BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR CHURCHES
by Kit Fremin
A pastor in San Diego County told me recently that they were using one
of these brand name “Instant Nationwide” background check
services that was, in fact, recommended by their popular
liability insurance carrier, Church Mutual Insurance Company. When I showed the pastor on the
service’s own website that they search nothing in San Diego County he
was naturally upset and alarmed. He said that they had been using the
service for years to screen their employees and volunteers. I asked if
he ever got a criminal record on anyone and he said that he didn’t think
so. Well, no wonder. The service that he paid for searched no records
in San Diego County, ever.
Now think about that. How was he supposed to know? His insurance
carrier recommends a company and he wants to do the right thing to
protect his flock. With all of the negative publicity generated by the
sex abuse scandals of the Catholic Church, pastors of all persuasions
have had to become adept in a whole new subject, that of background
checks.
Although I have been in this business for 14 years and worked with such
varied clients as the GE Power Systems, the LA Times, the United
Nations, the Department of Defense, McDonnell Douglas/Boeing, Mars,
Inc., TATA and the National Transportation Safety Board for about two
years now, I have been doing background checks for churches like Calvary
Chapel affiliated ministries. During that time I have had many
discussions with many pastors and lay leaders all over the country about
what they should do and how to proceed with screening their employees
and volunteers. Based on those talks I have compiled this list of
the most common mistakes that pastors make with regard to this whole
subject.
Mistake #1 Using a cheapie database search.
Those Instant
Nationwide criminal records checks that you see advertised on the
internet and sold for anywhere from $9.95 to $49.95 are not what they
say they are. Everybody assumes that they are getting what the name
implies; a check of all records nationwide. NOT SO. These are $1
database searches that in most cases are records from the department of
corrections in each state, so the info is of felony convictions only.
Even worse, in many areas of the country such as most of California, all
of Nevada and Louisiana, and Montana and Maryland and Hawaii and Wyoming
and Washington D.C. you get nothing at all. You may say, “I am not in
any of those areas listed, so it’s OK if I use a database, right?”
Wrong. You don’t know where your people are from. They could have
lived most of their lives in one of those areas and just moved to your
area recently. For more on this subject read my Article: Background
Check Buyer Beware at:
http://www.bcint.com/background_check_buyer_beware.htm
Mistake #2 Assuming that you know the people you hire.
We all
make this mistake. I’ve done it myself and I do background checks for a
living. How crazy is that? One problem pastors have with this is that
they are kind of embarrassed to have someone they know submit to a
background check, especially at a small church. This is one reason why
we suggest that the pastor be the first to submit to a background
check. If you lead they will follow. For people who have
difficulty with this one we suggest that they make it pro forma; that
is, that everybody has to go through this process no matter who they are
(including you).
Mistake #3 Procrastination and not acting at all.
I know that as
a pastor many, many things are vying for your attention and this is just
one more thing you have to worry about. I also know that the cost of
doing the background checks is one factor that may slow the process. If
this is an issue for you please contact us. We will find a way to
make it affordable for you.
One humorous thing that we have found is that there is no perfect sized
church. Pastors tell me all the time that they are small and therefore
can’t afford much OR that they are a large growing church therefore it
will cost too much to screen all of their staff and volunteers.
As I asked my pastor, when we were putting this program together, “How
much would it cost you to defend yourself against a frivolous
child molestation lawsuit?” He said, “That’s easy, $100,000 just to
prove that nothing happened.” Background checks are cheap insurance
against that.
Mistake #4 Assuming someone else checked at a previous ministry.
Just recently we did a criminal history check on an assistant pastor who
had just graduated from bible college. While at the college he had two
felony arrests for spouse abuse and child abuse and a restraining order
to keep away from his family. It just goes to show; you never know.
Another interesting thing about background checks is that everybody
believes that everybody else should be checked out, but not they
themselves. No one thinks they or their friends should be subject to
scrutiny.
Mistake #5 One of our members is a cop who checks everybody out for
us. The problem with this is that everybody assumes everything. If
I were a betting man I would bet that if you fall into this category
that you don’t know what is being checked. You just assume that
everything is. You would not believe how many people I talk to on an
almost daily basis that think that there is somehow some magic
government databases that have all of your personal data at the touch of
a keyboard. Again, not so.
Find out just what exactly is being checked when you do a background
check on church staff and volunteers. Are they checking just
your county or your whole state? What if your subject just moved there
from another state? How complete is the information? Does it list all
misdemeanor and felony arrests and convictions? How up to date is the
information? Are they checking maiden or other names? Are you getting a
written report to keep in a file and not just a verbal OK? Oh and by
the way, if your peace officer friend is checking NCIC (the FBI
database) he/she is almost certainly doing it illegally.
We are here to help. If we can assist you in any way to protect
yourself and your flock we would be glad to help. Go to our website at
www.bcint.com and check out our exclusive NO EXCUSES GUARANTEE.
Give me a call at 951 691-1088 or e-mail me at:
kit@bcint.com and I will be happy to answer any questions you may
have.
Kit Fremin is the owner and founder of Background Check International.
Since 1994 BCI has served clients a varied as: the LA Times, Department
of Defense, Mars, Inc., the United Nations, the NTSB and Calvary Chapels
nationwide. His website is:
www.bcint.com and he can be e-mailed at
kit@bcint.com.
