Conducting a Background Check: What's Involved, Where to Go, and What to Do With that Information?
My first stop to finding out how to do a background check was the Internet. How to was one of the sites that is ubiquitous with very general information.
Second, I simply stopped in at the local County Sheriff's Station in my home town. I spoke with two individuals who didn't even appear to be fully sworn officers or sheriffs but instead they looked like community support personnel. They had no holstered weapon except for perhaps a radio and a cell phone. But they were friendly . . . sort of. They don't need to be. They're busy. They've got things to do than to answer questions of strangers who drift in and out of their offices. So when I asked about a background search, they looked puzzled or inquisitive before the one community support personnel went into the back behind opaque bullet-proof glass, reminiscent of a gone-by, hard-hitting police era. When she came out she handed me a 3 x 3 slip of paper that read:
Livescan Fingerprints
Arson or Drug Registration
Clearance Letters
Criminal History
Records
Reports over 6 months old
Bechtel Building
12440 East Imperial Hwy.
Norwalk, CA 90650
562-345-4441
That's the building but the specific room to go to to get a criminal background clearance is Room 120, directly in the front middle of the building on the 1st floor. The entrance to Room 120 is along the outside corridor that runs parallel with the building's façade.
What I learned was this:
I checked with the County seat in Norwalk. Apparently, criminal records only show arrests is what I was told. If no arrests, then nothing on my criminal background. I've never--knock on wood--been arrested. And the print out is only a clearance record. Meaning if there's no arrest, it will state that and form proof to an employer that I've never been arrested. This is what the guy in Colorado did when he told me everything was fine. So a small relief. The clerk here also said that some local PDs will do their own background checks.
To find pending court cases, like lawsuits filed against you, you go to the local courts.
To find your criminal record, if any, which just means to find evidence if you've ever been arrested, you go to a county facility.
But what about medical records.
My first stop to finding out how to do a background check was the Internet. How to was one of the sites that is ubiquitous with very general information.
Second, I simply stopped in at the local County Sheriff's Station in my home town. I spoke with two individuals who didn't even appear to be fully sworn officers or sheriffs but instead they looked like community support personnel. They had no holstered weapon except for perhaps a radio and a cell phone. But they were friendly . . . sort of. They don't need to be. They're busy. They've got things to do than to answer questions of strangers who drift in and out of their offices. So when I asked about a background search, they looked puzzled or inquisitive before the one community support personnel went into the back behind opaque bullet-proof glass, reminiscent of a gone-by, hard-hitting police era. When she came out she handed me a 3 x 3 slip of paper that read:
Livescan Fingerprints
Arson or Drug Registration
Clearance Letters
Criminal History
Records
Reports over 6 months old
Bechtel Building
12440 East Imperial Hwy.
Norwalk, CA 90650
562-345-4441
That's the building but the specific room to go to to get a criminal background clearance is Room 120, directly in the front middle of the building on the 1st floor. The entrance to Room 120 is along the outside corridor that runs parallel with the building's façade.
What I learned was this:
I checked with the County seat in Norwalk. Apparently, criminal records only show arrests is what I was told. If no arrests, then nothing on my criminal background. I've never--knock on wood--been arrested. And the print out is only a clearance record. Meaning if there's no arrest, it will state that and form proof to an employer that I've never been arrested. This is what the guy in Colorado did when he told me everything was fine. So a small relief. The clerk here also said that some local PDs will do their own background checks.
To find pending court cases, like lawsuits filed against you, you go to the local courts.
To find your criminal record, if any, which just means to find evidence if you've ever been arrested, you go to a county facility.
But what about medical records.
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