And a couple of quick words on employing - or allowing to volunteer - persons with violent backgrounds. Who's at risk, who's responsible, and maybe some ideas for managing the issue.
There is a great deal of discussion on the value of background checks (which typically just amount to a local criminal records check) on potential employees. Well, I'll here to say that there is a great deal more to this topic - for so many reasons. At their root, though, is how your organization looks to its stakeholders. That would be the congregants, potential congregants, surrounding communities, trustees, clergy, and any affiliated institutions (schools, other churches within a denomination, etc.). How these individuals perceive your organization - church, synagogue, mosque, temple, sanctuary, coven, or any other title used - will impact many things. Will membership or attendance grow, will members leave, will the community (and the press) look favorably on you should something happen? Ok, so there are lots of people to keep happy or at least calm, but we are leaving out another category of constituents - the victims. As we've all seen on the news concerning the Catholic Church's unfortunate sex scandals, we will be held accountable to make the victim whole again (or at least try too - see this article on a quick resolution).
With all that said, we can make a concerted effort to eliminate one class of constituent - you got it - the victims. And, we can use the same Deter, Detect, Delay, Deny concept of security. We deter would be miscreants by making it known that we screen all applicants (and the includes volunteers). I had a professor that owned a security firm and used to call to a room of applicants, "We'll start the polygraphs in five minutes," only to find the room nearly empty in half that time. As humorous as this maybe it is also very sad... It shows that far too many wolves attempt to infiltrate the ranks of the sheepdogs. None-the-less making it clear that these backgrounds will be conducted is a useful pre-screening tool. Are they expensive? Not all pre-screening tools/services are the same, but try and find one and multiply it by say 200 and see if it has reached amount of one significant lawsuit (plus legal fees, lost wages, lost revenue/donations, and lost TRUST). From my own experience this doubtful, even at almost $150 each - and you most certainly can find a solution for less. Need help or don't believe me then call and we'll get you the right solution provider.
So we've publicized that we pre-screen, but what do we check for? This is where price comes in - sort of. Start with the local criminal record check, sex offender registries, and heck throw in a Google search for good measure. If the person is performing community service then there should be a way to inquire through official channels as the why they were sentenced to this service. Someone doing this for a Shoplifting charge should not be left alone in say a thrift store. Again, we don't want to set anyone up to fail - do we?
Besides criminal checks, it may be worthwhile in some cases to do civil records, bankruptcy/public filings, and so on. The civil records can be useful for the odd instance when someone is sued for theft, but not criminally charged, or domestic violence (battery), or similar instances where the victim chose a route other than criminal charges.
Incidentally, pre-screening efforts would fall under the Detect segment of the paradigm.
For more information on what is available in background investigations - see this article by Joe Labrozzi.
We'll continue on next with a look at delay and deny.
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