The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "criminal background checks" ...
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Good Gifts Gone Bad PART II
The authors investigated a car donation scam, with over $2 million dollars worth of vehicles that had been donated not going to their intended charities. This was the tip of other fraudulent activities by middlemen, hired by the charities to manage donations. Charities were not carrying out background checks on the middlemen, and some of these people abusing the system were already convicted criminals.
Tags: charities; car donations; fraud; vehicle donations; court records
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State of Denial
Arizona Child Protection Services is the state agency charged with protecting abused and neglected children. Until a new law took affect in 2005, CPS workers were not required to have background checks. A number of CPS caseworkers had criminal backgrounds and couldn't pass the checks. Unsure what to do, CPS didn't fire those workers and the situation remains.
Tags: Child Protection Services; criminal backgrounds; government workers; background checks; child abuse; neglect; Arizona Open Records Law
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Betrayal of Trust
This project focused on sexual abuse by teachers and other school employees against minors. The investigation found that potentially abusive teachers can slip through the cracks due to inadequate tracking of teachers by the state Department of Education, incomplete criminal background checks and poor communication among schools, courts and law enforcement agencies.
Tags: education; harassment; sexual abuse; child abuse; sex offenders; school; abusive teachers; principals; state government; city government; FOIA; background checks; MI Department of Education
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Recruiting Investigation
This investigation reveals that army recruiters are under such intense pressure to fill their quotas that they sometimes instruct enlistees to lie about vital information. Inside Edition documented recruiters telling enlistees to lie about drug use, medical conditions and criminal records.
Tags: Army; Military; armed forces; recruits; drug use; criminal records; background check
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School Felons
In this investigation of non-teaching school workers in Cleveland, Ohio, it was found that more than a dozen have felony records. Many were child molesters, drug dealers, and elderly abusers. It was also found that criminal background checks were done randomly...less than five hundred random checks a year...which meant over four thousand employees were not checked. As a result to this investigation, a computer program tracking criminal records in over 70 jurisdictions was donated and ex-con workers were fired.
Tags: school workers; ex-cons; child molesters; background checks; criminal records
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No Record Found
WTHR Eyewitness News Investigators made a troubling discovery that threatens public safety: Indiana State Police criminal background checks often fail to show the record of dangerous criminals - including child molesters, burglars, and even murderers. Last year alone, the system was used 300,000 times by schools, daycares, nursing homes, and youth leagues.
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The Dangers of Daycare
The story exposes the fact that day-care centers responsible for tens of thousands of Ohio children routinely keep their state licenses despite repeated violations of state laws designed to protect children. State inspections of 615 licensed day-care centers in Franklin and surrounding counties found that 59% of day-care centers failed to run a criminal background check on workers, 39% of the centers were understaffed, 22% did not post their state-inspection reports, 51% of the centers had conditions that were unsafe for children, and 56% of the centers hired staff or administrators who were unqualified.
Tags: day-care; criminal background check; Ohio Department of Job and Family Services; violations; Action for Children; Ohio Association for the Education of Young Children; United Way; inspectors; Children's World Learning Center; license revocation
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Teachers' Dirty Look
After 40 school teachers had been fired and 50 others under investigation for sexual misconduct with students, the Boston Magazine finds out a loophole because of which these teachers could have criminal records elsewhere and can still be hired. These offenders benefit from the fact that the Massachusetts criminal background checks only occur within the state and not in any other state.
Tags: sexual assault; sexual misconduct and teachers; state law; Department of Education
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Code Blue, Code Red
An investigation by WMAQ-TV revealed that "repeat drunken driving offenders, domestic batterers, cocaine dealers, burglars, stalkers and other violent criminals" all work as Chicago police officers, firefighters and paramedics. "During a yearlong investigation, (WMAQ-TV) conducted background checks on eighteen thousand police officers, firefighters and paramedics. After obtaining internal employee lists for both departments, (WMAQ-TV) began checking individual records the only way possible -- by looking up each name individually. ... The unprecedented investigation uncovered 139 firefighters and paramedics with drunk driving arrests. ... (WMAQ-TV) uncovered 200 other firefighters with criminal records, from burglary to sexual assualt, who are still on the job. ... In the Police Department, (WMAQ-TV) found at least 100 officers on the job despite drunk driving arrests. Also uncovered, police officers drinking in front of superiors and officers drinking while on the job. ... One of the most startling discoveries: 80-percent of the cases involving a Chicago police officer arrested by another Chicago police officer for DUI, was simply thrown out of court."
Tags: Chicago; police; firefighters; drunk driving; criminal records; officers; DUI; TAPE; TRANSCRIPT
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Criminals to the Rescue
A three-month, computer-assisted investigation of Florida's EMTs and paramedics revealed that the state certified hundreds of felons with violent criminal records to work as emergency care providers, despite convictions for violent crimes such as rape, child abuse, and even murder. It was discovered that these people were getting certified because the Florida Department of Health does not perform any type of criminal background check on its applicants.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Florida Department of Health; EMTs; paramedics; criminal background checks; emergency care providers