Criminal Records

An incident in Ohio has made the state think twice about the credibility of their background check services. A school bus driver was caught and charged for possession of illegal drugs and a background check revealed that the person was convicted of driving under the influence thrice in the past.

The company who hired the driver apparently was very negligent in hiring him. Imagine how many more negligent hiring incidents the company has done on their 22,000 drivers that are working in 500 schools across the country!

There are already existent state laws that require school bus drivers to undergo background checks through Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.

After the incident, the bus company found out that they had not done thorough criminal background investigations on their employees. It also turned out that the company has stopped submitting the required background checks and fingerprints since 2004.  Their services were suspended to allow them to correct their system.

The Attorney State General’s Office is now taking extra steps to improve the quality of background checks of drivers in the state of Ohio. Meetings have been made with the Columbus area legislators to discus steps for such improvements.  An investigation is also underway to determine the appropriate legal cases should be file against the bus company.

Although the company has assured everyone that actions are being done to improve their background checking system, the state is already having second thoughts on employing their services again. Ohio’s schools have now requested all of their bus driver providers to resubmit their criminal background check screenings for reviews. Statewide reviews on background checks are now done every two years and a local records review are done twice a year. Some schools now even conduct monthly background screening records.