After an Oregon citizen brought up concerns about employees working at state emergency operations centers, state lawmakers are considering legislation that would make it mandatory for these employees to go through background checks. The concerned citizen, Paul Evans, stated that employees that work at emergency operations centers have access to a lot of sensitive information, like social security numbers, that could cause harm to others if it gets into the wrong hands.

In emergency situations, like when someone calls 911, they are often asked to give a lot of personal information that could be used to possibly commit identity theft, which is a problem nationwide. Though not common, data theft at 911 call centers has happened in the past and could certainly happen again in the future.

If the state decides to go through with this type of legislation, it would involve all emergency operations center employees and volunteers at the city, county and state level. Using a company like backgroundchecks.com could offer Oregon a fast way to implement a standardized screening program. They have specific products like the instant Single State OneSEARCH that will quickly search for criminal records throughout Oregon.

About backgroundchecks.com -

backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services.  Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/02/should_oregon_mandate_backgrou.html