TBI offers general public access to criminal background checks
NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has begun providing criminal background checks to the general public. At a cost of $29, anyone may see if a prospective employee — or suitor, for that matter — has been convicted of a crime in Tennessee.
“Hopefully we can give people peace of mind,” TBI Director Mark Gwyn said. “For whatever reason they’re requesting these checks, hopefully this will tell them whether or not that person has a clean record.”
The information already is available — if someone has time to go to all 95 courthouses in the state and track it down.
“Now it’s in one place, and we can provide it to them,” Gwyn said.
TBI spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson said the checks take about a week to process. The application can be obtained at the TBI’s Web site and mailed to headquarters, along with payment.
She said TBI is prepared to process up to 60,000 background checks a year. The new budget included funds to beef up the staff, not just for publicly requested checks but for statutorily mandated ones as well. The Bureau established the Tennessee Open Records Information Services (TORIS) unit to process all of them.
There are about two dozen situations where a background check is mandated by state law, such as the hiring of anyone working with children — as in a day care, or a school. The TBI runs about 7,000 of those a month, Johnson said.
Cities and counties also run checks on their employees.
The legally mandated checks are national in scope; the publicly offered ones are for criminal convictions within Tennessee only. The checks include misdemeanor and felony arrests.
The searches are name-based, and the TBI cautions that without a fingerprint comparison, it cannot ensure the name and information are an exact match.
If a search is conducted and records found, all information will be presented to the requester.
“This makes it much easier for small businesses to perform the due diligence that is necessary for them to protect themselves from lawsuits that result from hiring people with shady backgrounds,” said Rob Ikard, state director for Tennessee members of the National Federation of Independent Business.
“Small businesses find themselves targeted by lawsuits more and more, and are held liable just for employing the wrong person. Any resource that will help small business owners know they’re hiring people with good backgrounds is most welcome.”
Gwyn said the TBI doesn’t ask why the request is being filed.
“This is the same information anybody could walk down to the courthouse and get. It’s public record,” he said. “It’s not like we’re giving out something secret.
“We’re excited about the program. We think we’re giving the public an opportunity and a service that’s never been extended to them before. It’s a great opportunity and we hope people will take advantage of it.”
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On the Net:
http://www.tbi.state.tn.us