Mike Levin: “I am introducing along with Senators Thompson, Lieberman and McConnell the Private Security Officer Employment Standards…”

“I am introducing along with Senators Thompson, Lieberman and McConnell the Private Security Officer Employment Standards Act of 2002, a bill that would provide private security firms an opportunity to gain access to national criminal history information to determine whether or not employees or applicants for employment pose a threat to the facilities and persons they are supposed to protect. Large numbers of critical non-governmental facilities, from power plants to schools to hospitals, are protected by private security firms and their civilian security officers. Keeping these facilities secure from terrorism or other forms of violent attack is critical to our national security. Yet currently most private security employers cannot obtain timely national criminal background check information on the very people they need to hire to protect these key facilities. This legislation seeks to correct that. This bill would authorize private security firms to request Federal background check information on current and prospective employees through the appropriate State agencies, thereby permitting firms to obtain relevant criminal history information they might not otherwise receive.”