My mother always told me, compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges. Mind you I think we were probably in a grocery store setting when she told me this, but it applies to who you select to perform your background screening checks for you as well. There are a lot of companies moving into the background screening industry offering criminal checks at very low prices with almost instant turnaround. What seems too good to be true most often is. Many of these companies are offering a criminal record search at rock bottom prices and 5 minute turn around.
In reality, they are performing a search of a database known in the industry as the Global Terrorist Watchlist in place of an actual Canadian criminal records search. While a Global Terrorist Watch list search is great for what it is designed for, it is by no means a Canadian Criminal Records search. However, it is far cheaper for them to conduct this search and pass it off as a criminal records search to the unwary. We offer an Enhanced Global Terrorist Watchlist search to our own clients, but we have certainly never offered it as a substitute for a Canadian Criminal Records Search.
If you are being offered great prices and instant turn around, ask some questions. What database do you search when conducting a Canadian Criminal Records search? If they respond with anything but the National Repository of Criminal Convictions maintained by the RCMP, then it is not a Canadian Criminal Records Search. Further, if they are unwilling to tell you what police agency they use, be very wary. If they provide you with an agency name, don’t be afraid to call that police agency and ask them outright if they perform the criminal records search for the proposed screening provider.
In the fallout from “fake news”, we all need to be aware that it is up to us to do our own due diligence. |
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