Background Checks – All employees must be free from criminal or abuse history

Background Checks – All employees must be free from criminal or abuse history that could pose a safety risk to children. The following must complete and sign a Permission For Background Check form, which gives permission for a criminal background check, a Child Abuse Central Registry check, and validation of driving records, as applicable: 1. Applicants recommended for new hire, promotion or transfer to a position which involves contact with children; 2. Employees who may transport clients; and 3. Volunteers and interns assisting in a position which involves contact with children Any background checks may be conducted by MDCPS under the following guidelines: 1. MDCPS may fingerprint and perform a criminal record check on every employee, contract worker, intern, or volunteer (i) who has direct access to children or vulnerable adults, or (ii) who are in a position of fiduciary responsibility. Every employee is required to have a background check due to the sensitive nature of this agency. 2. Under this authority, it is the intent of the department to fingerprint and/or perform criminal record checks on any person who is employed, or who volunteers their service, as the department deems necessary. This may take the form of performing criminal record checks on all employees and volunteers of the department, only employees and volunteers of divisions of thedepartment, or only employees and volunteers of a part of a division of the department. 3. It shall be the policy of the MDCPS that all employees classified in positions designated by the Commissioner to be checked for a criminal record shall first have their identifying information (name, date of birth, and valid social security number or driver’s license number) checked against the Sex Offender Registry, Central Registry, and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database for any identifiable criminal records. If no criminal history is found on the state level, the employee will be required to provide fingerprint images. If fingerprint collection is necessary for newly hired employees, it shall take place within the first three (3) months of employment via accepted law enforcement methods suitable for analysis by fingerprint examiners. 4. The Division of Human Capital shall develop a method for the collection of fingerprint images in such a manner as to assure timely collection and a defensible chain of custody. 5. The Division of Human Capital may collect fingerprint images utilizing their trained investigators or may employ the services of a reliable third-party collector such as a local law enforcement entity, state law enforcement entity, or a federal law enforcement entity. 6. Each fingerprint image collected shall be forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for analysis against current national crime databases. 7. The identification of a past conviction for a felony or crime (either state or federal) involving the following may result in termination, or denial of employment, contract work, Internship, or volunteer work: a. Drugs, including but not limited to unlawful possession or distribution or intent to distribute unlawfully. b. Crimes against the person, including but not limited to abuse of a child or an elderly person, abduction, kidnapping, conspiring to detain a sane person in a mental treatment facility, murder, manslaughter, aiding another to commit suicide, poisoning, sexual crimes, assault and battery, mayhem, robbery, conspiracy or attempt to commit such crimes, or being an accessory before the fact to any such crime. Any offense against a child or a parent’s rightful custody and control of a child listed in Mississippi Code §97-5-1 through §97- 5-7, §97-5-23 through §97-5-41, or §97-19-53 is a disqualifying conviction. c. Weapons or explosives. d. Fraud, embezzlement, or extortion, including but not limited to violations of i. §97-19-3 9 (obtaining the signature of another under false pretense to defraud); ii. §97-19-71 (defrauding a state or federally funded assistance program). iii. §97- 9-85 (false representation of identity, social security number, or credit card number to obtain anything of value); iv. §97-45-19 (identity theft); or v. §97-45-3 (computer fraud) e. Election crimes; §97-13-25 (falsely registering to vote); §97-13-31 (influencing or unlawfully assisting a voter to mark a ballot); §97- 13-36 (voting in more than one place); §97-13-37 (procuring a vote through threat of violence or boycott); or §97-13-39 (intimidating a person to prevent voting); f. Cruelty to animals: §97-41-1 (torture or cruelly beat or mutilate a living creature); §97-41-16 (malicious killing, maiming, or injuring a dog); §97-41- 11 (staging fights between gamecocks or other animals); § 97-41-19 (staging fighting matches between dogs); g. Other crimes not specifically mentioned herein which, in the opinion of the Executive Director, may conflict with the mission of the department. 8. Upon the discovery of criminal conviction(s) pursuant to this policy, a committee composed of the affected division director, the affected deputy administrator, and the executive director will meet to decide the proper course of action. This decision will be based on the recency of the identified conviction(s), the nature and details of each conviction, and the identification of a pattern of convictions.