International Screening

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International criminal record searches are not like obtaining criminal records in the US. Few countries allow invasion of privacy as the US has.  Most international criminal records are protected by privacy laws.  This page will explore the requirements of many countries.

Here are some case studies regarding obtaining criminal records in Europe for those working with children.

England:

• All arrest and conviction information and the sex offenders register is held on the Police National Computer.
• Details of cautions, allegations and other criminal intelligence are held on more than 270 local police databases.
• A new Independent Barring Board will replace the three lists containing names of those disqualified from working with children sometime next year (2008).
• Anyone whose work brings them into contact with children must be vetted. This includes those from overseas.
• There is one vetting service – the Criminal Records Bureau.

Poland:

• Information is stored at the National Criminal Record Office (NCRO).
• Individual police forces hold further information but this is only used locally.
• Vetting is left to the employer who can get information from the NCRO.
• Checks on overseas teaching staff usually focus on educational qualifications.
• Convictions for sex crimes against children are kept for an indefinite period.

Sweden:

• There are two police databases. One (Belastningsregistret) contains details of convictions and the second ( Misstankerregister) has records of allegations and other intelligence.
• Social workers, schools staff, foster parents and volunteers working with children have to be vetted but not those in the health sector.
• Individuals present a copy of their criminal record to prospective employers for checking.
• You have to speak fluent Swedish to work in regulated sectors so few overseas workers apply, hence checks are not routine.
  “ Records for serious crimes are deleted ten years after the end of the prison sentence.

Republic of Ireland:

• Criminal information is stored on a single police database. The Sex offender register is kept separately.
• Healthcare and social workers have to be vetted as do foster parents.
• Police carry out vetting checks.
• No formal arrangements for checking overseas workers.
• Convictions remain on record and do not become ‘spent’.

Northern Ireland:

• Criminal records kept on central database.
• Two separate lists contain the names of those disqualified from working with children.
  “ Those working in regulated positions with children have to be vetted.
• The Criminal Records Office caries out vetting checks.
• Applications for records of overseas workers are made through the Serious Organised Crime Office.
• Criminal records are kept for an indefinite period.

Link to

• NSPCC media briefings
• Child protection news
• Sign up for CASPAR – our child protection alerts for professionals

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The following article is from  Workplace Management and explores  the ability to conduct background screening overseas.

Worker Screening Overseas Is Limited

‘What works in the United States doesn’t work abroad. … In Europe, what’s private stays private,’ an attorney says.
By Fay Hansen

he background screening industry in the United States is a relatively unregulated multibillion-dollar sector that has no comparable foreign counterpart. U.S.-based employers with screening policies designed to meet their domestic needs and the U.S. legal framework face a completely different reality when they move abroad. Particularly in the European Union and increasingly across the developing world, a job applicant’s right to privacy trumps an employer’s right to collect information about a potential employee.”What works in the United States doesn’t work abroad,” says Andrew Boling, partner at Baker & McKenzie in Chicago. “You have to assume that your screening practices will be restricted. And in the European Union, background screening is much more limited, even for an applicant who is applying for a job in the United States. Criminal background checks are limited if they are allowed at all. Credit checks are even more restricted and seldom done, with very limited exceptions.”

In many overseas locations, employers are not plagued by the same levels of employee theft and fraud and workplace violence that prompt high levels of screening in the United States. “Anecdotally, if you look at issues like workplace violence, the incidence is much lower in Europe,” Boling says. In addition, sharp differences in legal liabilities diminish the need for screening. “The negligent hiring concept is a very U.S.-centric risk,” Boling says, “so screening issues abroad are not as grave as in the United States.”

“What works in the United States doesn’t work abroad. … In Europe, what’s private stays private.” —Andrew Boling, partner, Baker & McKenzie, Chicago

The severe limitations placed on screening in other countries arise from a fundamental appreciation for and deference to individual privacy rights. “Outside of the United States, individual privacy rights enjoy the same protections that we give to our First Amendment rights,” Boling says. “In Europe, what’s private stays private.” In France, for example, credit checks generally are not permissible even if a job applicant consents.

The levels of consumer debt are also generally lower outside the U.S., and personal bankruptcy is much more uncommon, so credit checks commonly generate a lower number of negative hits in the countries where they are permissible. Non-U.S. employers also take a different approach to the financial status of job applicants. “How you manage your personal finances is considered to be irrelevant to how you qualify for or perform on a job,” Boling says.

U.S. employers operating abroad often do the maximum amount of screening allowed by law, but they are likely to encounter greater limitations going forward, Boling notes. Although laws concerning background screening are still emerging in the developing world, he sees a trend toward adopting the more restrictive approach to screening that is common in Europe rather than the more unregulated U.S. approach.

“In Asia, there is embryonic legislation that is following the European model, but is somewhat less restrictive,” he says. China’s 2008 workforce legislation, for example, embraces the European model of employment rights. U.S.-based screening companies are now marketing their services outside the United States, but employers should be aware that the information they can legally generate is likely to be more limited.

Workforce Management, February 16, 2009, p. 37 — Subscribe Now!

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Fay Hansen is a Workforce Management contributing editor based in the New York City metro area. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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Below is a link for Interpol-Headquartered in Lyons, France.

Be sure to visit this website.  It is very interesting and well worth your time exploring.

INTERPOL’s six priority crime areas
Drugs and criminal organizations Tackling the growing problem of drug abuse and trafficking, often linked to other crimes. Financial and High-tech Crime Combating counterfeiting, payment card fraud, intellectual property and cyber-crime. Fugitives Tracing fugitives, who threaten public safety and undermine criminal justice systems.	Public safety and terrorism Countering terrorism, which threatens public safety and world security. Trafficking in human beings Fighting abuse and exploitation of people, which breach human rights and destroy lives. Corruption ‘Working together towards a corruption-free world by promoting and defending integrity, justice and the rule of law.’

INTERPOL issues unprecedented global alert for 85 terrorist suspects wanted by Saudi Arabia

›› View Orange Notice 10 February 2009 LYON, France – An international security alert, known as an Orange Notice, has been issued by INTERPOL for 85 terrorists suspected of plotting attacks against Saudi Arabia from abroad. INTERPOL’s General Secretariat headquarters published the global alert at the request of INTERPOL’s National Central Bureau (NCB) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 83 Saudis and two Yemenis are wanted at the national level by Saudi Arabia on terrorism-related charges, including links to al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan.