Public Safety Issue

Evansville Needs an Ordinance Requiring All Employees of Evansville Contractors, Volunteers and those that have Direct Interaction with Children to Conduct Employee Background Checks.

We must ensure sex offenders stay away from our children and out of our homes. To do so, the city of Evansville should require that all contractors conduct employee background checks as is permissible under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows
Employers to conduct background checks and report all records that are publicly available. As a
City Councilman, I will push for new background check requirements for contractors and those that work with or around children to prevent convicted sex offenders from working inside our homes and near children. To ensure the protection of our children, we need to consider explicitly barring sex offenders from any chance of working in a home or near children. As a City Councilman, I will push for reforming the local licensing laws explicitly banning anyone that is a convicted sex offender from getting a contractor’s license that can be used for in-home construction, repair, or those that have direct interaction with children. Employers can no longer take job applications on face value. They should be doing public criminal record checks and various types of background checks on new employees.

Working With Children.

Because children are so vulnerable, anyone that will be working with them in any capacity should be subject to a background check that includes any public criminal records. Employment may be refused to those who will work with, or near children, even if the criminal action was not against a child. Anyone with an assault or personal crime history may be a danger to anyone considered powerless against him or her. If you are going to be working with children as a school bus driver, driving instructor, or teacher at a school or day care center, these types of charges on the public records would be problematic. Any type of job that involves children should make you more prone to scrutiny. Yes, I am doing this at my company; it does not mean I will not give people a second chance. It does mean if they have been convicted of an offence against a child or any such personal crime that may be seen as a danger to someone that is powerless against him or her they will not be given the job.

Cost to Business

Doing background checks should not be an undue burden to the businesses required to perform them under this ordinance. Hiring the best employees is the most important task for your organization. If they work with and through their insurance provider, they may even see a reduction in their liability insurance cost that will more than cover the expense of doing the background checks. My insurance company has a program set up through ISO, (Insurance Services Office, Inc), we are using IntelliCorp one of the companies owned by ISO, using
this service a background check cost me $9.95 in most cases. If the potential employee has lived in many different locations, the cost can go as high as approx. $35.00. It is important that the service used be accurate, reliable, timely, reasonably priced, easy to use, and comprehensive. IntelliCorp even has a service designed for volunteer based organizations. There are many more companies available to use, I am just using a company I am familiar with as an example.


E. L. “Lon” Walters