Vetting new employees or critical promotions in your organization?   What’s it all about? How much of a background check do you need?

Answer:  It all depends……

I have interviewed human resources professionals who have told me they do “background checks” on all their employees.  When I look at the file I see they have done local law enforcement checks, sometimes a credit check, but more often than not the “background check” is limited to checking references by phone. That’s fine if you are hiring a low risk, low access employee who cannot disrupt your business if they are dishonest.  You have to decide your tolerance for risk and weigh the cost of checking further.

Nothing replaces a good old-fashioned background investigation, done by a trained and experienced investigator. No computer search, survey tool or telephone reference is going to tell you what you need to know if you have to make a critical decision about someone who will have the access to do damage to your company or organization.  When you are an employer considering a candidate for employment you need to invest a little time and money in the right vetting process for your company and one appropriate for the position being filled.

If you are the person responsible for hiring in your company, what are you doing to ensure the person you interviewed and who impressed you is worthy of the trust and confidence you are going to give when you put them in a critical position in your company? What steps should you take to protect your company from a bad hiring decision? Is the new guy/gal a fraudster, thief or a bad employee moving from job to job?  The old saying, “Trust, but verify”, is critical to remember before you hire.

A good background investigation should focus on the whole person, their qualifications, character and past performance. This means going out, in person, and talking to former supervisors, co-workers, neighbors, references (both listed and those developed from other interviews). It also should include an integrity interview with the applicant to verify the statements made in the application process and give the individual the opportunity to disclose discrepancies or derogatory information omitted in the interview process. Often, when a person realizes an investigator is about to go asking people, in person, about their past activities admissions of prior acts of concern to the employer will be made.

The object of a good background investigation is to give the employer information they would otherwise have said they wish they had known. A trained, professional investigator can ask the right questions and will report all the relevant information.

In my past experience conducting internal investigations of serious criminal and administrative misconduct, allegations against people who had been granted security clearances, I would always read the pre-hiring background investigation report.  More often than not, I would see obvious issues that could have prevented the hiring of the person in the first place. Sometimes organizations under pressure to fill vacancies will rationalize away obvious issues, but the investigators report should at least provide the facts and the organization can decide what is acceptable based on the position and circumstances of the situation.

We offer professional investigative and security consulting services to businesses and would be happy to offer a complementary assessment to help you decide what is needed for your particular business situation.

Just call or email and we will help you out.

Recent events in Nice, Paris, Dallas, Orlando and San Diego have ramped up the media coverage of the “Lone Wolf” attacker.   The thing is, this is nothing new.  Individuals can be inspired by whatever the inspiration flavor of the month may be.  Radical Islamic fundamentalism, anti abortion fanatics, hate inspired violence directed at minorities, the lists go on and on, and individual “lone wolf” attackers have been directing violence towards innocents for a very long time all over the world.

What do we do about it here in the U.S.?  Buy guns, arm guards, hire more police, pass laws restricting guns, cut immigration, add metal detectors? Pick your political position and drone on.  Adoption of new laws and restrictions, failure to adopt laws and restrictions, more of something and less of another are just attempts to add to our collective comfort level, but none of them address the root cause of the lone attacker nor do they address the simple ingenuity used in these attacks.  Our best  defense is prior intelligence work in identification, intervention and disruption before anything happens.

The perpetrators of these violent acts are disenfranchised, committed, often disturbed and looking for a way to attract attention to themselves and their cause through their violent outrageous actions.  They gravitate to a cause they can identify with and find a community of like-minded people, many of whom have no tendency to act out violently themselves, but who can see the ones among them who would.   The members of these groups just choose to say nothing, don’t want to be the ones who point the finger at a fellow believer or just assume it’s all talk.   It’s  no surprise to some of the people who know or interacted with these individuals that they have strong feelings about a particular cause, paying attention to what these outliers say and do is critical to identifying the potential attacker.  Often the trail to the attack is clear in hindsight, but identification and intervention with these ticking time-bombs is really not that tricky.  It’s the obligation of the people who don’t agree with our system to identify those among them who are likely to act out with violence.  Letting law enforcement and intelligence services have a look at the information and concerns can make a difference, not always, but it’s better than nothing.

Threat assessments of individuals are more art than science, it’s not a perfect world and sometimes law enforcement contact with one of these individuals comes to no end.  But, putting someone on notice they have appeared on the radar can sometimes be enough to disrupt their plans or put them on a path to other intervention.

See something, say something is more necessary within the circle of people who associate with these individuals.  The people who see the social media posts that make them nervous and don’t say anything are letting us all down. The freedom of speech we all enjoy is where we find the first clues to preventing attacks. If you are a member of a group, friend of someone who starts talking about taking action or who seems to become more intense and focused on radical ideas its up to you to say something.

If there is any comfort we can find in this situation, scary as it is, the fact the attackers are Lone Wolves may be an indication the actual operational reach of organizations like ISIL is limited to the use of proxy’s whom they can inspire from afar, which is better for us than fighting them in large numbers here.   Either way is bad, but one at a time we can deal with them. With help from the people who may see it coming, law enforcement can take action and has taken action to prevent, detect and deter these attacks.

Self-defense classes teach action is faster than reaction, this is the advantage of the Lone Wolf attacker.  We end up reacting and picking up the pieces, but its too late then. To defend ourselves we need to know the punch is coming. We can only find that out by our intelligence and law enforcement work before the attack. For that, someone has to say something, give the investigators a place to start before the Lone Wolf starts running loose.

Terrorism, disgruntled workers, active shooters all big news items. Scary stuff.  I am often asked by potential clients what they need to do about these things.  My response is this:  Do you have a fire drill in your building?  Do your employees know where to go in the event a tornado warning is issued for your workplace?  These things are drilled into us as kids and we are accustomed to the annual building drill where the orange hats and vests come out and everyone meets in a designated place.  It’s a good idea, it can save lives in an emergency but what are the odds of your building catching fire or being hit by a tornado?

Still, we do it because it’s what we are taught and ultimately the responsibility for safety and security in the workplace lies with the employer.

Having a plan for an active shooter in this age is also a good idea.  In law enforcement we are taught to prepare, train and have a mindset to anticipate and respond to terrible situations.  It’s the planning, preparing and training that get’s you through the situation and allows you to deal with things, and hopefully survive.

You are not going to instill this level of preparedness in a group of non law enforcement people, I’m not sure you should try.  Instead, give them the basics, a plan, somewhere to go with concerns before the incident happens and give them enough knowledge to know what to do if the worst case happens.  It starts with an assessment of your facility and some simple steps to make the plan.  Then, depending on your particular situation and circumstances, a little training and orientation goes a long way.

Just a thought.

Contact us if we can help your company.