Co.;Background checks to become easier

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Background checks to become easierCBI putting criminal data on InternetBy Julia C. Martinez Denver Post Capitol BureauWednesday, December 19, 2001 - In a few weeks, ordinary folks with access to the Internet will be able to check the criminal history of just about any Colorado resident from the barber to the babysitter. Only two crucial bits of information will be needed - a name and a birthdate. And presto. With the tap of a key - and a fee of $5.50 charged to a credit card - the Colorado Bureau of Investigation website will yield an arrest record dating back more than 30 years, if there is one to be had. "The only thing that won't be there are records sealed, expunged or juvenile records," said Agent-in-Charge Susan Kitchen of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the agency overseeing the effort. Intelligence information on suspected terrorists and individuals under investigation will not be available, she said. The effort is being launched at a time when people are still skittish over the Columbine High School massacre and the September terrorist attacks, and when they tend to be more aware of the people around them, said the CBI's Bob Armstrong. Parents want to check up on their new neighbors, to make sure they're not sex offenders, or their children's friends. More companies want to make sure they know whom they're hiring. The number of citizens and companies seeking criminal background searches jumped 24 percent, from 257,992 in 1999 to 320,486 in 2000, CBI records show. This year, they're down slightly because of the economic downturn and fewer employers checking on potential new hires. But once the information goes on the Internet, CBI expects the number of citizen requests to jump significantly, Kitchen said. Arvada resident Maura Anderson welcomes the new service. "I feel more leery since Columbine. Everyone is on edge," she said. "I like the idea of being able to check up on people," she said. "It's a safety precaution, especially if I were a parent." Tony Dion of Howell, Mich., who was visiting Denver on Tuesday, said he doesn't like the idea. Dion said that people who have been arrested, convicted and served their sentence should be able to live their lives without everyone in the neighborhood knowing their past. Under Colorado's open-records law, such information is already available for $10 by going to a CBI office and filling out a written request. Putting the information on the Internet will make it more accessible, more quickly. The information made available for $5.50 will include that person's sex, race, date of arrest, charge and the disposition, in most cases. "I bet a lot of people don't know they can get the information now," Dion said. "Having it online, a lot more people will use it because it's accessible." Colorado will be among the first states to have such a citizen online network. Florida, Texas and South Carolina are among the states developing or already operating online networks. As of November, the CBI's database contained 2,083,780 criminal histories, which will be available online, Kitchen said. The database is a fingerprint-based system, meaning anyone who was arrested in Colorado and fingerprinted will be in the system, whether they were cleared or convicted. Sex offenders who move from other states will be included, if they have registered with law enforcement. More recent arrests will contain the disposition - whether charges were dismissed or if a person was convicted and sentenced to prison. Older arrest records, however, might lack that, Kitchen said. Democratic Sen. Ken Gordon, a Denver lawyer, said he would prefer that only information on convictions be put online. "In the United States you're presumed innocent, and a mere arrest should not have negative consequences," he said. "If there's a way to limit information to that which contains a disposition, that might be better." http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%7E283956,00.html