Durham Police Unveil New Guidelines For Criminal Background Checks
Durham Region Police have announced some welcome changes to the guidelines the force follows on criminal background checks. Starting Feb. 1, police will, in most cases, no longer release non-conviction records, meaning people applying for jobs or volunteer positions will no longer be adversely affected by any past involvement with police.
The changes came about after much-publicized accounts across Ontario of people who lost out on jobs or couldn’t become volunteers due to disclosures in police background checks about past brushes with the law, even if there were no convictions or even charges. Information revealed on these checks included unproven charges, withdrawn charges and mental health calls to 911. These people’s lives were disrupted by what police revealed to potential employers or volunteer organizations.
The new guidelines aim to strike a balance between providing information about individuals applying to work with vulnerable people and the rights of those applicants to privacy and the presumption of innocence, members of the Durham police services board were told recently.
Source: http://www.durhamregion.com/
W. Barry Nixon is the COO, PreemploymentDirectory.com the leading background screening information portal and online worldwide directory of professional background screening firms and Suppliers to the background screening industry. He co-authored the landmark book, Background Screening & Investigations: Managing Hiring Risk from the HR and Security Perspective. He also is the publisher of award winning newsletters, The Background Buzz and The Global Background Screener, and the author of the Background Checks column in PI Magazine.
In addition, Barry is a past recipient of the elite ‘Top 25 Influential People in Security’ by Security Magazine and past Co-Chair, International Committee for the National Association for Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS). He currently serves as a Global Ambassador for NAPBS.
You can contact Barry at 1-949-770-5264 or online at wbnixon@preemploymentdirectory.com