checks in a Florida Criminal Research
federal government which tion, and regulation. On the
business resulted in a Call 1-866-909-6678
The FCRA is the federal entered the case, argued other hand, failure to per-
homeowner’s murder. She Or Fax 1-866-909-6679
law that regulates back- that a background report is form background checks Straightline International
was tragically killed by
ground checks. The lawsuit not protected since it deals will almost certainly sub- Shortest distance between you and the courts
workers who had cleaned
alleges that the screening with private matters, and ject an employer to the le-

7. Government At California Youth state over the past eight fewer arrests for marijuana ly (such as changes in the
decades. possession. In 2010, mari- way the statistics are gath-
Fault For Many Crime Rate juana possession accounted ered, demographic changes,
Criminal Record Drops To Record In that one-year period for 64 percent of all drug harsher sentences acting as
(2010-2011), the number of arrests, and in 2011, that a deterrent and other cultur-
Errors Low arrests for violent crimes number decreased to only al factors like family con-
by Dick Baggett Continued from page 1 dropped by 16 percent, 46 percent. nections). They assert that
homicide went down by 26 only two major factors ex-
There are various reasons The study, entitled percent and drug arrests California's drop in seri- plain the trend: the loosen-
the Equal Employment Op- "California Youth Crime decreased by nearly 50 per- ous youth crime has de- ing of marijuana laws and
portunity Commission de- Plunges to All-Time Low" cent. creased faster than in the improvements in the eco-
cided to reissue guidance and released by the San rest of the nation. nomic well-being of Cali-
on the use of criminal and Francisco-based Center on The category of drug ar- fornia's youth.
arrest records in hiring de- Juvenile and Criminal Jus- rests showed decreases in The study's authors dis-
cisions, among them: tice, looked at the number every type of crime; how- count a host of explanations
of people under the age of ever, the vast majority of as to why juvenile crime Only $5
Recent studies have found 18 who were arrested in the the drop resulted from far has dropped so precipitous-
that a significant number of
state and federal criminal
record databases include
incomplete criminal rec-
ords.
A 2011 study by the De-
partment of Justice reported
that, as of 2010, many state
criminal history record re-
positories still had not rec-
orded the final dispositions
for a significant number of
arrests.
A 2006 study by the De-
partment of Justice found
that only 50 percent of ar-
rest records in the FBI's
database were associated
with a final disposition.
Reports have documented
that criminal records may
be inaccurate.
Even if public access to
criminal records has been
restricted by a court order
to seal and/or expunge such
records, this does not guar-
antee that private compa-
nies also will purge the in-
formation from their sys-
tems or that the event will
be erased from media ar-
chives.
Criminal background
checks may produce inac-
curate results because crim-
inal records may lack
"unique" information or
because of "misspellings,
clerical errors or intention-
ally inaccurate identifica-
tion information provided
by search subjects who
wish to avoid discovery of
their prior criminal activi-
ties."

8. Dennis http://extremecourtnews.blogspot.com/
Brownstein’s
Extreme Court His friend was charged
with unlawful possession of 24 Tenn. courthouses re-
News a knife. ceive bomb threats (11/27)
but denied knowing
anything about any burgla- The List Goes Bomb Threat Closes Sofia's DOB?
ry. Their presumption of Central Court Building How long
innocence, however, literal- On… (11/27) does it take to
ly went up in smoke when, find this most
while being taken to the Brisbane court evacuated Bomb threat at Benton important bit of
county jail, a video camera over bomb threat (11/15) County Justice Center a information?
inside the patrol car record- hoax (11/16)
ed them discussing the bur- Courthouse evacuated in We'll do it...
glary … while passing a Jackson after bomb threat
joint back and forth! Yeah, (11/27)
cuz, weed doesn’t emit a
strong odor, you know? Cape courts hit by bomb
threats (11/21)
These two geniuses now
Voted #1 face charges of burglary, Warwickshire Justice Cen-
From January 7th, 2013
through
grand theft and marijuana tre evacuated (11/21) Jan 11th 2013*
possession.
New Clark County Courthouse *Requests must be
received within these dates
Column You Don't Have Evacuated Because Of
Bomb Threat (11/15)
To Be Irish To
And We Think Appreciate This All clear given at Union
The Crooks Are Co. Courthouse after suspi-
cious package ...(11/15)
Stupid A man who got a friend to
stab him in the leg in order
New Orleans city prose- to avoid a court hearing has
cutor Jason Cantrell was being given a suspended
forced to resign this week sentence of six months.
after a reefer fell out of his
pocket … in court…while James Ledden (32) was
he was speaking to a police due to appear before a Dub-
officer! Awkward. lin District Court on a pub-
lic order offence when he
Eyewitnesses said it was asked his friend in the pub-
quite comical watching the lic smoking area of the
officer glance down at the Criminal Courts of Justice
joint, then at another of- to stab him.
ficer, before chuckling and
leading Cantrell out of the He was taken to St
courtroom to write him up. James's Hospital where he
reported the incident to
Easiest. Drug bust. Ever. (police) and told them that
he had been assaulted.
Cantrell was cited and let
go, but later stepped down Ledden, of Ferrymans
from his city post. Crossing, North Wall, Dub-
lin 1, pleaded guilty at
Dublin Circuit Criminal
Stupidity Must Court to making a false re-
Grow On Trees port at the hospital on Janu-
ary 13, 2011.
The great thing about this
country’s legal system is
that everyone is innocent
until proven guilty. Two
Florida men were innocent
until proven stupid!
Vernon D. Jones, 21, and
Jacques Saintil, 19, of Na-
ples, Florida, were picked
up on suspicion of burglary

9. the programming mistake.DeSoto-based Metroplex take the responsibility of MEXICO
Glitch Has Document Retrieval, said cleaning it,” Morelock said.
Limited Access Technical employees are most of the clutter is aban- Mexico City
To Riverside, CA working to fix the problem doned office equipment She also said Warren has
that has existed for a couple from title companies and never asked anyone who PUBLIC ACCESS
Court Records of months, Whaley said. abstractors who used to uses the room to clean it. ALL PUBLIC RECORDS
Available only from
work in the room. A stair-
A programming glitch well between the workroom “Not once,” she said.
when a new computer sys- Records and Warren’s office is so
tem was installed in the cluttered with old office Morelock said the county
Riverside County Superior Retrievers Trash equipment, that people in has essentially ignored the
room barely work.
Court system mistakenly Dallas Room 333 can’t access the room and its upkeep. She
labeled public records as stairs in the case of an said custodians empty the
Courthouse “It’s a county building,
confidential. emergency. trash but haven’t mopped it
what right do I have to
or cleaned it in five years.
make any decisions about
Civil temporary restrain- Dallas County Clerk John “So it’s just piled on and She said the heating and air
the room?” she said.
ing orders are public rec- Warren told the Dallas piled on and no one wants conditioning units in the
ords but have been off lim- County Commissioners to
its to the public for severalCourt that abstractors who
months because of an error have been using a Records
in programming and a mis- Building room for decades
understanding by records have left the space in disar-
department clerks, said Lori ray. He presented to com-
Whaley, chief deputy of missioners pictures that
operations for the county showed open records draw-
court system. ers, microfilm cartridges
strewn about cabinets and
Civil restraining orders all sorts of old office equip-
are not legally permitted ment stacked also stacked
online but are accessible in on top of cabinets. His
the records department. But comments came during
the system error made them tense interactions between
confidential at the court- county officials this morn-
house, as well. Clerks also ing.
there were under the im-
pression that the records Misty Morelock, opera-
were not public because of tions vice president of

10. Brits Can Have rimands and final warningscaution and the matter will The only way cautions can eliminate the need for mul-
do form part of a person'sbe closed, but if they refuse be deleted is by applying to tiple checking and an
No Conviction record, and are always dis-
they will face prosecution. the chief constable of the online update service which
But Criminal closed on both standard and force that handed it out. will make it easier for em-
enhanced criminal record Cautions do not count as ployers to assess individu-
Record Haunts checks, even though many convictions but they do re- CRB Changes als.
Them For 100 people have been told oth-quire the perpetrator to ad-
erwise.' mit their guilt and details Other upcoming changes
Years The Disclosure and Bar-
are recorded on the Police to the current system of
ring Service, a new organi-
In total 2.8 million cau- National Computer. criminal record checks and
zation formed from the
Growing numbers of peo- tions, known as first-time barring include introducing
merger of the Criminal
ple are being turned down reprimands and final warn- Until 2009 there was a a single criminal records
Records Bureau and the
for jobs and university ings when given to under- system whereby they would certificate which will be
Independent Safeguarding
places because they accept- 18s, have been handed out be 'stepped down' after a sent only to the applicant;
Authority, has launched.
ed police cautions for mi- in England and Wales over few years, but although this an independent right of re-
nor offences without realis- the past decade. was removed it is widely view to allow individuals to
The new Disclosure and
ing they would give them a believed that the penalties challenge information dis-
Barring Service will make
criminal record. They are usually offered are wiped when teenagers closed about them before it
it clearer and simpler for
by police after they arrest turn 18. is given to their employer;
those requiring criminal
New figures show that someone for shoplifting, and reducing the number of
records disclosures (CRB)
cautions showed up on possession of small Now cautions remain on a positions requiring barring
and barring checks for em-
153,000 Criminal Records amounts of soft drugs and person's file until they turn checks from 9.3m to
ployment purposes.
Bureau checks carried out minor violent crimes. 100 and although they do around 5m.
last year, allowing employ- not have to be disclosed
The Disclosure Barring
ers to stop candidates work- Station officers tell of- when applying for jobs, Portable CRB checks are
Service will oversee the
ing with children or in fenders they can either sign they show up on CRB due to launch in Spring
introduction of portable
health and social care. a statement to accept the checks. 2013.
CRB checks which will
Young people caught
shoplifting or taking part in
drunken pranks are agree-
ing to sign the statements in
the mistaken belief they
will be wiped from data-
bases after a few years, not
realising that they remain
on file until they turn 100.
A lawyer has now set up a
business to help people af-
fected by vetting checks
find work or education, as
the problem is becoming so
common and overturning
cautions is so difficult.
David Wacks, the legal
director of CRB Problems
Ltd, said: 'Minor incidents
or pranks which in the past
may have merited a 'good
talking to' by a policeman
often end up in cautions
which may ruin a person's
job prospects.'
Josie Appleton of the
Manifesto Club, a libertari-
an group that is campaign-
ing against out-of-court
punishments, said: 'It is
fundamentally unjust that
people's careers can be
blighted by a reprimand
that hasn't been proven in a
court of law.'
Jackie Sinclair from the
crime reduction charity
Nacro, said: 'Cautions, rep-

11. TORONTO
Derek Hinton’s industry that is critical to dead horse or is in the pro- above, it contains 58 spe-
the safety of our homes and cess of doing so. cific standards of compli-
Column workplaces,” and “For our ance—many learned the
part, NAPBS has developed
a comprehensive individual
But there are too many hard way. If you are not
companies still trying other incorporating those stand-
COURT
certification program and a
company based accredita-
strategies like buying a
stronger whip, changing
ards, I would dismount that
horse you’re attempting to
RECORDS
tion program with more riders, saying things like ride. “Straightline is your
than 58 specific standards "This is the way we always direct source to
of compliance to ensure our have ridden this horse,” Derek Hinton is President Ontario courts.”
members provide the high- appointing a committee to of CRAzoom
est level of performance.” study the horse, arranging (www.crazoom.com) a
to visit other sites to see company providing com-
Do you think if we had the how they ride dead horses, plete accreditation assis-
budget and could go back changing the requirements tance to CRAs.
to 2006 we could find a declaring that "This horse
case of journalistic malfea- is not dead," harnessing
Not Having sance surpassing this em- several dead horses togeth-
ployment screening mis- er for increased speed, de-
Procedures take? Of course. claring that "No horse is
For Maximum too dead to beat," providing
Do you think we could additional funding to in-
Possible find worse instances of the crease the horse's perfor-
Accuracy: legal profession harming mance, purchasing a prod-
people? Of course. uct to make dead horses run
Riding A Dead faster, declaring the horse
Horse Have employment screen- is now "better, faster and
ing firms provided a greater cheaper," revisiting the per-
public net good than harm? formance requirements for
Have you noticed the re-
Not even close, of course. horses, saying “this horse
cent action by the FTC
was procured with cost as
against a CRA? Are you
With that said, if you are an independent variable,”
aware of the legal actions
in the background screen- etc. etc—they’re all equally
by plaintiff attorneys
ing business and you have effective remedies for rid-
against CRAs, especially in
been putting off instituting, ing a dead horse.
California? Did you happen
documenting and monitor-
to catch the NBC Today
ing procedures dealing with They say an expert is
Show on background
consumer protection, legal someone who knows some
screening that aired No-
and compliance, client edu- of the worst mistakes that
vember 9?
cation, data and verification can be made in his subject
standards and other busi- and how to avoid them.
It’s not paranoia if people
ness practices to ensure
are really after you.
maximum possible accura- The NAPBS Accreditation
cy, you’re riding a dead standard is a cheat sheet
The recent NBC Today
horse. from experts that will help
Show went back to 2006
you avoid the mistakes con-
and found a lady that had a
The majority of the indus- sistent with attempting to
criminal record run on her
try has dismounted that ride a dead horse. As noted
and the record actually per-
tained to a different lady
with the same name. (As
they say down here in Ok-
lahoma, it was a startle’n
ex-po-say. ). And, to make
the industry look really sil-
ly, they had pictures of the
two ladies, one being white
and one being African
American.
The NAPBS did a good
job of responding the same
day, saying part “NBC’s
Today Show and reporter
Jeff Rossen have done a
disservice to employers and
the general public by focus-
ing on a small number of
unfortunate instances in an
attempt to indict an entire

12. Air Force May instruction says. Force Times. But in that process, the Pratten said of the appeal
NYPD, without additional court ruling.
Limit Access To “Considering the fact that Fidell wonders if every- warrants or subpoenas or
Criminal anyone subject to the one, including attorneys any of that, can see all the "All we were asking for is
UCMJ can act as an accus- who want to write “friend happenings on that stolen the same benefits of adopt-
Records er under the UCMJ, the ac- of the court” briefs, will phone. Sometimes phone ed people. They've basical-
cused normally retains a now have to submit a FOIA companies even give up ly said, `No, you can't have
The Air Force is changing reasonable expectation of request to get any docu- information associated with that.' And they've basically
the rules on how the media privacy upon preferral of ments related to criminal the victim's new number, said that it's OK for the
and general public get in- charges,” the instruction trials from military attor- which is a little bit unset- government to discrimi-
formation about airmen ac- says. neys — even defense mo- tling, right? nate. It's failing to protect
cused of crimes. tions. With all the paper- the health and safety of do-
That expectation of priva- work, delays and internal Civil Rights Lawyer Nor- nor-conceived people, that's
A recent Air Force In- cy begins to decline when appeals, the FOIA process man Siegal agrees. "There what this court has done.
struction lists several the charges reach a public ends up impeding transpar- is absolutely no legitimate We'll be appealing it to the
changes to how the service forum, such as a court- ency. purpose for doing this. If Supreme Court of Canada."
applies the Uniform Code martial or Article 32 hear- I’m an innocent New York-
of Military Justice that are ing, the instruction says. er, why should any of my The appeal court conclud-
intended to protect the pri- New York Cops information be in a police ed that contrary to Pratten's
vacy of accused airmen at An Air Force spokesman Find Way To Get database," he tells Gold- argument, it is not her con-
the expense of the public’s said the changes outlined in stein. stitutional right to know her
right to know. the instruction do not limit Cell-Phone biological past.
what information is availa- Telephone Also, it doesn't quite make
The Air Force Instruction ble to the media but are sense that law enforcement "There are many non-
appears to curtail the pub- meant to ensure that FOIA Records would hold on to the infor- donor offspring who do not
lic’s access to criminal rec- and the privacy act are im- by Rebecca Greenfield mation after the case is know their family history
ords. plemented properly. closed, either. or the identity of their bio-
Without court orders of logical father because of
“Under the Privacy Act, “This will not change the any sort, the New York Police won't say how decisions taken by others,
information from a system media’s current ability to City police have gotten ac- many records they have or because of the circum-
of records, such as a court- get charge sheets or other cess to "a trove of tele- hostage. But phone compa- stances of their concep-
martial file maintained in a information about accused phone logs," reports The nies got 1.5 million* of tion," Justice David Frankel
[Judge Advocate General’s] airmen,” Lt. Col. John Dor- New York Times's Joseph these requests in 2011 said in the written ruling on
office about an individual, rian said in an email. “We Goldstein. alone. So, probably a lot? T behalf of the three judges.
may not be released to the have simply clarified cur- -Mobile responded to al-
public without the individu- rent policy and law to en- In a somewhat frightening most 300 in January alone. "However desirable it may
al’s consent unless release sure uniform application twist, it takes more paper- be that persons have access
is required by the Freedom across the Air Force. Cases work to get a thief's cell to information about their
of Information Act,” the must always be reviewed records than it takes to get
instruction says. on a case-by-case basis.” the victim's. Here's how it Woman Has Lost biological origins, Ms.
Pratten has not established
works: Right To Know that such access has been
But submitting a FOIA However, the instruction Father recognized as so
request does not guarantee also requires military attor- Police need a subpoena to `fundamental' that it is enti-
that you will get such rec- neys to comply with the get access to the phone logs tled to independent consti-
A woman who wanted to
ords if doing so would be FOIA guidelines, a concern of the person who did the tutionally protected status
stealing, which makes know the identity of her
“an unwarranted invasion to Eugene R. Fidell, who under the Charter," the rul-
sense because those could sperm-donor father is tak-
of an individual’s personal teaches military justice at ing said.
help solve the crime. ing her case to Canada's top
privacy,” which is when Yale Law School.
court after the B.C. Court
someone’s privacy interests “Taken literally, this reg- (Though, often they don't, In May 2011, a B.C. Su-
say detectives.) of Appeal threw out an ear-
outweigh the public’s inter- ulation produces absurd preme Court judge agreed
lier decision that sided with
est in the information, the results,” Fidell told Air with Pratten, giving the
her.
province 15 months to
amend its Adoption Act,
Olivia Pratten wanted off-
saying people who are de-
spring like herself to be
prived of their genetic
treated the same as people
backgrounds suffer psycho-
who are adopted and ar-
logical harm.
gued that the B.C. govern-
ment should change its
Judge Elaine Adair also
laws accordingly.
ordered a permanent in-
junction against the de-
But the appeal court ruled
struction of donor records,
there is no legal right for
which can be disposed of in
offspring to know their past
six years, but the B.C. gov-
and providing such infor-
ernment appealed the rul-
mation would amount to
ing.
state intrusion into many
people's lives.
"It's very disappointing,"

13. Researchers Las Vegas to try to speak to that students need to at UCF.
an employee of Instant- know,” said Thomas Hall,
Charge Racial Checkmate.com. director of Wellness and
Profiling On Health Promotion Services
“I told them what I knew
Online Criminal about the racial profiling,
Record Websites and they said, ‘We can’t
talk to you, you have to
come back.’” Tanner said.
Two Harvard researchers
charged that a website
When Tanner finally met
which catalogs mug shots
with the company’s call
and criminal records engag-
center manager, he said he
es in racial profiling in its
was told, “I don’t care if
advertising—just before the
you’re the Pope of Rome;
founder of a different crim-
you’re not welcome here.”
inal records website made
his first public appearance.
But at the event on at
which Tanner and Sweeney
Director of the Data Priva-
spoke in CGIS, Kyle Prall,
cy Lab at Harvard Latanya
the founder of similar site
Sweeney and Harvard De-
BustedMugshots.com,
partment of Government
agreed to answer audience
Fellow Adam Tanner have
questions and accusations
researched these websites
about his business.
while writing an upcoming
book on online criminal
Sweeney had suggested
records.
that sites like BustedMug-
shots.com could qualify as
“What has changed is
using extortion tactics,
scope of sharing,” Sweeney
since they demand payment
said. “Years ago...limits of
to remove images. Prall
technology posed natural
affirmed that these public
barriers to sharing and dis-
records are available to the
semination.”
public based on the First
Amendment, justifying the
Today, however, this in-
practices of his website.
formation is rapidly spread
online.
Good Samaritan
In their talk—subtitled “a Helps Druggie,
tale of crime, betrayal, lust,
race, and the internet”— Gets Arrested
Sweeney and Tanner al- For Possession You can wait in line or we can—Straightline
leged based on their re-
search that Google searches
Unintentional drug over-
for typically African-
dose is one of the leading
American names lead to
causes of death in Florida,
negative ads posted by one
where an average of seven
of these criminal records
people die every day from
sites, InstantCheck-
the misuse of prescription
mate.com, while typically
drugs, according to Orange
Caucasian names draw neu-
County Mayor Teresa Ja-
tral ads.
cobs’ Prescription Drug
Task Force.
For example, when
Sweeney searched her own
As of Oct. 1, the 911
name, she saw an ad say-
Good Samaritan Act went
ing, “Latanya Sweeney:
into effect in an attempt to
Arrested?” In contrast, a
reduce the number of over-
search for “Tanya Smith”
dose-related deaths. Florida
produced an ad saying,
passed the bill in March,
“Located: Tanya Smith.”
which protects any person
experiencing a drug-related
Sweeney and Tanner’s
overdose, or any person
research led them across
seeking medical assistance
the country in attempt to
for someone who is, from
uncover the people behind
being charged with a crime
these criminal records web-
sites. Tanner traveled to
of possession.
“I think it’s something
Mumbai city-wide police checks

14. Law Allows ords in North Carolina. If a hearing on the matter
is successful, the petition-
NC Nonviolent The change applies only er’s record is wiped clean,
Offenders To to people convicted of cer- both in court and law en-
tain felonies or misdemean- forcement records.
Clear Records ors who, for 15 years after-
ward, have no other convic- State and local law en-
A law change that went tions other than traffic vio- forcement agencies will
into effect December 1st lations in any jurisdiction. still have the ability to re-
allows one-time, nonviolent view expunged records for
offenders of all ages to ex- The law can apply even to employment purposes, ac-
punge their criminal rec- multiple felonies or misde- cording to the law. The
meanors if a person was agencies that certify law
convicted of all within the enforcement officers also
same court session. can review the expunged
records, which are to be
Some offenses may not be kept in confidential files
purged from a criminal rec- with the Administrative
ord, including: Office of the Courts.
— those containing assault
as an essential element North Carolina law al-
— certain sex-related or ready allowed a person to
stalking offenses expunge certain crimes
— those involving meth- committed before age 18 or
amphetamine, heroin or 21, but the changes now in
possession with intent to effect expand the provision
sell or deliver cocaine to adults of all ages. Ex-
— burning crosses in pub- punction also is possible
lic places, intimidation by when charges are dis-
displaying items such as a missed, when a person is
noose, or intimidation found not guilty or not re-
while wearing a mask, sponsible, and when a per-
hood or other disguise son is pardoned.
— those in which a person
contaminated another’s Manila Court Record
Research and Retrieval
food or drink to render
them helpless Over 20 years
experience.
To purge a record, the Steven Brownstein
North Carolina resident Straightline International
may petition the court at orders@search4crime.com
least 15 years after the con-
viction date or after any Background Check
Filipino
active sentence, probation Health Care Workers
or post-release supervision
has been served, whichever The Philippines is one of the
world’s largest exporters of
is later. health workers, making this
one of the country’s most
important exports.
The petition — which in-
cludes a $175 fee — must
contain an affidavit by the
petitioner that he or she has
been of good moral charac-
ter, statements from two
unrelated people verifying
the person’s good character
and reputation, and affirma-
tion that the petitioner has
no outstanding restitution Straightline International's
local staff provides com-
amounts or civil judgments. plete background searches
plus ALL public records in
the
The request then goes to Philippines.
the District Attorney’s of-
fice, which has 30 days to Ask About Our
“No Delay” Philippines
decide whether to object to Service
the expunction. The district
attorney also must make his
Call 1-866-909-6678
best efforts to notify the Or Fax 1-866-909-6679
victim of the crime, if one info@straightlineinternational.com
exists.

15. Congress: database of criminal history establishment of a National However, theft by em- the survey.
records, including arrest Crime Database Council ployees has risen to 33 per
NBI Record and dispositions,” Teodoro which shall have the au- cent compared to 19 per Airplane Joke
Check In said. thority to promulgate rules cent in 2008, found the sur-
and procedures governing vey of 34 retailers, repre-
Philippines Irish police are investigat-
Criminal history records the use of the national senting about one-quarter
ing the crash of a small
Needs means information collect- criminal database. of 2011 retail new sales.
light aircraft in a cemetary
ed by criminal agencies on
Improvement south-west of Dublin.
individuals consisting of Canadian On the other hand, esti-
identifiable descriptions mated theft by external par-
Employees The emergency services
A member of the Philip- and notations of arrests, ties including shoplifters
say it may well be the worst
pines House of Representa- detentions, indictments, or Stealing Like and organized criminals has
aviation disaster in Irish
tives has filed a bill calling other formal criminal decreased to 43 per cent
Crazy history.
for the creation of a nation- charges, and any disposi- since the 2008 estimate of
al crime database to up- tion arising there from, in- 65 per cent.
Probing the crash site, res-
grade the country’s crime cluding acquittal, sentenc- Canadian retailers are los-
cue workers have so far
fighting capabilities and to ing, correctional supervi- ing about $4 billion a year While three out of five
discovered over 500 bodies.
hasten the resolution of sion, or release. to “shrinkage” — a loss of retailers perform pre-
crimes. inventory caused by differ- employment screenings be-
The terms do not include ent sources such as theft, fore hiring new staff, only
“This central computer- identification information inventory counting errors, 29 per cent request new
ized database will strength- such as fingerprint records accounting errors, fraud or employees to
en and expand inter-agency if such information does damaged products accord- pass a police
coordination and coopera- not indicate involvement of ing to PwC's 2012 Canadi- background
tion in terms of criminal the individual with the an Retail Security Survey, check. This is
records and other pertinent criminal justice system. completed in conjunction one-half as many
data needed to hasten reso- with the Retail Council of that said they did
lution and prevention of The measure mandates the Canada (RCC). so in 2008, found
crimes,” Marikina repre-
sentative Marcelino Teodo-
ro said in a statement.
Teodoro is the author of
HB 5709 or the “National
Crime Database Act of
2012,” which proposes the
establishment of the crimi-
nal record database.
“I am confident the Com-
mittee on Public Order and
Security would give due
consideration to my pro-
posal while there’s still
time until our term ends in
2013,” Teodoro said.
The bill would require the
National Bureau of Investi-
gation and the Philippine
National Police to provide
information and records for
the National Identification
Index and the National Fin-
gerprint File in order to
provide criminal history
records in a timely fashion.
Likewise, it should create
criminal history records
repositories, and for non-
criminal justice purposes,
to update existing criminal
records system that are cur-
rently outdated and contain
incomplete or incorrect in-
formation.
“This data central would
make accessible detailed

16. Rossen Reports: >>> back now at 7:41 with pened to catherine taylor . a these cases. he says too of-
mixed her up with this
"rossen reports." finding a stay at home mom looking ten background check com-
catherine taylor , a repeat
Background new job is hard enough but to get back to work. the red panies rely solely on com-
drug offender with the
Check Mistakes now experts say there may cross wanted to hire her. as puters to match the data
same date of birth but noth-
be a hidden flaw that can an accountant. with no one checking to
ing else in common. they
Cost Jobs ruin your chance of getting make sure the results are
didn't even live in the same
>> i was supposed to start
hired. today national inves- state. correct. a billion dollar in-
When you apply for a job, tigative correspondent jeff
work the following week. dustry, he says, that is well
most employers will do a rossen is here with the de- >> i have never been con- aware of the problem. if the
criminal background check. tails. >> reporter: but then sud- victed of anything, none- companies know this prob-
You may think it’s nothing denly catherine 's job offer theless have a traffic ticket. lem exists, why not just fix
was yanked. a criminal
to worry about if your rec- >> good morning. we all it?
ord is clean, but experts are know when you apply for a
background check had >> reporter: consumer ad-
come back with a long rap vocates say these mistakes >> they would have to
saying background compa- job most employers will do
nies are causing innocent sheet of drug felonies. the are happening far too often. spend money on personnel
a criminal background
people to lose their jobs by check . we do them here.
problem is, it wasn't her. take leonard smith . when and instituting procedures
mistaking them for felons. nothing to worry about, he applied for a job the which would carve into
>> i was devastated. it was background check compa- their profits.
NBC’s Jeff Rossen investi- right? because you're not a
gates. like my whole world was
criminal. well, think again. ny, sterling info systems,
experts say the background
just torn apart. confused him with this sex >> reporter: under federal
This content comes from check companies are caus- offender , who was in pris- law , the companies are re-
>> reporter: the company on at the time. it also hap- quired to use reasonable
Closed Captioning that was ing innocent people to lose
broadcast along with this hired to run the background pened to james hines , an
jobs, mistaking them for procedures to assure maxi-
program. drug felons, armed robbers,
check in 2006 , choice- innocent dad. the back- mum possible accuracy.
point, one of the biggest,
even sex offenders . it hap- ground check company adp
mixed him up with michael >> the error rate is less than
Birmingham, AL Municipal Court
james hines , a convicted 10%.
sex offender in a different
state. they don't even have
Are you missing these important criminal records? the same first name. the
not in alacourt companies say accuracy is
not in dexter important, but errors do
not in any database happen.
not accessible off site
>> consumers are losing
jobs by the thousands every
We go on site daily for $3/ name (free alias) year because of bad back-
ground checks that are run
205/ 823-4260 on them.
herb@cromcheck.com >> reporter: jim francis is
an attorney specializing in

17. Contact:
Steven Brownstein
PMB 1007 Box 10001
Saipan, MP 96950
1-670-256-7000
findcrime@thebackgroundinvestigator.com
>> you know, if there are
Background errors in a report individu-
als do have an opportunity
Check Mistakes to contest it so i'm sorry. i
Cost Jobs, just don't know all the facts
Continued from preceding page of that particular case.
>> we went straight to the >> reporter: catherine did
industry group representing contest it but by the time
those companies. choicepoint cleared it up,
that job was long gone.
>> accuracy is paramount.
>> they need to have tight-
>> reporter: how do you er, stricter controls. you're
explain background compa- talking about human lives.
nies coming back with a this has got to stop.
different date of birth, dif-
ferent state, just matching a >> the company that ran
first and last name in some catherine taylor 's back-
cases. does that seem accu- ground check was bought
rate to you? by lexus nexus . they say
their systems have since
>> it -- what i will say to improved and now they
that is that the most im- have a 99.8% accuracy rate.
portant thing is to let view- experts say if this happens
ers know how background to you, you don't have
checks are conducted. many options, unfortunate-
you're speaking of hypo- ly. you can contact the
theticals. background check company
as catherine did and dispute
>> reporter: we asked her it. the problem is, they have
about a real life example. i 30 days to investigate. by
want to show you a picture. then the job could be long
this woman's name is cath- gone as it was with cathe-
erine taylor . she lives in rine . the only other option
arkansas and applied for a unfortunately, savannah, is
job with the local red to sue the company but
cross . the background once again the job isn't
check comes back and says there when you want it.
she has a long rap sheet of they just go down the list.
drug felonies. turns out
they mistook her with this >> doesn't remedy it if you
woman who lives in a dif- don't get the job. thanks for
ferent state. how does this bringing the story. appreci-
happen? ate