Pre-employment criminal background checks are a valuable tool used by many retailers as part of the hiring process. Such screening is no guarantee, however, that employees won’t participate in future criminal misconduct. CrimWATCH, a new post-hire criminal screening solution, helps minimize shrink and other workplace crimes by monitoring employees for criminal activity.

CrimWATCH “gives employers knowledge about unacceptable behavior post-hire,” says Bill Bollinger, executive vice president of Ocala, Fla.-based National Background Data, which developed the system. “If a formerly good employee has a life-
changing event that leads to criminal charges, this person might also be looking to take money while on the job.”

CrimWATCH detects information regarding criminal activity by employees and alerts loss prevention staff; the company then can take the appropriate follow-up action.

National Background Data (NBD) boasts that it has the nation’s largest privately held criminal records database with access to multi-jurisdictional data. It supplies this information to more than 400 background-screening companies, which serve as its network of solution providers. Web-based CrimWATCH, rolled out in February, is available to retailers via this network.

CrimWATCH was developed with the retail industry in mind, according to Bollinger. “Other products are more beneficial to human resources for pre-employment screening,” he says, “but once the employee is hired, HR is not as involved.

“I have spoken with many loss prevention managers and vice presidents about what happens after employees are hired and the problems they have with shrinkage and internal theft. CrimWATCH was designed to meet the needs these LP managers and vice presidents said they faced.”

Initial testing of 12 months of previously screened data showed a hit ratio of 1 to 2 percent, Bollinger says.

CrimWATCH searches criminal records from data sources at the local, state and national levels. These include proprietary offender data, departments of corrections, U.S. Courts, Department of Public Safety, traffic courts, sex offender registry and terrorist/fugitive watch lists.

The process is relatively easy for retailers and other employers to use. After logging in and choosing the types of criminal searches to be conducted, the employer uploads its active employee data, including names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth. The program will then regularly go back through the database as it is updated and report new or changed criminal information on current employees. “It runs automatically and requires minimal effort from the retailer,” Bollinger says.

Employer notification
If CrimWATCH turns up information on an employee, the retailer’s solution provider receives an alert from NBD. In accordance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the solution provider would then have to validate the information prior to passing it on to the employer.

Following confirmation of an employee’s criminal activity, the employer is sent an e-mail and can log on to the website to verify the employee’s active employment status, view the criminal records found and determine if the employee still meets the retailer’s criminal background policies.

“It is up to the employer as to how it handles this information,” Bollinger says. The post-hire screening also allows employers to identify at-risk behaviors for future observation. “Drugs and financial crisis are just some of the at-risk behaviors that can lead to shrinkage and other issues.”

Employers that opt to use CrimWATCH for post-hire screening will need to check the wording of the “consent-to-background-checks” clauses on their employment applications, Bollinger says. “If this wording just says, ‘The employee will be subject to a background check’ without specifying when, the check can be either pre or post [employment].”

CrimWATCH “was not designed to keep people from having jobs, just as background checks in general are not for this purpose,” Bollinger says. “CrimWATCH is meant to make sure the wrong person is not in the wrong job — a situation which can put the employer at risk. The screening solution helps protect employers from liability and loss.”

Fair warning
Like drug screening, the use of CrimWATCH can be a deterrent to unsuitable applicants and future criminal activity by employees. “This product provides fair warning to potential employees,” Bollinger says.

“Those with criminal backgrounds or natures are less likely to apply with an employer with a post-employment procedure in place. The mere fact that existing employees know you have a program like CrimWATCH in place” means “they will be less likely to do something that places their livelihood at risk.”

Five or six years ago, “negligent hiring was a buzzword” in the industry, Bollinger says. “Now, the new buzzword within our industry is negligent retention — retaining employees with proven at-risk behavior. Whether or not that behavior took place before or after they were hired is not necessarily an excuse.”