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CLV Listserv discussion about fingerprinting Hello California Library Volunteer Listserv! Last week on the literacy listserv, a city library wrote in to say that their City is now requiring that all volunteers for the City who are 18 or older, be fingerprinted, and asked others if and how they were doing it. Most of the literacy programs that have responded have said that they are only required to fingerprint those working with children, that they have developed cooperative arrangements for fingerprinting with their local law enforcement, and that the city pays for it . . . I'd be interested to hear what kind of experiences you all have with this issue . . . Carla
Lehn The San Diego Public Library has not started to fingerprint volunteers yet. But, it is coming! The City of San Diego's Personnel Department is requiring all paid staff and volunteers to be fingerprinted. The Personnel Department will absorb the cost of fingerprinting volunteers who have direct access to children. They are considering absorbing the cost of fingerprinting volunteers who work with other vulnerable populations, such as homebound patrons. Can you put this question out there: Has anyone been able to obtain a grant to cover the cost of fingerprinting and conduction background checks on volunteers? Alice
M. Moss Several years ago, the San Francisco Unified School District started to require fingerprinting for all school volunteers, even for the occasional speaker or performer from an outside agency or community based organization. A daunting task. They quietly gave up the plan after about six months of furious activity. I don't know whether the decision was made based on cost or administrative difficulties or a combination thereof. Deborah
Doyle The Fresno County Library fingerprints volunteers that read to children. The Department of Justice processes the prints at no charge. It takes 1-2 months from the time the prints are submitted to DOJ to get the results back from DOJ. Elizabeth
Barg Our City pays for the fingerprinting. As we have hundreds of volunteers this is costly so we have included some minimum # of hours required. For a time, they were going to require fingerprinting of youth volunteers as well but have decided against that unless in very particular situations. We have an outreach program in which Library volunteer, Homework Pals, work with children in afterschool daycare sites. Each volunteer, regardless of age, is fingerprinted and agrees to a computer background check conducted by the school district. The Library pays for the fingerprinting. This issue is timely for us. Would it be acceptable to ask those volunteers working with children to pay for their own background check? In addition would it be wrong to request a background check for only those we had doubts about? I realize asking volunteers to pay for their own check might discourage some from volunteering but those who agreed to it would probably make a longer committment. Members of our Volunteer Committee felt that to do background checks on volunteers serving in positions with direct access to children only might send the wrong message. They felt some perpetrators might volunteer for different positions, for example, to shelve books. They would not be fingerprinted, etc., but then come in contact with children when shelving in the children's area. Also, children do use sections of the library other than the children's area, and many children are in the library without their parent/guardian or a supervising adult. Alice
M. Moss We have been fingerprinting our "Homework Help" volunteers for several years. When the program first began, we were fingerprinting on hard copy fingerprint cards. Now, most of our fingerprinting is done through LiveScan, which is a great improvement. It is much more thorough and much faster (3 day response vs. a month or more.) We have different arrangements with different cities within the county. In one city, volunteers take the LiveScan form into the Police Dept. and they bill us for the cost of the roll fees (an expense which is in addition to the $32 cost per each LiveScan mailed to the Department of Justice.) In another city, the Police Dept. or city pays the roll fees and we only pay the cost charged by the DOJ. We did learn from the DOJ that there are many requirements and security steps that need to be taken with the LiveScan prints, such as who is allowed to handle criminal history response forms, confidentiality of information, and a lot more. You can go online to the Office of the Attonrney General for the State of California and read more about this. Their website is: http://caag.state.ca.us/fingerprints/forms/address.htm. Susan
LaPat I think it is appalling that an organization would ask a potential volunteer to PAY for their own fingerprinting!! I can not even imagine making that request to an applicant. I'm interested to hear more responses to this. We require only those working directly with children to be fingerprinted at this time. Ideally, I feel all applicants should be screened but the question is who will pay for this???? - not our beleaguered cities and counties during this budget crisis. Cookie
Allen At this time in history, I think having people fingerprinted who are going to work with children is a good idea. I do not think they should have to pay for it, however. Unless a person is put in a situation of fiscal responsibility (not considering the dollars of a friend’s group but a library volunteer in the library), I would not see the need to fingerprint them. I would think that, for the safety of the children, people would not object to being fingerprinted as long as this was a consistent practice. I don't know the cost but perhaps a Friends' group could underwrite this. --Karen Dyer, Dublin I hate to think that every volunteer should be fingerprinted (and the cost could be considerable given what info has been shared). I suppose social security numbers don't offer the "protection" that fingerprinting does. If too much checking is done on volunteers, I really think that would put them off and that the PR for libraries would be bad. And, if carried too far, we enter the realm of "invasion of privacy"--the very thing we are working so hard not to have happen with the USA Patriot Act! Does everyone have access to the list of registered sex offenders? I'm sure I'm being too naive about this. --Karen Dyer The Tulare
County Library doesn't fingerprint at this time. Our volunteers in the
children's area only work at children's storytimes or summer reading
programs with the library staff (never on their own). We will have to
do something when we start a homebound program or if we have any different
children's programs. Thank you for the information! I was wondering those of you who do *fingerprint volunteers* do you also *fingerprint library staff*??? I know of one public library who dismissed a male children's librarian because of some issues they were having. Stephanie Stokes yes All Library staff, as, indeed, all County staff, are fingerprinted as part of their initial orientation. Frances
Houser yes - ALL staff fingerprinted. So long ago that it seems like another lifetime, I worked for the State of CA and then the County of Alameda. I am also a notary. I have been fingerprinted several times. I never thought anything of it. Now, every issue that involves potential privacy invasion or the giving of personal information seems to be up for discussion and, even I, now have mixed feelings about it. --Karen Dyer We fingerprint
library staff that work in our two joint-use libraries housed in public
schools, as required by law. Other than, library staff is not
fingerprinted. The City of San Diego is fingerprinting all City employees, which includes all library staff. Alice
M. Moss The City of Escondido requires all employees to be fingerprinted and would like all volunteers to be as well, but cost is an issue. Cookie
Allen Hi everyone -- sorry I'm delayed in jumping in to this conversation . . . have been away from my desk. But thought I should reply to the question about if it would be OK to do background checks on just the ones you have "doubts about." One of the things I gleaned from my research on this topic is the subject of fairness to the volunteer applicants. I'm afraid if you only singled out some for review, that might be perceived as unfair. Your best source of information on this is your library's or City or County's Risk Manager or legal counsel. In the meantime, here's one of the main articles I used from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center to put my brief piece together on the subject -- worth the read! Carla I did some research on the volunteer background check and fingerprinting issue last fall, and developed a two page handout which may be of some help to those of you struggling with this issue . . . I've attached it here . . . hope it's helpful! As for paying for this, the literacy programs are mostly saying their city pays, and one mentioned asking a service club to fund it. Carla Lehn
A Word About Criminal History Background Checks . . . Note: This paper is not intended to be an exhaustive study on this topic, but rather is intended to raise issues for you to discuss with your City, County or District's Risk Management Department and/or legal counsel. Policies and procedures on this topic must be developed for your program, based on what roles volunteers play. If there is a broader volunteer program in your City or County, these questions may have already been addressed and procedures established, and a conversation with that volunteer program coordinator would also be a good place to start. This document was prepared in September, 2002, by Carla Lehn of the California State Library, with materials drawn from two sources: "Criminal History Background Checks," by John C. Patterson -- www.nonprofitrisk.org/csb/csb_crim.htm -- and information provided by the California Department of Justice. Introduction Organizations are responsible for taking reasonable measures to protect service recipients from harm. While not a panacea, careful screening of the staff and volunteers who work with vulnerable populations is an important risk management precaution. Many lawsuits against organizations are based upon allegations of negligence during the personnel selection process. Checking criminal history records of applicants for paid or volunteer positions who will work with vulnerable service recipients is a valuable tool in a comprehensive screening process. A criminal history record check is part of a screening process -- not a selection criterion. Before incorporating criminal history record checks into their screening processes, organizations should establish screening criteria -- clear guidelines stating which offenses are relevant; what offenses will disqualify an applicant; what other factors will be considered; and how the rights of the applicant will be preserved. Applicants Have Rights
Criminal History Record Checks in California The Department of Justice (DOJ) is California's state criminal history records repository. To gain access to those records, organizations must receive authorization. To do so, the City, County or District must have a generic resolution authorizing access to summary criminal history information on file with the DOJ. (Most jurisdictions have such a resolution on file already. If after research you find that yours doesn't, you can get your City Council, County Board of Supervisors or District Board to pass such a resolution. (Sample attached.) Send a copy of the resolution to the Department of Justice with a letter requesting authorization for the Library to access summary criminal history information. Once you receive the letter of authorization, you may begin the process of having applicants' records checked. While fingerprints can be taken manually on specially prepared cards, you may also have access to an electronic fingerprinting method known as "LiveScan." The applicant goes to a LiveScan site in your community to be fingerprinted, and results are back within 72 hours. Usually local Sheriff or Police Departments have the LiveScan equipment, but other organizations such as Social Services Departments or County Offices of Education may also have it available. (LiveScan terminal locations in California are available from the DOJ by calling (916) 227-5777.) You must complete an application to be eligible to use the LiveScan approach, and you can get one by contacting Mr. Ulric Belaire of the DOJ at (916) 227-5226. The Department of Justice charges a $32 fee for processing each LiveScan request. Results will be California criminal records only -- they provide no national FBI records access for cities and counties. In addition, the owner of the local LiveScan equipment may also charge you a fee for its use. Conclusion Although criminal history record checks have limitations, one value they appear to have is to discourage individuals who have disqualifying criminal history records from applying for positions when organizations publicize the fact that they conduct criminal history record checks. They also identify many individuals who have been convicted of offenses and attempt to gain access to potential victims through volunteer or paid positions. While criminal history record checks can be a valuable risk management tool, they are not a complete answer. Additional aggressive steps to be taken to ensure the safety of those you serve should include thorough screening, including reference checks, as well as adequate training and supervision. Supervision practices should permit close monitoring of volunteers and staff relationships with children and other vulnerable service recipients.
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