How One Contractor Can Ruin Your Company's Reputation Instantly

At a time when personal security, financial fraud, identity theft, and other crimes are bigger concerns than ever, Crimshield CEO David Pickron says it's unfortunate that so many businesses take a very relaxed approach to verifying potential employees – especially contracting companies who send installers and other personnel into customers’ private homes.

At best, most businesses require instant background checks for new hires, or ask the contracting companies they work with to do the same. If nothing shows up and the person "seems" to be normal enough, then things move forward.

Unfortunately, instant background checks are notoriously unreliable. They frequently miss important data and incidents, and convicted criminals are well aware of the best ways to beat the system and produce false or incomplete results. In other words, the systems most companies are using to screen out thieves, drug addicts, and convicted violent offenders aren't working… and that represents a ticking time bomb for a lot of companies.

Why Instant Background Checks Aren't Worth the Risk

Is the convenience and cost savings of an instant background check really worth the risk? It obviously isn't, especially when you consider that it only takes one person to ruin your company's reputation.

Think about it this way: If your business is hiring criminals, thieves, and addicts – or letting a contractor send them to customers’ homes on your behalf – then what are the odds that you'll never have an incident or problem? And, what could the resulting damage or liability to your business be when the inevitable happens?

It only takes one incident, or one person using your company's name to harm another person, for your organization to end up as front page news. From simple thefts to violent crimes, your business could be held liable for any losses, and will certainly suffer in the court of public opinion.

These risks are especially severe when you consider that the worst offenders are the ones with the most to hide. In other words, the more terrible someone's criminal history is, the greater the lengths they are likely to go to in order to "clean" a standard instant background check.

It Only Takes A Single Bad Hiring Decision to Destroy Your Company

Once a dangerous person does something they shouldn't while "on the clock," it doesn't matter how long you spent building up your company, or your career. It won't matter what sorts of good things you've done, or how the public used to think of you. Do you really want to let one person ruin your business because you aren't concerned enough to keep them out of it?

Call or email Crimshield today to learn about our convenient and affordable programs for contractors, corporations, and organizations of all sizes.

Effective Background Screening Begins With You…

What happens before you run the background check is often the most important element of the screening process. The computer system you are using cannot validate an ID or visually check to see if the individual in question is in fact, who they say they are. For example, when accepting an application for rent, it is so important to authenticate the information provided. Following are some good ideas on how to increase the accuracy of your screening results.

You should always require at least 2 forms of ID from a potential renter.  

Social Security Cards  When Social Security was first implemented in 1936 only those with jobs were issued numbers.  There were 30,000,000 issued the first 2 years.  When credit bureaus started in the mid 1960s there were still only 250,000,000 people who had cards (at that time you were only issued a card when you were hired at your first job).  In the 1980s people were issued cards with-in a year of their birth.  Now we are at over 500,000,000 cards issued.  Remember that when a person dies the number is not retired (survivor benefits may be attached to a card).  So when credit bureaus were started there were half as many numbers issued as there are now.  Therefore the credit bureaus identify people by name and Social Security number ONLY.  Remember this: if you don’t see and touch the card you could create “identity theft” by entering miss-information.  Make certain the name you enter is spelled exactly like the name on the other ID material and on the application.  Down the sides of a real Social Security card there are pillars which are raised so you can feel them with your finger nails.  This is a security measure provided for you.  Never put an unverified number into a credit reporting system.  Your applicant could be using stolen ID, ID belonging to their child or ID belonging to someone who is deceased. Only you can verify if the Social Security number presented is real.

State issued photo ID (drivers’ license) Once again, take time to verify… is this the person standing in front of you?  Hair color, height, weight etc.  And is the name spelled the same as one the Social Security card and on the application?  Is the address consistent with where they say they are living?  Most important is date of birth.  This must match the application information and MUST be exactly what you give your screening company.  This is extremely vital in order to provide accurate criminal history research.  Municipalities, counties, states and even the federal government keep criminal records by name and date of birth ONLY.  If you get the wrong date of birth the criminal record can be missed.  Note that the state of Arizona requires sex offenders to have 1 year drivers’ license.  This is how they keep track of their residence information which is update yearly.

If you use a screening company that gives you a list of criminals that MAY be your applicant you need to change screening companies immediately! Find a background check company that actually employs licensed private investigators who conduct hands-on, eyes-on criminal history investigations. Only a PI can tell you for sure if your applicant has a criminal history.

Remember… Don’t enter miss information.  ONLY you can verify before you enter information.  Lack of correct data can never get you correct results. Should a crime occur as a result of neglect during the background screening process, you or your company may be liable. 

For more information about verifying applicants please visit our website www.crimshield.com

Hiring the Right Property Manager…

Property management is more than a job… it is a philosophy. A unique juxtaposition between the financial duty to the property owner and the safety and well-being of the residents.  Competent managers walk a fine line in their efforts to serve both the owner and the residents.

In the beginning, it is essential to create a clear understanding and define mutual.  The owners’ knowledge, needs and expectations should dictate if the prospective manager of the community is in agreement as to how the community will be run. In essence, their philosophies need to align.

A good owner needs to be concerned about more than the NOI.  A well-managed property is an asset, and conversely, a poorly managed property will decrease in value and become a liability to the owner as well as the entire neighborhood.  Poorly managed properties create an unsafe environment for good residents and become a haven for undesirable residents.

A good rule of thumb in the industry is; “two months of bad management will create two years of bad reputation.”  In other words, if you let a community slip (ie; obvious deferred external maintenance or escalated need of police presence) good potential residents learn to stay away and they let all their friends know too.  This downward spiral is almost impossible to recover from and need never have happen with proper management practices.

An owner needs to know a lot about the manager too.  A good manager is first and foremost a “people person”.  However, not a friend or “buddy” to the residents.  A good manager can be compared to a good nurse.  A very caring person who knows that following the basic rules always benefits everyone concerned in the long run.  The relationship between an owner and manager must be open and honest.  Hidden agendas on the part of either party are a recipe for disaster.  There is always a balancing act between the expense to the owner and the needs at the community.  A manager who is hesitant to tell an owner about an expensive problem may defer a repair to the detriment of the value of the property or resident safety.  The establishment of a “partnership” between an owner and a manager is essential to a safely run profitable property.

A great example of poor decisions costing owners dearly can be seen in the resident screening process. In most situations, the property managers incur the expense of screening potential residents. Many of them tend to use the cheapest online instant screening company they can find and view the screening process as a “necessary evil” of their required due diligence process. Poor screening is the primary reason for sliding profits and declining reputations in most troubled communities. Property managers who are more concerned with saving a few dollars on the screening of rental applicants seem to have no problem passing on massive eviction processing expenses to the owners. On average, owners cover a total expense of approximately $3,000 for each instance of eviction. I wonder what managers would do differently if eviction expenses came out of their pocket?

Leasing, Maintenance, Bookkeeping, Record keeping can all be taught, however, personality and honesty cannot.  Look for the quality and integrity in your choice of a manager or management firm. Everything else can be learned.

Do You Know the Difference Between a Background Check and a Real Investigation?

Instant background check companies often talk about their services as if they were foolproof ways of spotting criminals, drug addicts, and those with troubled pasts. CrimShield CEO David Pickron says that the reality, however, is completely different... and industry professionals know it.

The fact of the matter is that there is an enormous gap between what you can get from a traditional instant background check and a true verification from a company like CrimShield. Unfortunately, most people – including business owners, executives, and HR managers – fail to understand the difference.

Here are a few things you should know about what separates one from the other, as highlighted by Pickron and the CrimShield team:

1. A true background investigation has a human element. Normal instant background checks simply look for data stored in a large database. If nothing comes up, or it doesn't match exactly to the search entered, then important information can get lost in the process, and criminals can slip through the cracks.
2. It's the difference between information and analysis. Of course, relying on computerized searches isn't a great strategy when actual criminals are actively working to beat them and you. That's why CrimShield employs trained, licensed private investigators to verify what they see, look for missing information or discrepancies, and ensure that you're getting a real picture of someone's personal and criminal histories.
3. A good background verification system is ongoing. One problem with instant checks is that the information tends to be static. In other words, if a person is convicted of a crime after they start working for you, or with you, you might not ever know. At CrimShield, we encourage our clients to sign up for regular updates, so they can be informed and protected now, as well as in the future.

In other words, the big difference between an instant background check and a CrimShield investigation is common sense. We have access to the same information that other companies do, but we also go deeper and make sure that what we are seeing makes sense. That way, convicted criminals and dangerous individuals can't change a few details (like digits in a Social Security number, or a middle initial on their application) and use the discrepancies or missing data to fool you into thinking they have a clean history.

Do you want to "check a box" on background investigation, or have a true system for keeping thieves and criminals out of your company, home, or school? If you're serious about protecting yourself and those around you, call 1-888-422-2547 or email the CrimShield team today.

Introducing The Crime Free Circle from CrimShield

CrimShield President David Pickron explains the dangers of hiring vendors and contractors to come onto your property. This simple video explains how keep your family safe from would-be criminals coming into your home or business. Honest service companies and contractors are joining Crime Free Circle and making the crime-free commitment in their companies. Other directories are just that, "directories." Who they are is usually more important than what they do.


Before you hire another contractor to come onto your property go to: www.crimefreecircle.com for crime-free certified contractors.

Instant Coffee Sucks!

What a great idea… heat up a cup of water in a microwave, or better yet, fill your cup with hot water directly from the water cooler/heater in your office break-room. Now, just add a couple of teaspoons of dirt that smells like coffee to your water and voila… a 20 second solution for your morning wake up routine. There was a time when the big coffee brands thought their newly introduced “instant” products would become the future of the industry. Boy, were they ever wrong! Let’s face it, they should just call it what it is; “a coffee flavored drink.”

It is no secret that we are all in a hurry now days and timesaving products are very enticing. But when it comes to coffee, most of us are willing to take the time to brew a pot of the good stuff vs. settling for a cup of instant nastiness. In fact, most of us go out of our way to stop by the local coffee shop and wait in line for a cup of gourmet coffee and eagerly pay six bucks for it! We splurge sometimes and buy sophisticated contraptions that can turn whole coffee beans into amazing, fresh brewed coffee right in our own kitchens. Sure, it costs a little more and takes a little more time… but it is so worth it.

We can all learn a great lesson from the coffee industry; instant products may have their place in the market, but they are never better than the real thing. In most cases they aren’t even adequate. This “instant product” mentality is plaguing the background check industry with the internet full of insufficient, “background check flavored databases.” We are all exposing ourselves and our families to people we know nothing about every single day. When a repair person comes to perform service on an appliance in your home, do you know that his company properly screened him for past criminal history? When you drop your kids off at practice, how much do you really know about the coach? How can you protect yourself and your loved ones from becoming a victim of a crime.

Remember what we learned from instant coffee? When it comes to your safety, it is important to make the extra effort required to enjoy the real-thing. An instant background check is merely a database search of incomplete and inaccurate data. They are easy for criminals to fool by simply providing a small piece of misinformation. Change a middle initial, tweak the date of birth or throw one wrong digit into a social security number and they are home free. The solution is the same as for coffee, simply pay a little more and take the necessary time to complete an investigative background check. True investigative screening requires licensed investigators to personally take the necessary steps to verify an applicant’s identity and then go into all relevant courts to obtain live data directly from the source.

Everyone deserves to know who is coming into their homes and businesses or who is coaching their child. Extra peace of mind comes with knowing who you are dealing with, so make sure to hire only crime free individuals… you might even enjoy your coffee more.

Background Check Fraud on the rise - CrimShield solves the problem...

According to David Pickron, President of CrimShield Inc., an Arizona-based background investigation company, using an instant background check service may actually increase your odds of inadvertently hiring a criminal.

Why you ask... how can this be possible?

The answer is simple. These instant database search style background check companies simply take the information entered into their system at face-value and then runs the data through an incomplete data base. If there are no red-flags... the applicant passes. So... if you have a criminal history, you know that one number or one character of misinformation on the application lets you sail through the screening process with ease. These systems aren't like Google. You won't get an message that says... Did you mean John A. Smith? If the applicant misspells his name, no records will be found... period.

Criminals love applying at companies with loose screening policies like this. So remember, if you are using a cheap, instant background solution to make your hiring decisions, your organization is a prime target for the known criminals that can't get hired elsewhere.

Is your background screening protocol making it easy for those with a criminal past to commit fraud with intentionally inaccurate information on their employment application?

At CrimShield, we have seen numerous sex-offenders, career thieves and even convicted murderers working for a variety of companies after passing these shoddy instant background checks online. It simply isn't worth the risk, protecting the people you serve and your company's reputation is too important!

CrimShield President David Pickron Exposes the Background Industry's Dirty Secret...

Is your company currently using an instant background check company? If you are trusting this instant data and reporting to make important hiring decisions, you may be putting your company at risk. Having accurate criminal history reports on every person representing your brand is the only way to protect yourself from liability should a crime be committed by one of your representatives, contractors or employees.

In order to avoid the "instant" background check scam, please consider the following carefully:

• Instant background check solutions are mere database searches. These database searches are not smart or intuitive, they do not recognize misspelled names, dates or numbers. If you are lucky, the database search you are paying for may have 65% of the relevant data pertaining to any applicant if you have his or her accurate information on the application.

• Criminals actually target companies using instant background check companies, because they know how easy it is to fool these automated database search systems. They simply change a letter here, or a number there and their previous criminal history will go undetected.

• The only way to guarantee accurate criminal history reporting is for a licensed private investigator to conduct a hands-on, eyes-on investigation into each applicant.

• When instant background checks are compared to hands-on investigative background research, the results are as follows... Out of every one hundred applicants that pass an instant background check, 17 of them fail the investigative screening process. Yes, that is one in six applicants that turn up a significant criminal history!

So, as a business owner or manager, is your screening protocol sufficient? What are your motives for conducting background checks? Are you just going through the motions of due-diligence or are you really interesting in protecting your staff, your customers and your reputation? Before you end up in court on the wrong end of a lawsuit... think about improving your company screening policy.

If you want real results, your background investigations need to be performed by real people.