Tag: criminal history record check

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Division on Licensing Background Screening

Fingerprinting for “D” Security License and “C” Private Investigator License in Florida

Per Florida Statute 493, the Division of Licensing of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is responsible for security officers (“D” License) and private investigator licensing (“C” License) in Florida . Background screening is a part of license application, and it is conducted by submitting the set of fingerprints for FBI Level 2 Background Check. Submission can be made by hard copy or via live scan vendors approved by FDLE and DOACS.

 

During D license application processing the Division of Licensing will request an examination of fingerprint records and police records. When a criminal history analysis of any applicant under chapter 439 is performed by means of fingerprint card identification, the time limitations prescribed by s. 120.60(1) shall be tolled during the time the applicant’s fingerprint card is under review by the Department of Law Enforcement or the United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation.

 

If a legible set of fingerprints, as determined by the Department of Law Enforcement or the Federal Bureau of Investigation, cannot be obtained after two attempts, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services may determine the applicant’s eligibility based upon a criminal history record check under the applicant’s name conducted by the Department of Law Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A set of fingerprints taken by a law enforcement agency and a written statement signed by the fingerprint technician or a licensed physician stating that there is a physical condition that precludes obtaining a legible set of fingerprints or that the fingerprints taken are the best that can be obtained is sufficient to meet this requirement.

 

If you are applying for Florida Security or Private Investigator License in Miami, Broward, Palm Beach or Martin counties, please call IDENTICO today, for in office or mobile fingerprinting appointment. IDENTICO is FDLE approved Live Scan vendor, and we use electronic fingerprinting solutions in transmitting your fingerprints for FBI Level 2 Background Check, so Division of Licensing receives the results of screening in as less as 72 hours. The cost of screening is $48.25. Visit our official website www.myidentico.com or call us today (954) 239-8590. We have an open door policy at our office located at 3948 Pembroke Road, Suite E, Pembroke Park, FL, 33021, however if you would like to schedule an appointment at certain time, please visit http://www.myidentico.com/hitappoint/ and we’ll serve you first regardless of any wait line.

 

Sincerely,

IDENTICO LLC.

Categories
DCF Background Screening Florida Department of Elderly Affairs Background Screening Professional Guardian Background Screening

Fingerprinting and Level 2 Background Screening requirements for professional and nonprofessional guardianship programs in Florida

For those individuals applying for professional and nonprofessional guardian programs with one of the county circuit courts, it is useful to know that guardianship procedures will require both criminal and credit investigations.  Criminal history search will be conducted by fingerprinting and submitting applicants’ biometric information to FDLE and FBI for state and national criminal history search. As a helpful source we are pleased to post the F.S. 744.3135 in regards to the screening of professional and non-professional guardians in the state of Florida.

 

744.3135 Credit and criminal investigation.—

 

(1) The court may require a nonprofessional guardian and shall require a professional or public guardian, and all employees of a professional guardian who have a fiduciary responsibility to a ward, to submit, at their own expense, to an investigation of the guardian’s credit history and to undergo level 2 background screening as required under s. 435.04. If a credit or criminal history record check is required, the court must consider the results of any investigation before appointing a guardian. At any time, the court may require a guardian or the guardian’s employees to submit to an investigation of the person’s credit history and complete a level 1 background screening as set forth in s. 435.03. The court shall consider the results of any investigation when reappointing a guardian. The clerk of the court shall maintain a file on each guardian appointed by the court and retain in the file documentation of the result of any investigation conducted under this section. A professional guardian must pay the clerk of the court a fee of up to $7.50 for handling and processing professional guardian files.

 

(2) For nonprofessional guardians, the court shall accept the satisfactory completion of a criminal history record check as described in this subsection. A nonprofessional guardian satisfies the requirements of this section by undergoing a state and national criminal history record check using a fingerprint card. The clerk of the court shall obtain fingerprint cards from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and make them available to nonprofessional guardians. Any nonprofessional guardian who is so required shall have his or her fingerprints taken and forward the completed fingerprint card along with the necessary fee to the Department of Law Enforcement for processing. The results of the fingerprint card criminal history record check shall be forwarded to the clerk of the court, who shall maintain the results in the nonprofessional guardian’s file and make the results available to the court.

 

(3) For professional guardians, the court and the Statewide Public guardianship Office shall accept the satisfactory completion of a criminal history record check by any method described in this subsection. A professional guardian satisfies the requirements of this section by undergoing:

 

(a) An electronic fingerprint criminal history record check. A professional guardian may use any electronic fingerprinting equipment used for criminal history record checks. The Statewide Public guardianship Office shall adopt a rule detailing the acceptable methods for completing an electronic fingerprint criminal history record check under this section. The professional guardian shall pay the actual costs incurred by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Law Enforcement for the criminal history record check. The entity completing the record check must immediately send the results of the criminal history record check to the clerk of the court and the Statewide Public guardianship Office. The clerk of the court shall maintain the results in the professional guardian’s file and shall make the results available to the court; or

 

(b) A criminal history record check using a fingerprint card. The clerk of the court shall obtain fingerprint cards from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and make them available to guardians. Any guardian who is so required shall have his or her fingerprints taken and forward the proper fingerprint card along with the necessary fee to the Department of Law Enforcement for processing. The results of the fingerprint card criminal history record checks shall be forwarded to the clerk of the court, who shall maintain the results in the guardian’s file and make the results available to the court and the Statewide Public guardianship Office.

 

(4)(a) A professional guardian, and each employee of a professional guardian who has a fiduciary responsibility to a ward, must complete, at his or her own expense, a level 2 background screening as set forth in s. 435.04 before and at least once every 5 years after the date the guardian is registered. A professional guardian, and each employee of a professional guardian who has a fiduciary responsibility to a ward, must complete, at his or her own expense, a level 1 background screening as set forth in s. 435.03 at least once every 2 years after the date the guardian is registered. However, a professional guardian is not required to resubmit fingerprints for a criminal history record check if he or she has been screened using electronic fingerprinting equipment and the fingerprints are retained by the Department of Law Enforcement in order to notify the clerk of the court of any crime charged against the person in this state or elsewhere, as appropriate.

 

(b) All fingerprints electronically submitted to the Department of Law Enforcement under this section shall be retained by the Department of Law Enforcement in a manner provided by rule and entered in the statewide automated fingerprint identification system authorized by s. 943.05(2)(b). The fingerprints shall thereafter be available for all purposes and uses authorized for arrest fingerprint cards entered in the Criminal Justice Information Program under s. 943.051.

 

(c) The Department of Law Enforcement shall search all arrest fingerprint cards received under s. 943.051 against the fingerprints retained in the statewide automated fingerprint identification system under paragraph (b). Any arrest record that is identified with the fingerprints of a person described in this paragraph must be reported to the clerk of court. The clerk of court must forward any arrest record received for a professional guardian to the Statewide Public guardianship Office within 5 days. Each professional guardian who elects to submit fingerprint information electronically shall participate in this search process by paying an annual fee to the Statewide Public guardianship Office of the Department of Elderly Affairs and by informing the clerk of court and the Statewide Public guardianship Office of any change in the status of his or her guardianship appointment. The amount of the annual fee to be imposed for performing these searches and the procedures for the retention of professional guardian fingerprints and the dissemination of search results shall be established by rule of the Department of Law Enforcement. At least once every 5 years, the Statewide Public guardianship Office must request that the Department of Law Enforcement forward the fingerprints maintained under this section to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

 

(5)(a) A professional guardian, and each employee of a professional guardian who has a fiduciary responsibility to a ward, must complete, at his or her own expense, an investigation of his or her credit history before and at least once every 2 years after the date of the guardian’s registration with the Statewide Public guardianship Office.

 

(b) The Statewide Public guardianship Office shall adopt a rule detailing the acceptable methods for completing a credit investigation under this section. If appropriate, the Statewide Public guardianship Office may administer credit investigations. If the office chooses to administer the credit investigation, the office may adopt a rule setting a fee, not to exceed $25, to reimburse the costs associated with the administration of a credit investigation.

(6) The Statewide Public guardianship Office may inspect at any time the results of any credit or criminal history record check of a public or professional guardian conducted under this section. The office shall maintain copies of the credit or criminal history record check results in the guardian’s registration file. If the results of a credit or criminal investigation of a public or professional guardian have not been forwarded to the Statewide Public guardianship Office by the investigating agency, the clerk of the court shall forward copies of the results of the investigations to the office upon receiving them.

 

(7) The requirements of this section do not apply to a professional guardian, or to the employees of a professional guardian, that is a trust company, a state banking corporation or state savings association authorized and qualified to exercise fiduciary powers in this state, or a national banking association or federal savings and loan association authorized and qualified to exercise fiduciary powers in this state.

 

History.—s. 30, ch. 89-96; s. 1076, ch. 97-102; s. 2, ch. 97-161; s. 10, ch. 99-277; s. 5, ch. 2002-195; s. 10, ch. 2003-57; s. 114, ch. 2003-402; s. 12, ch. 2004-260; s. 22, ch. 2004-267; s. 8, ch. 2006-178; s. 1, ch. 2007-127.

 

As part of application with probate division of circuit courts each guardian will be required to accompany the Copy of the Court Monitor’s Approval for Year, Professional Guardian Processing Fee, Registration with Statewide Public Guardianship Office, and the copy of the blanket bond. In addition to the guardian will have to provide the proof of level 2 background screening clearance. The consent for a background check in accordance with Florida Statutes Chapter 744 which includes, but may not be limited to, a check of credit, FDLE, FBI, employment, and Department of Children and Families will be required from guardianship applicant.

 

IDENTICO is FDLE authorized live scan vendor with the capacity to electronically fingerprint and submit the data for level 2 background screening. We are currently serving professional guardian and nonprofessional guardians in Miami-Dade Court, Broward Court and Palm Beach County Court. Call us at (954) 239-8590 and don’t hesitate to ask your questions. For more inforamtion or to schedule an appointment please visit us online at http://www.myidentico.com

Sincerely,

IDENTICO LLC.

Categories
AHCA Background Screening APD Background Screening DCF Background Screening

Level 2 Background Screening for Hospitals in Florida

The chief compliant officer for one of the Florida’s largest Health Care networks contacted us and requested more information about options on how hospital staff can be fingerprinted as part of Level 2 Background Screening.

 

Currently the Level 2 Background Clearance is required by AHCA only for hospital staff working within mental health or psychiatric units, hospitals’ CEO and CFO. However, we wanted to provide our potential client with all possible options, especially counting that network includes several children’s hospitals and NICU units.

 

The Letter

Dear, South Florida’s Leading Health Care Network.

We wanted to make a sufficiently broad research, including advice from a legal consultant before we responded with set of solutions IDENTICO may offer to your organization which includes numerous hospitals.

The answers were in FAQ format, and we decided to share it will all readers who may find these solutions interesting and appropriate for own healthcare facility.

 

1.      What does Level 2 Background Check refers to?

 

Level 2 Background Check is the term used in Florida Statutes to convey the method of the criminal history record check and the extent of the data searched. However, the terms may also refer to certain disqualifying offenses if certain statutes are referenced. Level 2 is the term that pertains only to Florida and is not used by the FBI or other states. They are defined in Chapter 435, Florida Statutes (F.S.), but are used elsewhere in statute without definition and appear not to be associated with all of the provisions in Chapter 435, F.S.

Level 2 generally refers to a state and national fingerprint based check and consideration of disqualifying offenses, and applies to those employees designated by law as holding positions of responsibility or trust. Section 435.04, F.S., mandates Level 2 security background investigations are conducted on employees, defined as individuals required by law to be fingerprinted pursuant to Chapter 435, F.S.

 

It should be noted that both the state and national criminal history databases can be searched for arrests, warrants, and other information pertaining to an individual. However, neither database has the capability of searching for specific offenses within an individual record.

 

2.      Is there a presumption against negligent hiring when an employer conducts a background investigation of a prospective employee?

 

Yes. Pursuant to Section 768.096, F.S., in the case of an intentional tort, an employer is presumed not to have been negligent in hiring an employee if before hiring the employee, the employer conducted a background investigation of the prospective employee and the information did not reveal any information that reasonably demonstrated unsuitability of the prospective employee for the work to be performed or for general employment. The background investigation must include a criminal background investigation.

The statute specifically provides if an employer requests and obtains from FDLE a state criminal history record check; the employer has satisfied the criminal background investigation requirement for the presumption.

 

3.      What are the requirements for a national criminal history record check?

 

National Check: The following must be in place, as required by the FBI, to receive a national criminal history record check:

 

  • A statute must exist as a result of a legislative enactment;
  • It must require the fingerprinting of applicants who are subject to a national criminal history record check;
  • It must expressly (“submit to the FBI”) or by implication (“submit for a national check”) authorize the use of FBI records for the screening of applicants;
  • It must identify the specific category(ies) of licensees/employees falling within its authority;
  • It must not be against public policy;
  • It may not authorize receipt of the criminal history record information by a private entity;
  • The recipient of the criminal history record check results must be a governmental entity;
  • The entity must sign a User Agreement indicating it will comply with the terms and conditions set forth in rule by the FBI; and
  • The fingerprint submission must be first processed through the state repository for a search of its records.

 

4.      What information from a state and national criminal history background check can be disclosed to a private employer?

 

Pursuant to federal law, regulatory and employing agencies may not share any information obtained from a state and national criminal history record check with a private entity. However, these agencies can indicate whether or not the person is eligible for licensing or employment based on their established criteria. Prior to being granted access to the records, authorized agencies must sign a Criminal Justice or Non-Criminal Justice User Agreement with FDLE agreeing to abide by state and federal law.

 

5.      Can a copy of the FDLE and FBI criminal record be provided to applicants if they are denied employment, licensing, or the opportunity to volunteer?

 

Yes. Applicants may be shown their own criminal record. A copy may also be provided, however, applicants must be cautioned the record may not be used for any other purpose. Applicants are not allowed to provide a copy of the record to any other organization.

 

6.      Is sealed or expunged information released as part of a criminal history record check?

 

Sealed information is disseminated only to those agencies authorized by provisions in Section 943.059, F.S. Agencies not specified in the statutes are not provided sealed criminal history information. Expunged criminal history information is not disseminated. However, a notification that a record has been expunged is provided to agencies consistent with provisions in Section 943.0585, F.S. Agencies not specified in the statutes are not provided the expunged notification.

 

7.      If a state and national criminal history record check is conducted, is it necessary to conduct a separate check of the sex offender registry for registered sex offenders?

 

No. If the state and national fingerprint based criminal his story record check is completed, the agency will be notified of all persons designated as sexual predators or offenders in Florida and in the national system.

 

8.      What is the Civil Workflow Control System (CWCS)?

 

Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) developed the Civil Workflow Control System (CWCS). CWCS, pronounced “QUICKS”, is an automated system used to receive, process and respond to electronic requests for applicant criminal history record checks. Processing that once took several weeks with fingerprint cards now takes 24 to 72 hours with electronic submissions. CWCS allows different types of applicants to be scanned on a single device and allows input from a variety of livescan devices that adhere to FDLE and FBI standards and requirements.

 

9.      How long does it take to complete a state and national criminal history record check when fingerprints are submitted electronically?

 

Typically, state and national criminal history record checks are completed within two to three working days of receiving the electronic submission. When a transaction is complete within the CWCS system, the results are posted to Certified Mail, a secure FDLE web mail application. The results will include both state and national criminal history information, as well as any warrants and other information related to the individual.

 

A result notification email is sent to the email address designated by the customer and will contain a link to this Certified Mail application. This notification will also contain descriptive information specific to the transaction.

 

10.  When can a non-governmental agency receive the results of a state and national background check?

 

Non-governmental entities are not authorized to receive both state and national criminal history information under statutory licensing and employment provisions. The only time non-governmental entities are eligible to obtain national criminal history information is through the VECHS program.

 

11.  What is the Volunteer and Employee Criminal History System (VECHS) program?

 

The VECHS program allows for qualified entities to obtain state and national criminal history record checks on individuals working with children, the elderly or the disabled.

 

12.  What is a “qualified entity”? Who can obtain criminal history background checks under the VECHS and Section 943.0542, Florida Statutes?

 

To qualify for the VECHS Program, an entity must provide some type of “care” or “care placement services” for children, the elderly or the disabled; even if it is only a limited part of the entity’s overall business. Once qualified to participate in the program, an entity may request criminal history information on all current and prospective employees and volunteers, not only those who work with vulnerable persons. A qualified entity may also request criminal history information on employees or volunteers who have or who seek to have unsupervised access to the populations described above.

 

“Qualified entities” are authorized to obtain criminal history record information as described under the NCPA and related federal guidelines. Under the NCPA and Florida statute, a “qualified entity” is a business or organization, whether public, private, for profit, not-for-profit, or voluntary, that provides care or care placement services, including a business or organization that licenses or certifies others to provide care or care placement services. “Care” means the provision of care, treatment, education, training, instruction, supervision, or recreation to children, the elderly, or individuals with disabilities.

 

13.  How does an organization enroll in the VECHS program?

 

If an entity meets the criteria of a “qualified entity”, they may download and complete a copy of the VECHS Qualified Entity Application and the VECHS User Agreement at http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/BackgroundChecks or contact the VECHS Unit at (850) 410-VECHS (850-410-8324), to request a copy of each document.

 

14.  Can qualified entities share criminal history information with other qualified entities?

 

Yes. Criminal history information may be obtained from other VECHS entities, if the employee or volunteer agrees to this on the VECHS Waiver Statement and Agreement form, required to be signed when he/she was fingerprinted, and if the transfer of information is recorded by the other qualified entity on its Dissemination Log. The restrictions on this process are described in the User Agreement. Entities must contact the VECHS Unit at (850) 410-8324 for entity verification before sharing criminal history information.

 

We believe the FAQ was able to expose all key points of FBI Level 2 Background Screening. Here are the solutions your Health Care Network may decide to implement with IDENTICO’s involvement:

 

a)      Community Mental Health & Crisis Stabilization Units- Level 2 is required by AHCA, FS 435.04 & 394.875 (Adults) and DCF FS 394, 435.04 (mental health facilities and programs providing care for children). Owner / Administrator, Financial Officer, Employees and Contractors Providing Personal Care/Services, Employees that have access to client property, funds or living areas, Directors, Professional Clinicians, Staff Members and Volunteers.

 

b)      Hospital, Surgery Centers and Diagnostic-imaging centers – only CEOs and CFOs are required by Florida Law to go through statutory background screening. Fortunately VECHS program makes FBI Level 2 screening available for all Staff Members. This type of organizations have a high chance to fit under the description of “qualified entity” and establishing VECHS number shall not be very challenging. Each entity will have a separate VECHS “E” (Employee) and “V” (Volunteer) number. As a live-scan vendor IDENTICO will keep that information on file ready for every screening.

 

c)      The cost. If your Health Care Network elects to follow with such screening procedures, and IDENTICO is granted with an opportunity to exclusively offer the screening services, we will put all efforts to make the process as convenient and cost effective as possible. Our mobile units have the capacity to travel to all South Florida locations, no stress or hassle for employees. Our technicians are trained and certified. We possess both liability and property insurance, IDENTICO is liable for any damages which may possibly occur to costly live scan equipment, client facilities or employees during the scope of our services. Keeping potential volume and value of having your Health Network as the client in our mind, we are willing to be highly competitive and flexible with payment option and rates, and will be honored with opportunity to discuss it private meeting.

 

We assume there may be several questions you may need to be answered, therefore feel free to contact us anytime.

 

Best regards,

IDENTICO LLC

Office: (954) 239-8590

Fax: (954) 367-2256

www.myidentico.com