Do we run background checks on our volunteers?

Yes, we run background checks on all of our board members, head coaches, assistant coaches and Adult umpires.

In past seasons, we had our volunteers fill out a background check form, and then we ran a background using the Internet Criminal History Access Tool (ICHAT). This tool allows the search of public records contained in the Michigan Criminal History Record maintained by the Michigan State Police, Criminal Justice Information Center. We also did a search of the Michigan Sexual Offender registry. Since we are a non profit organization, we are able to access these tools for free.

Beginning in 2012, we will be using a service through our online registration system (Sportspilot) to perform the background checks. Our volunteers will simply fill out and submit a short online background check form.

Once the information from this form is submitted, a National Criminal Background Check is performed, and the results are provided to us via our online registration system (Sportspilot).

Through the National Criminal Background Check, we can discover any prison and probation sentences, offense history and more, for a particular volunteer.

These background checks access data from the Department of Corrections, Administrative Office of the Courts, and Sex Offender Registries covering 49 states, Washington D.C., Guam, and Puerto Rico.

These background checks cost our organization $6 per background check, and the organization that we use to actually run the background check is www.backgroundchecks.com.

We take the safety of the children in our programs seriously, which is the reason we run these background checks.