Background Checks May Not Be Enough

The NY Times reported on 2/15/2012 the amazing story of Edward Maher, the suspect in a $1.5M 1993 armored car heist in the UK.  Recently apprehended, for almost 20 years he had been on the run in the US.  He had a number of regular jobs including, including eight years at Nielsen, the television ratings company.  This says to me that background checks today are more important than ever.  Not only that, we must be sufficiently skeptical even of a clean background check.  Since Mr. Maher has not been convicted, he would have no criminal record.  Kevin Mitnick in his recent book documents his past employment at a prominent Denver law firm.  Human judgment must be added to any security information, including the background check.  You don’t want to be hiring the next Mitnick or Maher, without knowing anyway.