People Sharing the Same Name!? That’s Criminal!

Posted by VickyC on November 11th, 2009


In the UK alone, during the last six years, over 15,000 people have filed complaints with the Criminal Records Bureau to refute the information that is being released to potential employers. Last year the equivilant of seven people challenged the CRB – twice the figure from 2002-2003.
The reasons given for the errors range from the individuals having similar personal details to an offender, to mistakes made on court and police records. Also, the increase in identity theft has greatly elevated the problem.
In the last few weeks, it has emerged that over 11 million adults will need to be checked on a database operated by the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). These background checks will be required for people who intend to work with children or vulnerable adults – this goes so far as to include parents who voluneer to take young students to school related events.
Although so far the number of disputed cases has remained quite small, the long term implications of these false records will cost people their jobs and ruin peoples lives. It is the responsibility of these record keeping organizations to ensure that the sensitive information they are keeping is 100% accurate. It is ludicrous to think that people could be branded as criminals simply because they share the same name as a criminal or that they have been the victim of identity fraud. It’s like labelling someone as a criminal and letting the real offender slip through the net. It’s just not right!
In response, a spokesperson from the CRB said that their checks have prevented nearly 100,000 unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, but they fail to aknowledge the implications that these mistakes have had on people: “This is not about the CRB making mistakes – information released on a CRB check can be disputed for a number of reasons”. Of course it can be disputed, but it probably takes YEARS for them to go back into their files and look for their mistakes, during which time, the poor person who’s information is wrong cannot find a job, go to the park with their child.. They would probably be better off changing their name than trying to convince these box-ticking beaureaucrats of their mistakes!
On that note, I wonder how many “Gordon Brown’s” have a criminal past!! And why all the lists and checks and databases? It’s supposed to be for our benefit and to protect children, but in all honesty, the current government with their stupid legislations couldn’t organize a piss up in a brewery! And they want to trace everything down to text messages and phone calls, but can’t get simple details right?! I mean, I’m all for the government ensuring the safety and security of the population, but the fact that they are keeping ALL records indefinitely is not acceptable. Records for minor infringements should be cleared – especially when they are irrelcant to the type of job that is being applied for. Otherwise, eventually no one will stand a chance of doing anything! If a person was accused of being a criminal when they weren’t, they would be fully within their rights to sue for slander and defamation of character. The fact that taking so long to correct the mistakes is going to lead to so many problems in the future.
I don’t know – it’s all just getting a bit too ridiculous!

In the UK alone, during the last six years, over 15,000 people have filed complaints with the Criminal Records Bureau to refute the information that is being released to potential employers. Last year the equivalent of seven people challenged the CRB – twice the figure from 2002-2003.

The reasons given for the errors range from the individuals having similar personal details to an offender, to mistakes made on court and police records. Also, the increase in identity theft has greatly elevated the problem.

In the last few weeks, it has emerged that over 11 million adults will need to be checked on a database operated by the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). These background checks will be required for people who intend to work with children or vulnerable adults – this goes so far as to include parents who volunteer to take young students to school related events.

Although so far the number of disputed cases has remained quite small, the long term implications of these false records will cost people their jobs and ruin peoples lives. It is the responsibility of these record keeping organizations to ensure that the sensitive information they are keeping is 100% accurate. It is ludicrous to think that people could be branded as criminals simply because they share the same name as a criminal or that they have been the victim of identity fraud. It’s like labelling someone as a criminal and letting the real offender slip through the net. It’s just not right!

In response, a spokesperson from the CRB said that their checks have prevented nearly 100,000 unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, but they fail to acknowledge the implications that these mistakes have had on people: “This is not about the CRB making mistakes – information released on a CRB check can be disputed for a number of reasons”. Of course it can be disputed, but it probably takes YEARS for them to go back into their files and look for their mistakes, during which time, the poor person who’s information is wrong cannot find a job, go to the park with their child.. They would probably be better off changing their name than trying to convince these box-ticking bureaucrats of their mistakes!

On that note, I wonder how many “Gordon Brown’s” have a criminal past!! And why all the lists and checks and databases? It’s supposed to be for our benefit and to protect children, but in all honesty, the current government with their stupid legislations couldn’t organize a piss up in a brewery! And they want to trace everything down to text messages and phone calls, but can’t get simple details right?! I mean, I’m all for the government ensuring the safety and security of the population, but the fact that they are keeping ALL records indefinitely is not acceptable. Records for minor infringements should be cleared – especially when they are irrelevant to the type of job that is being applied for. Otherwise, eventually no one will stand a chance of doing anything! If a person was accused of being a criminal when they weren’t, they would be fully within their rights to sue for slander and defamation of character. The fact that taking so long to correct the mistakes is going to lead to so many problems in the future.

I don’t know – it’s all just getting a bit too ridiculous!

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