Online police checks can be conducted through Government websites, third-party companies that offer online checks, or an individual’s social media profiles. There are several filters that law enforcement agencies and screening companies have been using as common criteria for their employees to ensure standards are upheld and people who do not deserve positions based on the information available in their background check, such as convictions relating to sexual offenses or civil disobedience, are rejected from the process.
A criminal record check, juvenile criminal records check, or police records check is a process of gaining access to past records of criminal activity. Police checks usually require the individual to fill out an application form and pay a fee. Some agencies may charge additional fees for fingerprinting and for the search of local court records. The results are then sent by mail.
There are three main types of police checks:
These Intercheck’s Victoria police checks are primarily requested by employers or those involved in the care of children or vulnerable people.
Pre-employment and volunteer police checks are conducted primarily for the purpose of protecting the employer from liability (for negligent hiring) and to protect volunteers from potential liability to children, clients, participants, or other vulnerable persons.
A criminal records check commonly used for employment purposes. Criminal history information could be used to screen applicants and employees for positions with a certain degree of public trust so as to safeguard against hiring individuals with a history of committing violent crimes that might expose the public to risk.
Once a criminal record is available to the public, and there are no restrictions or restrictions on access, the individual can find it with a few easy searches on popular search engines. Due to the information provided by their own country’s law enforcement system, public notices of conviction can easily be found online with a simple Google search.
The disclosure of criminal records in other cases is not as easy to find, less because of the laws in that country and more because state laws regarding what crimes are considered a violation of “public policy” vary widely. For example, crimes involving adultery are considered to be against public policy in many ways, while larceny is not regarded as such.
The laws against the disclosure of criminal records are primarily due process protections and, in particular, the prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures. In order for an employer to receive a criminal records check, an employee must be treated as an applicant, not as a suspect or suspected offender.
More often than not, this means that the employer will have to persuade the applicant to voluntarily submit to a criminal records check. In most U.S. states, an individual may refuse to undergo a criminal records check (and in some cases, other types of investigations as well) and risk losing employment for refusing; however, an individual may do so only after having been fully apprised of the employer’s request by the employer and only if the request is made during an ongoing job application process.
A results-only background check is conducted without regard to specific information such as (but not limited to) name and social security number. This type of background check cannot be used by the investigator or client in any way that could be considered discriminatory.
