The New York Legislature recently passed their 2019-2020 state budget and the bill includes changes that will have an effect on criminal research in the state. The budget includes a fee increase for the Office of Courts (OCA) criminal records access as well as a change in how records appear in the search results.
Fee Increase
The OCA fee increased from $65 to $95. The change is in effect as the budget has been signed by the Governor. The fee applies to NY Statewide searches as well as the following counties, which can only be searched through the OCA database:
Allegany, Bronx, Bronx Borough, Brooklyn Borough, Cayuga, Kings, Manhattan Borough, Montgomery, Nassau, New York, Orleans, Queens, Queens Borough, Richmond, Staten Island Borough
Record Reporting Change
Undisposed (pending) cases will no longer be accessible in the criminal records search. This part of the bill will require extra time for implementation and the state has one year from the date the bill is signed to fully remove these cases from the report.
It’s the first day of Shelby’s new hire and he’s late. When Max shows up, he gives her no explanation and she notices he is wearing jeans after telling him to wear business casual. She’s already dreading his first week of training. This is not a good start.
Now it’s three months into Max’s position and he hasn’t accomplished anything. Shelby hasn’t seen an increase in sales/numbers and she is devoting all her time to assisting him. He isn’t receptive of Shelby’s help and seems to be doing the opposite of everything he’s asked. She is regretting hiring him and is not looking forward to his future with her company.
Shelby asks herself, “How did I get into this mess in the first place?” and, “What could I have done to prevent this?”
Shelby wonders about Max’s performance with his last company and regrets not contacting his previous supervisor to do a character reference.
The price of a bad hire is at least 30% of their first-year earnings. Have you ever found yourself in a situation similar to Shelby’s?
A character reference is additional information that can verify more about an applicant’s previous work experience.
You find out the dates of employment with an employment verification; however, with a character reference, you will may gain insights into their timeliness and attendance. Our customer service team will ask in-depth questions to get a better sense of their personality and work ethic.
Although a candidate’s resume should always be honest and up-to-date, it can’t say everything about the individual. Are they a timely person? Do they call off work constantly? What’s their personality?
These are all qualities that are essential to know before hiring someone for a position. When hiring, you want a reliable employee whose personality will allow them to get along with others.
Checking a candidate’s references is vital to gaining more in-depth information than what is provided on a typical employment verification.
When looking to hire a new employee, one must be sure that they are not only qualified for the job, but they also must be able to work well with your current employees.
SELECTiON.COM® can provide you with vital information that allows you to make a much more educated and insightful decision. Click here for a character reference check sample.
How can you find this information on an applicant?
By having a character reference done on a potential employee, you can find out answers to all these questions and more.
A character reference reports more in-depth information on the applicant, such as work ethic, ability to work with others, strengths, improvement areas and personality.
At SELECTiON.COM®, our customer service team contacts the applicant’s references and records their answers during the check.
What kind of questions are asked on a character reference?
You can customize your questions. We have included some example questions that clients have previously used:
What can you tell me about the applicant’s personality?
What can you tell me about the applicant’s work ethic?
If provided the opportunity, would you hire the applicant? Why or why not?
What can you tell me about the applicant’s reason for changing jobs?
What can you tell me about the applicant’s ability to get along with peers and supervisors?
How reliable is the applicant?
What are the applicant’s strengths?
What areas can the applicant improve upon?
Click here for a full description of the character reference report.
How long does a character reference take?
The average turnaround time for a character reference report is 1-3 days.
What industries benefit the most from character references?
Editor’s Note: We’re excited to announce our new “Back to the Basics” series, wherein we’ll take an in-depth look at some of the ins and outs of the background check industry. We’re starting off this week with a behind the scenes view of criminal research featuring one of our in-house researchers, Chelsea Swartz.
The sun is beaming and a breeze blows by as Chelsea and Sabrina Schnetzer, Social Media Specialist, step into a courthouse in Kentucky. The police officers there see Chelsea every day and greet her by name.
Sabrina is here to job shadow Chelsea Swartz, Criminal Research and Document Retrieval Specialist, for the day. They walk into the courthouse and go through a metal detector, head up three flights of stairs, and turn a corner. They arrive at the public access terminal with a few computers at desks.
What is a public access terminal?
A public access terminal is a service provided by the courts, for litigants and the public to access dockets, case reports, and other documents filed in county courts. These terminals are located inside each county courthouse. Citizens can typically search by name and date of birth for criminal records on any individual at these courthouse public access computers.
Although you would think that most public access terminals are accessed electronically, there are actually still some out there that are clerk-based. A clerk is an officer of the court whose main responsibility is to maintain records of the court. Counties that require clerk-based criminal research typically have processes that include providing a list of names to be searched and then waiting days or weeks for them to return the results. Some counties even still use ledger books or microfilm to store court records.
Criminal Record Database Search
From there, Chelsea sits down at one of the public access terminal computers and begins to work. She pulls out her list of applicants she received earlier that day and starts typing the names into the criminal records search. On a typical day, Chelsea may have around 300 applicant names to run criminal background checks on.
If Chelsea finds a criminal record in one of her searches, she makes a note of it. From there, she will write down information about the case including the case number, disposition date, filing date, charge description and sentencing information.
Chelsea transcribes case information from the criminal records database into our system, so it is readily available for our in-house team. The case information is then sent to quality assurance where they mark it complete and make it available to our clients. Sometimes cases need more information that is not accessible online, so Chelsea copies physical files from the court records and brings them into our office.
Did you know?
Did you know that each county has its own criminal records database, which is more accurate and up to date than the state’s criminal database? County criminal databases are more precise than the state’s, because cases are tried at the county level and then passed on to the state at their leisure.
SELECTiON.COM® has a nationwide network of court researchers in order to complete the thousands of requests we receive in a day. Since we are located in Cincinnati, our local clients get the added benefit of our in-house research team. We have employees who physically go into the county courthouses in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
We hope you enjoyed seeing a behind the scenes of a day in the life of Chelsea, criminal researcher extraordinaire. Stay tuned to read more “Back to the Basics” articles.
Contact us today to see how SELECTiON.COM® can improve your background check process.
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The New York Legislature recently passed their 2019-2020 state budget and the bill includes changes that will have an effect on criminal research in the state. The budget includes a fee increase for the Office of Courts (OCA) criminal records access as well as a change in how records appear in the search results.
It’s the first day of Shelby’s new hire and he’s late. When Max shows up, he gives her no explanation and she notices he is wearing jeans after telling him to wear business casual. She’s already dreading his first week of training. This is not a good start.
Editor’s Note: We’re excited to announce our new “Back to the Basics” series, wherein we’ll take an in-depth look at some of the ins and outs of the background check industry. We’re starting off this week with a behind the scenes view of criminal research featuring one of our in-house researchers, Chelsea Swartz.
