Recently, I wrote a blog about the false notion that fingerprint checks are the best way to conduct a thorough background check. Now you don’t have to take my word for it. The National Association of Professional Background Screeners (of which we are a member) agrees.
Here’s what NAPBS had to say about fingerprint checks in a recent article: “Unlike professional background screeners, who investigate, collect, and utilize the most accurate sources of information for the specific purpose of employment screening, government fingerprint databases are typically designed to generate investigative leads based on fingerprint evidence. Thus, while useful, the fingerprint databases’ different historical purposes have created systemic and persistent problems with their accuracy and completeness.”
More specially, “The Department of Justice has acknowledged that ‘…the [FBI] is still missing final disposition information for approximately 50 percent of its records.’ The same report also advises that ‘users may not want to rely exclusively on an FBI and state repository check and may also want to check other record sources, such as commercial databases and local courthouses, to obtain more complete and up-to-date information.’”1
I’ll provide more information in subsequent blogs about the limitations of fingerprint checks.
1The Attorney General’s Report on the Criminal History Background Checks, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General at 3, 6 (June 2006).