How Fingerprint Background Checks Can Enhance Your Company’s Security Measures

A reliable partner can ensure that your company uses the latest technology and best practices. Providers offer a nationwide live-scan collection network that’s as easy to use as your smartphone. Fingerprint background checks reveal an individual’s criminal history, including arrests, convictions, and interactions with law enforcement. They are a vital part of thorough vetting for positions that require trust, such as those working with children or vulnerable adults.

Prevent Fraud

A fingerprint background check is an integral part of any comprehensive vetting process. It is particularly effective for jobs that require trust, such as certain finance sectors and positions requiring security clearance. For such situations, it is crucial to prevent fraud and unethical behavior in the workplace. This can include embezzlement, data leaks, money laundering, and terrorism financing. A fingerprint-based background check can help you weed out unscrupulous candidates, curbing fraudulent activities in your company before they occur. The main benefit of a fingerprint-based background check is that it provides a more complete picture than a name-based background check alone. It can uncover information that isn’t easily accessible through a criminal records search. Additionally, fingerprints are difficult to forge and can be more accurate than other forms of identification.

Despite these advantages, fingerprint background checks have limitations. They can be misleading because they are only as complete as the corresponding arrest records. For example, arrest records don’t always contain information on the case’s final disposition, so an employer may miss out on a candidate with relevant experience if a fingerprint search turns up an arrest that didn’t result in a conviction. An electronic fingerprinting service allows you to avoid these limitations by using a live scan device, which automatically converts the physical print into a digital image. This is a more efficient process for the applicant and those handling the photos because it eliminates the need for ink. It also helps speed up the process by reducing turnaround time.

Reduce Risk

Fingerprint background checks are usually used to screen employees with high trust in vulnerable citizens, such as children or older people. However, it’s important to understand that this type of background check is far less thorough than a name-based search. This is because fingerprint-based searches only return information about criminal activity recorded with the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). This database contains 70 million records but doesn’t include any non-criminal convictions that a local police department or other government agency might report. Additionally, IAFIS is prone to errors and reporting problems, which can lead to incomplete or inaccurate data for employers that depend on this source of information to make hiring decisions. This can also disparate impact certain groups, such as people of color.

This is why finding a partner offering a full range of fingerprinting services is so important. Whether you’re looking to focus on turnaround time, improve the comprehensiveness, or leverage the latest technology, a reputable partner will provide a solution that fits your needs and budget. They’ll also help you navigate the complicated federal requirements and state laws to ensure you comply with the rules. Lastly, a partner that utilizes advanced digital fingerprinting solutions will help reduce the number of illegible results, which can significantly decrease your overall screening turnaround time.

Create a Safer Workplace

Fingerprint background checks can be crucial to an employer’s overall screening strategy. They help prevent fraud and provide a greater level of assurance for your company by verifying a candidate’s identity with the most unique personal identifier—their fingerprints. For many industries, fingerprint-based background checks are a legal requirement when hiring employees handling sensitive information or working with children or vulnerable populations. Fingerprinting also provides a more thorough picture of an applicant’s criminal history than just searching by name, as it reveals arrests and convictions that might not appear on a name-based check.

Enhance Your Company’s Security Measures

When an individual must undergo a fingerprint-based criminal background check for employment, licensing, or security clearance purposes, their fingerprints are captured and compared against federal fingerprint databases. This information is evaluated to determine if an applicant has the proper credentials to access sensitive facilities, people, or resources. This type of vetting is especially important in positions with high ethical standards, such as financial sectors, or for jobs that involve trusting others with sensitive information. But, while fingerprint background checks are an effective tool for protecting companies and employees, they have some limitations that can impact their accuracy. Unlike other forms of vetting, fingerprint-based federal criminal history background checks require an active effort from the candidate to complete. The applicant must go to a live scan service provider and submit rolled and flat fingerprints. Generally, these services will require two forms of ID and will provide an appointment time to visit the facility. Choosing the right partner to handle this screening process is vital. Your partner should help you navigate laws and regulations, communicate when there are delays due to weather or other factors, and be ready to adjust the schedule as needed. They should also be able to deliver results quickly so that you can move forward with the hiring process.