PONY Baseball and Softball has partnered with LexisNexis® Screening Solutions to provide background screening services to PONY leagues. LexisNexis Screening Solutions offers premier-level, Web-based screening tools that will help you easily and effectively screen both employees and volunteers, at a substantially reduced price through a unique partnership with PONY. Pricing and registration information are included

Why should you screen your employees and volunteers?

• It is a necessary part of doing business.
  Just as private sector businesses carefully screen the people who interact with their customers, nonprofits must – at a bare minimum – screen the people who will have access to vulnerable populations such as children or the elderly. Not screening volunteers and employees puts an organization at serious physical, financial and legal risk, should an undesirable employee- or volunteer-related event occur.
  
• It is affordable.
  Several years ago, performing a background check was a manual process that was expensive and time-consuming, making it cost-prohibitive for most nonprofit organizations. Today, LexisNexis Screening Solutions utilizes advanced technology and sophisticated nationwide databases to provide near instant access to background information at a low cost, making background screening affordable and accessible for nonprofits securely on the Internet.

Why updated rescreening is important

A direct correlation was made by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (“ACFE”) between length of employment and the size of the loss from employee theft and fraud. The 2006 ACFE Report to the Nation found that workers employed with a company for 10 or more years caused a median loss of $263,000, while employees tenured one year or less caused a median loss of $45,000.

The critical factors surrounding this correlation are those of trust and opportunity. As volunteers and employees gain tenure within an organization, a greater amount of trust is placed in the individual, resulting in greater access to valuable organizational assets. This trust provides opportunities for misappropriation.

There are several additional factors contributing to the need for regularly-scheduled volunteer and employee rescreening:

• Offenses may not be reported by the individual.
  The longer a volunteer or employee works for an organization, the more outdated their initial screening profile becomes. Despite a clear initial background check, individuals can commit offenses after joining an organization, and often seek to hide this information.
  
• People are more mobile than ever.
  Ease of transportation provides greater mobility and increased opportunity to commit a crime in another jurisdiction and then return to work, making it difficult for an organization to learn of the offense through traditional means.
  
• Drug use affects a person's behavior, which can lead to violence or other illegal activities.
  A 2005 study by the Institute for a Drug Free Workplace showed that 75 percent of all drug abusers are employed, creating potential safety hazards for themselves and those around them.

• Expansive nationwide coverage
  We live in an incredibly mobile society where serious offenders often commit their crimes outside of the state or county where they currently reside. A local criminal search alone will not detect these offenses. National database searches are fast and easy, and they cast a much wider net – far beyond the current county of residence. They can reveal offenses that occurred where an applicant has lived, worked and played (i.e., vacations).
  
• No need to rely on applicant-provided data
  Organizations no longer have to rely on the address history provided by individuals on their applications. If an applicant committed an offense in another jurisdiction, they might purposely exclude that address on their application. Performing a local search alone would miss the offense, but a national criminal record database search would reveal the record, regardless of the address information provided by the applicant.
  
• Receive actionable information that complies with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
  Local police departments might provide information that is not FCRA-compliant, such as arrest records which cannot be used to make hiring decisions. The LexisNexis Screening Solutions national criminal record database reports actionable information to organizations as outlined by the FCRA.

Products and pricing are listed below, including the waived registration fee.

+ LexisNexis National Criminal File PLUS

Provides a comprehensive search of the 260 million LexisNexis records in addition to multiple criminal record repositories across all 50 states, such as:

• Department of Corrections (Prison, Parole, Release and Probation Files)
• Administrative Office of Courts
• Individual County Courts
• State Specific Criminal Record Repositories
• LexisNexis Proprietary Criminal Record Data
• Sex Offender Registry Records (48 states plus Washington, D.C.)

Using proprietary technology, LexisNexis National Criminal File PLUS will instantly search for alternative names and an address history associated with the candidate's Social Security Number (SSN).

** Pricing does not include additional education, employment, and reference check out-of-pocket charges such as court access fees, transcript fees and other state registry fees that may apply. Pricing is subject to change.

- When requesting a local (state or county) criminal search, organizations should review where a candidate has lived, worked and/or attended school for the longest period of time in the last 7–10 years.

Be sure to enter your Promotional Code to ensure you receive your discounted pricing.

 The normal $175 account set-up fee is waived for you, so disregard any mention of that fee.

• LexisNexis Screening Solutions has set the standard for data security within the risk industry. As part of the company's robust security protocol, all organizations must undergo a credentialing process to ensure that only legitimate organizations gain access to sensitive data and that they use it only for appropriate business purposes.

– On the application, be sure to include a telephone number (work or mobile) where you can be reached for verification during the business day (8 a.m. - 5 p.m. ET).

– After submitting the application form, a sign-up form will appear. Please print, complete, and fax this document to LexisNexis Screening Solutions at (678) 893-9600. If you have 501(c)3 documentation, please fax it together with the document. IMPORTANT: Including your 501(c)3 documentation will help the approval process go smoothly and quickly.

– When you have completed the online portion and faxed the requested documents; notify Matthew McGregor or Kurt Jones. Your account set up will be tracked internally

– Within approximately one week, you will receive a welcome e-mail from LexisNexis Screening Solutions once your account is approved. If there are questions or issues with your application, sign-up form or documentation, LexisNexis Screening Solutions will contact your organization directly.

• Toll free phone: (800) 853-2414, OPTION 1
• E-mail: volunteer.support@lexisnexis.com