I’ve been doing international background checks along
with all of our domestic business since 1995 when we were
asked to background check 5500 aircraft engineers for the
Boeing buyout of McDonnell Douglass. I vividly remember
calling a large international security company and asking
about what kinds of criminal history info was available
from Italy. After much dodging and hesitating by the
salesman on the other end of the phone (this was before I
was on the internet) told me that their criminal history
checks consisted of a MEDIA check in the area where the
person is from. I was flabbergasted to say the least. I
remember saying, “Are you trying to tell me that if a
person’s crime made it into the newspaper that that
is the only source of your info?” He was ashamed to
admit it, but it was true.
SURPRISING FACT # 1. Many companies sell media look-ups as
a criminal history report. I know this sounds insane, but
I’m not kidding. The crime has to make it into the
newspaper or they have nothing to report. And what about a
person’s trial results? That has to make it into the
newspaper too for you to get a disposition. Unfortunately
that exact kind of thing is still very common today. These
companies that sell these reports always have a made up
name for that kind of service to make it sound like you are
really buying something useful. They usually package it
with a check of the International Terrorist Watch List and
the OFAC watch list, both of which you can do for free in
minutes.
Despite what you may have heard, or thought you knew,
international criminal checks are still very much a crap
shoot. In some countries they are inexpensive, contain what
we Americans know as both misdemeanor and felony crimes
– arrests and convictions, are timely and accurate,
such as Australia. Other countries just don’t
consider criminal records to be public information,
therefore accessible by the public, like France.
SURPRISING FACT # 2. Many countries don’t make their
criminal records available to anyone. France doesn’t
think that anyone has the right to know if their proud
citizens are criminals. Don’t believe me? Call the
French Embassy in Washington. That’s what I did.
The internet is full of companies that say that they can
get criminal history records from many countries that I
know for a fact don’t provide criminal records to
anyone. In Great Britain you can get what is called a
Clearance Certificate from Scotland Yard. It tells you
that the person has, or doesn’t have a criminal
record, but it doesn’t tell you what the criminal
record is!
SURPRISING FACT # 3. Many countries criminal history
reports are not worth the paper they are written on. One
good example of this is Mexico. As in many third world
countries their record keeping system is like it was here
before computers. They couldn’t find the records if
they wanted to. India has antiquated records keeping, but
they at least make an effort to help.
Another example is China, but for a different reason. With
everything controlled by the state it make sense that you
will get what the state wants you to get. If you were
hiring a software engineer from China for example, and you
want to assure yourself that he/she is not a commie spy,
good luck. You are going to get just what they want you to
see.
I once called the Egyptian Embassy in Washington and asked
how to get official criminal records. The man on the other
end of the phone told me to send him $200 and he would send
me the records. I said that I wanted to know the normal
procedure for obtaining records so that I could do it now
and in the future. He said, “OK, send me $150 and I
get you the records.” I quickly realized that
dealing with him was like dealing with a middle eastern rug
merchant. Since talking to him didn’t work I called
the US Embassy in Cairo and asked them how to get the
records.
SURPRISING FACT # 4. In many countries the only way to get
a REAL criminal history report is to have the
“applicant” get it himself or herself. The
Philippines is a good example of this. But beware there
are vendors in Manila that make fake documents for
employment purposes. Always get the original document, not
a copy, and verify it with the person who signed it.
In some countries an “applicant” can only get
the criminal history report if he/she is applying for a
visa to work in the US. Since most countries want their
workers to work in the US they supply them with the
documentation. Singapore and the Republic of China (Taiwan)
are two examples.
CANADA: We can get records from Canada. In fact we can get
what is the equivalent of our FBI records, but it requires
fingerprints and can take 90+ days. I always ask my
clients, “If you would like me to order the records,
your “applicant” has to get fingerprinted, send
the fingerprint card to me in California whereupon I mail
it to the RCMP in Ottawa, wait 90 days get it back and I
charge you $100, or would you rather have it today for
free?” How, you may ask? Answer: Have the applicant
go get the record himself. Every police station, be it
city, provincial or RCMP can process your records request
while they wait. Again, ask to see the original document
and you can reimburse the applicant for the report if you
like.
NOTE: If a Canadian has a criminal record, one of two
things will happen. Either he/she will make an excuse as
to why they can’t get the record from the police, or
you will never see them again. They are not going to
bother getting a record if they know that you thus will not
hire them. Oh, and if you want me to order the records for
you from Ottawa, the applicant still has to go to the
police station to get fingerprinted, so he might as well
get the record while he is there.
I could go on and on, but the bottom line is: READ THE FINE
PRINT. Do not buy from a service that will not tell you
the source of the records. Ask how current the info is and
ask if it contains what we in the US consider misdemeanor
and felony arrests and convictions or dispositions.
If you have any doubts about the accuracy of the info in
this article or what you’ve been told by another
international background check company, call the Embassy
in Washington for the respective country you are concerned
about. Ask to speak to the legal attaché. Ask them
how one obtains REAL criminal history records from that
country. That’s what I did, and that’s how I
started doing REAL international background checks.
That’s why I am an expert that other people call.
----------------------------------------------------
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
UN, the NTSB and Calvary Chapels nationwide. His website
is: http://www.bcint.com and he can be e-mailed at
kit@bcint.com.
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