How Continuous Criminal Monitoring Has Changed the Contractor Risk Management Industry

Background Screening | Risk Management | June 6, 2022

Background Checks, and the contractor risk management industry overall, haven’t changed much in the last decade…that is until the advent of continuous criminal monitoring.

This change, which has occurred in the last three to four years, is gaining support and becoming a key tool for the contractor risk management industry, specifically as it applies to in-home contractors. Interestingly, risk itself has increased a great deal during this same timeframe and with social media, an increasingly litigious environment, and competitive pressures also mounting, any opportunities for organizations to better protect themselves is important.

What is Continuous Criminal Monitoring?

Continuous criminal monitoring is a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) compliant service that provides near real-time alerts on U.S. arrest, booking, or incarceration activity that occurs within a contracted service network. Using the individual’s name, and date of birth, this service will provide access to data from US county jails, courts, and Department of Corrections facilities. The continuous monitoring will typically provide notice to PlusOne within 24 hours of an incarceration, booking, or another relevant event. 

Criminal monitoring is focused specifically on county criminal record searches and an individual contractor is included in the program after an initial more fulsome background check has been completed. Individuals must meet other criteria for the customer’s contractor program to be included in the monitoring population. This ensures the correct and updated information is on file for the contractor, the appropriate disclosures have been made and authorizations have been obtained. After all, if they don’t meet the customer’s initial requirements, there is no need to maintain an ongoing eye on their behavior.

The addition of monitoring to an organization’s risk mitigation program provides a more proactive method to mitigate operational, legal, reputational, and financial risk across their service network between the full background screenings which are often completed every two years. Monitoring does not replace a comprehensive background check but the most active area of issues that are seen in networks tends to occur at the county criminal level.

By providing data to organizations during this interim timeframe between background checks, they can determine if there is a more immediate element of risk that needs to be addressed. In some cases, the issue may not be relevant or of impact. In other cases, a customer may decide to monitor the issue through the judicial process or even take immediate action to remove the contractor from their service network. 

How Your Contractor Risk Management Program Can Benefit from Continuous Criminal Monitoring

Looking to a greater strategy, this offering is best supported when used with a self-reporting policy, and contractual language with network providers. This ensures that individuals, and their servicing companies, understand that the authorization status granted to the contractor after their screening is an ongoing commitment and not provided in perpetuity. Should any requirement upon which that authorization was granted change, there would be notification to the Customer so they could review the specifics of the situation and determine if the issue is of impact. 

Criminal monitoring has allowed organizations to keep a closer eye on their service network of contractors, has provided an interim measure to understand how their contractors are behaving, and most importantly, adds another risk mitigation tool to the organization to protect their brand, customers and reputation.

Contents are provided for information purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. Users are reminded to seek legal counsel with respect to their obligations and use of PlusOne Solutions services.

About PlusOne Solutions

PlusOne Solutions has been an industry leader in the risk management field by specializing in compliance programs that meet the complex challenges of geographically dispersed contractors, vendors, and employee networks. PlusOne Solutions protects companies from possible financial, legal, and reputational risks associated with contractor and vendor relationships while creating safer work environments. To learn more, visit https://www.PlusOneSolutions.net.