Criminal Records Bill Also To Cover Proprietary Security Personnel

Mar 1, 2003 12:00 PM

Sponsors of a U.S. Senate bill have informed ASIS International that language in the measure intended to permit reviews of criminal records of contract security officers would be expanded to include all private security officer positions. The bill (S.2238) authorizes employers, with written permission of an employee, to submit the employee's fingerprints or other means of identification to the investigating agency of a participating state for criminal background checks. It would then require the U.S. Attorney General, upon receipt of a request submitted through the state, to “search the appropriate records of the Criminal Justice Information Services Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and provide any resulting identification and criminal-history record information to the submitting state.”

States that have no qualifying standards to be a private security officer would notify the employer of any felony conviction in the previous 10 years. States with qualifying standards would inform the employer whether or not the potential officer meets them.

As initially drafted, the language in the bill defines an employer as one providing, “as an independent contractor, for consideration, the services of private security officers.” ASIS, joining with the National Association of Security Companies (NASCO), strongly supported the bill from the beginning, viewing it as “not only an advisable measure” but one that is “absolutely critical” since private security protects 85 percent of the nation's critical infrastructure.

ASIS notes, however, that the bill does not cover proprietary security personnel. Although ASIS does not want to impede progress of the bill, it points out that “since proprietary security personnel often oversee the work of contract security guards, the fact that they are not themselves covered is an inconsistency that ought to be addressed.”

As a result of the change proposed by ASIS, the bill now pertains to both proprietary and contract security personnel.

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