Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Police Officer facing discipline over background checks



Lisle Illinois officials want to fire a former police officer of the year after allegations surfaced that he made numerous illegal background checks for a school district and worked a private job when he should have been at Lisle High School or home on sick leave, records show.

Officer Brett Lauten, a 10-year veteran of the force, was suspended without pay after a Lisle Fire and Police Board meeting Nov. 7.

The Police Department liaison at Lisle High School from 2004 through at least 2007, Lauten also has worked as a private security guard for the Olive Trees Condominium Association in Naperville since 2005, according to an administrative complaint released to the Tribune under the Freedom of Information Act.

Lauten, 32, of Naperville, referred questions to his attorney, Richard Reimer, who declined to comment.

The officer's "egregious" actions make up "a pattern of continuing misrepresentation" that calls "into question Officer Lauten's honesty and integrity," according to the complaint, filed by Police Chief Michael Damico.

Lauten did background checks on behalf of Lisle School District 202 personnel through a state police database that legally can only be used for law-enforcement purposes, according to the complaint. Through Lauten, district personnel used the database as a "back door" way of quickly checking on people working for the district, coming into school buildings or contracting with the district.

Records showed that Lauten ran 91 such checks, although when questioned by police officials, he claimed to have made 8 to 10.

"Lauten circumvented ... state law" and helped district employees shirk "their legal obligations to the children attending their schools," the complaint states.

Use of the database bypassed a slower method of checking fingerprints that state law requires school districts to follow.

Lauten called in sick "numerous days" that he worked as a security guard for the condo association, adding up to almost four weeks in 2006 alone, according to the complaint. He was paid for the sick days and for work by the condo association, as well as for working at the high school and the condo complex at the same time, the complaint states.

Damico and Lisle High School Principal Ron Logeman declined to comment. Lisle Community Unit School District 202 officials did not return calls for comment Friday.

The Fire and Police Board must hold a hearing on the charges within 30 days.

The allegations regarding the state database have been referred to state police for investigation. In the past, the DuPage County state's attorney's office has filed criminal charges in similar cases, a spokesman said.

Lauten was one of two police officers of the year in Lisle in 2005 and honored in 2000 along with another officer for saving a man's life after the man had a heart attack, according to news reports

Posted by Pebi Services President Tyra Hearns

Friday, November 14, 2008

Policing the air marshals: Crimes within the ranks raises questions about agency's hiring


A recent article published in the Novemeber 13th edition of USAToday, concerning the hiring and background selection process of U.S Air Marshals, paints a disturbing picture of who is policing the friendly skies, and even more disturbing how they were hired. You can see the entire article by clicking HERE


Posted by Pebi Services President Tyra Hearns

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Nearly 100 security guards at immigration facility hired without background investigations



By Gene Johnson
Seattle Times

A privately run immigration lockup in Tacoma hired nearly 100 security guards without background investigations, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn't catch the practice for two years, court documents show.

Sylvia Wong, an administrator in charge of hiring at the Northwest Detention Center, pleaded guilty this week in federal court in Tacoma to one count of making a false statement, for lying to investigators. In her plea agreement, she admitted that soon after starting work in November 2005, she began hiring guards without background investigations "because of the pressure she felt to get security personnel hired at the NWDC as quickly as possible."

ICE auditors discovered early this year that 92 guards had been hired without the checks. The agency acknowledges that some of the guards have been fired following subsequent background checks, but won't say how many.

"In response to this investigation we have implemented a multi-tiered vetting process ... so that no contractor or federal employee has sole responsibility to process and approve employment documents," ICE spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said Thursday. "We have taken proactive steps to prevent this from happening again."

The Northwest Detention Center opened in 2004 and holds about 1,000 people accused of immigration violations, mainly detainees from Alaska, Oregon and Washington. It's run by the for-profit, Florida-based GEO Group Inc., with yearly reviews to ensure the facility meets ICE standards.

A GEO Group spokesman has not returned several inquiries from the AP about Wong's case, the latest on Thursday. Her lawyer did not immediately return a call.

On Thursday, ICE announced that 10,602 aliens had been deported from Alaska, Oregon and Washington in fiscal 2008 - a one-year record for the region and a jump of more than 35 percent from the previous year.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Brown said any pressure that Wong felt to hire guards quickly was self-imposed and did not come from higher-ups. If anything, he said, she was mostly trying "to make people happy."

When guards are hired at the detention center, they are supposed to undergo a preliminary background check. If they pass, they are given "entry on duty" forms allowing them to begin work pending a more thorough check, which can take several months to more than a year.

The plea agreement said that when Wong hired the guards, she fabricated "entry on duty" forms, allowing them to start work without any background check.

In February, ICE discovered that the guards had been hired without the checks and searched Wong's office. The next month, when agents questioned her, she insisted she had not manufactured the forms - hence, the "false statement" charge against her.

Brown said he did not know precisely how many of the guards Wong hired had been fired, but characterized the number as relatively small.

Asked what the number was, Dankers said, "I'm going to decline comment on that." Asked why, she replied, "Because I am."

She later called back to say policies prohibited her from discussing staffing levels - even though the number of fired guards has nothing to do with current staffing.

According to the plea agreement, the detention center has up to 200 security, administrative, medical, food service and maintenance workers.

Wong faces zero to six months when she is sentenced in February.

Posted by Pebi Services President Tyra Hearns

Friday, November 7, 2008

New Jersey Senate passes new background investigation bill


By Lauren Mortenson
The New Jersey Senate unanimously passed a bill last week that will revise the current background check requirements for all school employees who come in contact with students.

Sponsored by Sens. Loretta Weinberg, Barbara Buono and Shirley K. Turner, bill S-110 will revise the current criminal background investigation requirements for employees by requesting that all teachers and school district employees undergo a criminal background check. Besides the faculty and administration, people who are considered school employees also include bus drivers, cafeteria workers and janitorial staff.

The bill revises criminal history record checks for public and nonpublic school employees and bus drivers, and expands the list of offenses that would disqualify an employee from working at a school.

Buono said revisions to background check procedures are something she had been thinking about for a while.

"There were loopholes that needed to be closed," she said.

Since 1986, candidates for employment in New Jersey schools have been required to submit to criminal history background checks.

The bill states that "in order to assure the safety of school students and others in our schools, persons who come in contact with students or school property must possess the character and integrity necessary for their positions."

The bill also states that it is imperative that all employees, including those hired prior to 1986, and candidates for employment undergo criminal history record checks that are updated regularly.

All employees hired prior to 1986 as well as those hired before 2003 (before fingerprints were able to be taken electronically) would have two years to be fingerprinted by the state Bureau of Investigation.

The original criminal history background investigation was established in 1986, and the law at the time included a "grandfather" provision that said employees of a district who were hired before that date did not have to have their records checked.

According to the senators, applicants were fingerprinted before 2003, but once the background checks were complete, the files were destroyed.

Currently, the federal government does not have an electronic fingerprint database, so federal criminal background checks would be required every two years.

Additions were made to the list of offenses that would disqualify applicants and employees from working in schools. The current law provided that all first- and second degree crimes and other specified crimes would permanently disqualify a person from working in schools.

The senators added the crimes of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, human trafficking, peering [peering into windows or other openings of dwelling places], violating the Anti-TerrorismAct, and employing a juvenile in the commission of a crime.

"It's to protect our children from any form of danger," she said. "That's what the expansion clarifies."

The bill also adds an additional regulation to school bus drivers.

Information on all drivers or substitute drivers of vehicles operated by the Board of Education must be filed by the secretary of the board with the executive county and superintendent of schools. The information must include each driver's name, Social Security number, certification of a valid school bus driver's license, a criminal history record check, and evidence of a check for the driver's record of any alcohol- or drug-related motor vehicle violations.

The school bus driver will be permanently disqualified from his or her job if any offenses during employment result in conviction.

If any employee currently working in a New Jersey school facility is found with a criminal record that interferes with the provisions of the bill, he or she will be fired.

"Unless their crimes were expunged, which varies on the severity of the crime, they would be terminated," said Buono.

The reasons for employee termination will be identified in a written notice. Any employee who fails to comply can be subject to a fine of up to $500 for each incidence of noncompliance.

The bill is now headed to the Assembly for consideration. Buono said she is hopeful that it will pass and is encouraging that it be considered as soon as possible.

Posted by Pebi Services President Tyra Hearns