Interpol, founded in 1923 to help police fight trans-border crime, is the world’s largest international police organisation, with 181 member countries on five continents. Therefore this organisation can help you protect yourself against potentially dangerous criminals entering your organisation or home as an employee.
There could be nothing worse than hiring someone that you think is perfect for the position, only to find that they end up defrauding the organisation or stealing from you. There is nothing wrong with trying to protect yourself against such instances by investigating the criminal record of a potential employee.
One way of investigating whether or not someone has a criminal record is to use Interpol for access to crime and criminal information online. By doing so, you will be able to see if the person you are looking to employ has a criminal record in not only South Africa, but if there are any criminal judgments against their name in any of the countries that make up its members.
If you however only want to check if someone has a criminal record, then there are certain ways in which you can do so. Firstly, you can ask them to provide you with criminal clearance before attending an interview by means of supplying you with a police affidavit in order to prove that they have a clean criminal history.
Unfortunately in South Africa there is a lot of corruption in the police force and therefore this is not always reliable. Therefore a number of organisations have been developed that will help you check if someone has a criminal record. This is done by accessing the crime databases that are in existence and searching them for any blemishes on the individual in question’s criminal record. Many of these organisations will provide you with all the information that you need in order to clear a potential employee for occupation.
It is unfortunate that we have to conduct such searches, however it is completely necessary to ensure the wellbeing of not only you, but your staff. This is especially true if you are hiring someone to work with children or minors. You need to ensure that the person you are hiring does not have a criminal record for sexual assault or any child molestation reports against him/her. Imagine if you were to hire someone as a teacher who was a convicted child molester and something was to happen to one of the students in the school. Ignorance is no longer an acceptable excuse in cases such as this as the access to people’s criminal records is much more open than it was in the past.
Interpol has the records of any individual that has a criminal record in any of its member countries and therefore it can be used to check the criminal records of someone who you are looking to hire from a different country. What is more is that should a South African citizen commit a crime in a different country that is not reflected on a South African criminal record check, then it will be reflected on the criminal record clearance provided by Interpol. There really is no reason to let anyone come in to harms way anymore as each organisation can take the precautions necessary to ensure the safety of their staff and their families.
Why add more trauma to your life? Everyday South African’s have to deal with increasing violent attacks such as hijackings and rape, so why would you let anyone in to an organisation or your home without clearing their name before doing so?