Volunteers pose a substantial risk to organizations and unfortunately most of the screening services offered are low quality solutions that provide little risk mitigation. Join us for a 30 minute webinar to learn how to conduct high quality volunteer background checks.

1. How to Conduct Comprehensive Volunteer
Background Checks
Select speakers or Phone
on Webinar tab
The Webinar will begin shortly.
Does your current volunteer screening program keep you up at night?

2. Presenter
Mike McCarty
•CEO SHS
•Metro Nashville PD
•Domestic Violence
Division
•Breaking the Cycle
•iRefCheck

3. Why We Are Here?
 Safety of Kids
 Understand limitations
of many volunteer
screening programs
 Explore best practices
 Moral or legal issue

4. “Something is Better Than Nothing…”
 This is a legal perspective
 Focused on legal risk mitigation
instead of safety of children
 Cheap background check provides
false sense of security
 Limited background checks expose:
 Children, visitors, staff to risk of
harm
 Organization to risk of theft
 Organization to risk of liability
for lack of due diligence
 Quality screening mitigates legal
risk and increases safety of children

5. Sophisticated Perpetrators
 Sex offenders will take
unbelievable risks
 Volunteers = much higher volume
 Do not have to be alone to harm
kids
 Do not have to be unsupervised to
harm kids
Those that harm kids
always seek
positions with
access to children

6. Are We Doing Enough?
 Sex offenders dedicated &
determined
 Background Screening industry
has promoted cheap background
checks for volunteers
 Protecting children requires:
 comprehensive criminal record
checks
 reference checks
 Majority of rapists undetected

7. The Use & Misuse of
Criminal Databases

8. Criminal Databases
 No such thing as $9 or $10
background check
 No such thing as an instant
background check
 No criminal database is
complete
 A criminal database is a tool
not a screening program
 Background screening industry
is negligent in promoting these
cheap database searches

9. Problems with “national” criminal databases
 Data varies from state
to state
 Handful of states
provide AOC data
 Majority of states only
provide SOR and DOC
 How database
configured
 Name & DOB
 Most states partial or no
DOB

10. State Repositories
 Not complete
 Only a single state
 Rely on individual
counties to participate
 Ex. ISP Repository
 Sex offender data
missing
 Many counties not
participating
 Class A misd and above

11. Sex Offender Registries
 Not updated regularly
 IN teachers aid convicted of
Child Molesting
 11 months to show on SOR
 Does not contain all sex offenders
 Some states based on
classification
 If conviction before registry not
required- IN court recent ruling
 Plea bargain could remove
registry requirement
 Some states have time limits
such as 10 yrs
 Great tool- not a screening program

12. Best Practices
Requires multiple layers of
checks and balances:
 Person ID/ SSN
Verification
 National Criminal
Database
 National Sex Offender
 County Criminal Search

13. Legal Issues
Southport, Indiana Little League
 No background checks
 Coach molested 2 boys in out
building fitting uniforms
 Little league found negligent
under negligent hiring
doctrine
Predatory in the Primary
 Applying negligent hiring to
volunteers
 Increasing cases

14. Potential Problems with IN ECHS
 2009 State of Indiana enacts ECH
Statute
 Removes ISP Limited Criminal
History as option for schools to use
with hiring or vendor/contractors
 Many districts still use for volunteers
because free
 Why if you know it is bad data?
 How do you defend a claim if a
volunteer harms a child?
 Attorney will always say you did
not do enough
 Could you defend this database
on the witness stand?

15. We don’t have any money….
 1st quality screening must
become a priority
 Volunteer pays for part or all
of background check
 Gaining popularity
 Make background check valid
for 2-5 years
 School absorbs hardships

16. ATS Paperless Background Checks
 ATS link programmed &
placed on your website
 Applicant driven
 Click on link
 Sign e-authorization
 Input their data
 Pay with credit/debit card
 Report returned to school

17. Questions?
 Sign up for blog:
http://info.safehiringsolutions.com
 Contact:
Mike McCarty
Mike.mccarty@safehiringsolutions.com
888-215-8296