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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONSQ: Why should I hire a Private Investigator? A: In general, a qualified Private Investigator is a fact-finder. His or her knowledge, experience, skills, and contacts will provide the help you need to resolve your issues. At Orion International Corporation we offer a wide variety of investigations (see the section entitled SERVICES), pre-employment and pre-rental screening, public record and commercial database searches, Management Feedback Results (see below), surveillance, video inventories, hidden cameras, and immigration and security consulting. Remember, a qualified Private Investigator is just that, a trained investigator or fact-finder, who is hired to work for you. Orion International Corporation takes great pride in providing discretion and professional service at an affordable price. Q: Why should employers consider conducting background investigations on their prospective employees? A: Successful business owners and managers realize that they must invest in their business if they expect to prosper and the cost of interviewing, hiring, training, and retaining employees is very high, both in time and in monetary considerations. A major factor in the success or failure of any business is the quality, honesty, and stability of its staff. We have all seen many articles in the newspaper lately regarding employee embezzlement, internal theft, identity theft, and falsifications of resumes. At Orion International Corporation we have the experience and ability to offer the employer a written professional and confidential pre-employment background investigation. These investigations are tailored to fit the needs of our clients and may include criminal, credit, motor vehicle, educational, sexual and violent offender, professional licensing checks, social security checks, reference checks, and full resume verification. These checks are also invaluable to landlords prior to renting out their residences to prospective tenants and to individuals prior to entering into meaningful, long-term relationships. Q: Why are Management Feedback Reports (sometimes referred to as Secret or Mystery Shopping) beneficial to a business? A: As a business owner or manager you know how vitally important it is that your employees perform their duties and responsibilities in a friendly and professional manner. All customers draw conclusions about the quality of a business based upon what they see and experience (attitudes, knowledge, cleanliness, and service) at any given business. Management also wants to know what their employees are doing when they are away from the business and that their employees are complying with their policies and procedures. At Orion International Corporation we provide our clients with a professional and confidential written assessment of these important issues. Management Feedback Reports are tailored to address any specific aspect of your business to ensure that we satisfy your priorities and concerns. Management Feedback Reports allow you to see your business through the eyes of your customers or clients. In addition, if you have questions regarding the activities of off-site employees when they are supposed to be working (delivery drivers, for instance) Orion International Corporation can perform the needed surveillance for you. Q: What other services does your firm offer? A: See the section entitled SERVICES for an expanded listing of the services offered by Orion International Corporation. Q: What advantage is there to using a company licensed in Montana to conduct background investigations? A: You know that the company has met the requirements for State licensure and that they are properly insured. You have recourse, as with any State licensed profession, in the event that the person or company does not perform the services paid for in a legal and professional manner. A person licensed in the State of Montana is more aware of the laws Q: Is there a reason why I should not use a nationwide, out of state company, since some of them have cheaper rates? A: While oftentimes these companies are a little cheaper, many of them perform only countywide, as opposed to statewide, criminal checks. Most of these companies are not licensed to perform background investigations in the State of Montana and so using them may leave you legally liable if something goes wrong with a background investigation or if you are later sued due to an employee’s actions or inactions. There are also a number of valid reasons to use companies licensed in this State. First, since they are licensed by the State, you can be assured the company carries insurance, and that you have recourse in the event the company does something wrong or fails to perform a service that you paid for. Second, people in Montana are more knowledgeable about Montana statutes and regulations. Finally, you have the ability to meet personally with a representative of the company rather than merely talking on the phone to someone you have never met. Q: Does a company need to be licensed in order to conduct background investigations in Montana? A: In a written decision, dated July 2, 2004, the Montana Department of Labor and Industry’s Office of Legal Services addressed this issue. They stated that “It is the Board’s opinion that when an entity is in the business of performing these services [pre-employment background investigations] for any consideration whatsoever within Montana, the individuals employed by the entity and performing the above-described services must apply for and obtain licensure as private investigators”. Q: How do I know if an Investigator is properly licensed and insured to work in the State of Montana? A: The State of Montana requires that Private Investigators and those involved in Pre-Employment Screening be licensed (and have a minimum level of insurance) through the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. To determine whether a particular Private Investigator is licensed in this State, either call the State at #406-444-2387 or access their web site at: www.discoveringmontana.com/dli/bsd/license/bsd_boards/psp_board/board_page.asp Q: Is it permissible to ask an applicant to provide a Social Security number or date of birth? A: Yes, there is nothing in statute that prohibits any employer from requesting an employees Social Security number or date of birth. Both are needed to perform criminal checks as well as to verify that a particular Social Security number belongs to a particular employee. Of course, there are laws that prohibit discrimination due to age and other factors so, generally speaking, it is not permissible to make hiring decisions based solely upon someone’s age. Q: Can we obtain a credit report on our employees if they are applying for a high level position or a position where they will handle money? A: Yes, we obtain a large number of credit reports for our clients. Under federal law, we do need to have a signed release from the individual before we can request their personal credit report. Q: Do you need a signed release from an employee or prospective employee in order to perform a background investigation? A: While there are a few States that require signed releases in order to perform a criminal history check, the vast majority, including Montana, does not. A signed release is occasionally needed for driving records or reference checks and one is always needed to obtain an individual’s credit report. Q: Why is it important to include all names (especially for women) when performing background investigations? A: Criminal history checks are based upon names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers. Women change there names more often than men do. Often, there is no record under one name used by an individual yet there is a record found under another name used by that same individual. Q: Why should we use an outside company, rather than our own staff, when conducting background investigations? A: The advantages for using an outside company is that it saves time for your staff to be doing other things and it places a “buffer” between your staff and the information obtained in the event there are claims of favoritism or discrimination in the future due to the obtaining of derogatory information. Since a company like ours does this type of work on a daily basis, we have accounts with many States and can obtain results much quicker than can most private companies that do not have these accounts. Finally, each state has different procedures, requirements, and costs for performing these checks and if you are not familiar with that particular state it can take a number of long distance phone calls and more than half an hour just to find out what their procedures are. Q: What is the advantage of conducting a state-wide criminal check rather than a county-wide check? A: In Montana there are 56 counties. Many people live in one county and work in another. Most people travel throughout the State. If you query criminal records of only one county you greatly increase the possibility that you will not find other criminal records from other counties. A large percentage of those cases that we have worked where a person has a Montana criminal record, that record is not in the county where he or she is currently residing. Q: Is it possible to get a nationwide criminal check? A: While a number of nationwide companies claim to perform nationwide criminal history searches, they are misleading you. The FBI maintains the only nationwide database of arrests and that database is not available to non-law enforcement entities. What these companies do is query federal correctional indices and they call it a nationwide search. However, their search only involves people who have been incarcerated in federal facilities or for federal violations, a very small percentage of the total people arrested in the United States each year. It misses all of those people arrested by city, county, and state authorities. Q: What does it take to become licensed as a Private Investigator in Montana? A: In order to become a licensed Private Investigator in Montana you must have three years of police, investigative, or closely related experience; must pass a written test; must pass a criminal background check; and must provide proof that you are insured to the level prescribed by the State. Q: Besides criminal records, what else can be checked during a background investigation? A: We routinely conduct the following checks for our commercial clients: Social Security verification, telephonic and in-person reference checks, driving records, credit reports, professional licensing verification, education verification, violent and sexual offender checks, federal court checks (to include Bankruptcy), and complete resume verification. Q: What other services does a company like yours offer that might be of interest in a health care setting? A: In addition to those activities mentioned above, we also perform internal and external loss prevention, fraud, worker’s compensation, asset location, domestic, immigration and security counseling, and surveillance (including the use of hidden cameras) for a number of our commercial clients. We are also able to periodically warn our clients of particular fraud schemes, unlicensed practitioners, or other information that may benefit them. Q: Are out of state checks conducted the same way a Montana check is? A: Each state has different procedures. Some can be queried via special e-mail accounts while others require that a letter be sent along with a check. Some require a signed release (some need to be notarized) while others do not. Obviously, the response time for out of state checks can vary considerably. Q: If a company wants to hire someone immediately, what protection do they have if an out of state criminal check later comes in showing the applicant has a serious criminal record? A: We conduct a large number of pre-employment background and security investigations for a number of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Many of those investigations take months to complete. Those agencies, and a number of our clients, have a statement on their job application stating that any job offer is contingent upon the successful completion of the background investigation and that, even if hired, they can be fired if the results of that investigation later show serious derogatory issues. Many agencies and businesses (as well as federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies) also have a statement on their job application stating that material false statements on the application can be cause for dismissal. Q: What types of forms are required for your company to perform a criminal check? A: We request our commercial clients to provide us with a Signed Release and a Request for Investigation form that indicates exactly what investigations they want us to perform for them. In addition, we normally receive a list of references if they want us to perform reference checks for them. We supply an original of each of these forms to our clients for their use. Q: What is the average turn-around time for conducting background investigations? A: It varies depending on the number, type, and location of the various investigative checks that are requested. Normally, Montana criminal checks are completed and returned within 1 to 2 business days. Some states take as much as three or four weeks to reply. Our internal policy is that we send out the checks the day we receive a case and that we supply our client with a report, the day we receive the reply from the state. Q: Are employees that drive company vehicles, or drive their own vehicles on behalf of their company, required to have driving record checks conducted? A: While there are some professional drivers that are mandated by the state or federal government to provide records of their driving history, for the most part, any such requirement is a requirement of the business where the person works or their insurance company. More and more of our clients are finding that their insurance companies are requiring driving record checks for anyone that drives on behalf of the business. Q: Do DUI arrests show up on a Montana criminal check? A: In Montana, unlike many other states, a DUI (Driving Under the Influence) arrest does not appear on someone’s criminal history check until it becomes a felony, usually their third or fourth DUI arrest. That is why it may be very important to check a person’s driving record as well as their criminal record since any and all DUI arrests are shown on a person’s driving record. Q: What types of businesses use your services to conduct employment background investigations? A: We are very proud to be the Preferred Provider for conducting background investigations for the Montana Hospital Association. In addition, we routinely conduct employment-related background investigations for entities ranging from the smallest to the largest hospitals in the State of Montana, nursing and assisted-living homes, banks, schools and colleges, insurance companies, convenience stores, churches, commercial stores, daycare centers, temporary employment agencies, small personally owned businesses, law firms, and private individuals. Finally, we also conduct background and security investigations for a number of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies as well as for all branches of our military. We conducted approximately 1,900 background investigations in 2005 for our commercial and federal clients. Q: What types of crimes have you found for people applying for jobs here in Montana? A: We have found all types of crimes while conducting our pre-employment background investigations. We have found people applying for work in pharmacies with drug convictions. We have found applicants to hospitals and nursing homes that have theft, assault, and sex crimes convictions. We have also had a number of instances where job applicants were currently wanted by law enforcement departments, here in Montana and in other states, and those people have been arrested prior to beginning their sought after employment. Finally, we have also found instances of unlicensed practice, people who are professionally disbarred, and people who have falsified their resumes and/or job application paperwork. Q: Are criminal records available for minors under the age of eighteen? A: Records pertaining to minors are often more difficult or impossible to obtain, depending on the jurisdictions involved. On the other hand, most jurisdictions now prosecute minors as adults if the crimes they were involved with are serious in nature. In those cases the criminal history records would be available. We have found that some minors are included in state violent and sexual offender registries. Q: What are your fees? A: As with most Private Investigators, Orion International Corporation’s fees are normally based on an hourly rate plus any out-of-pocket expenses. Our mileage rate and per diem (if necessary) is the same as that allowed by the federal government. Due to the fact that our prices occasionally change, please feel free to contact us regarding our current prices for the services that interest you. Q: What type of commercial clients use your services? A: Our varied commercial clients include a wide variety of organizations to include the following:
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 CONTACT INFOMATION Orion International Corp. |
Links
Helena Area Chamber of Commerce Helena Area Crimestoppers Helena Police Department Lewis & Clark County Sheriff's Department Montana Department of Justice Montana Code Annotated Montana Child Support Enforcement America’s Most Wanted Amber Alert |
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