To become a client, simply call one of our courteous staff members at 1-877-235-7574, or click here. We will give you a call to set up your account.

Access can only be obtained by using an encrypted access control card issued by PSI. All entries are sent to a remote computer terminal for individual identification of name, date and time of entry. Once entry has been obtained, cameras record all action in and around our facility, to include a 24-hour alarm system.

If you need an additional copy of your background investigation, we will be happy to send you as many as you reasonably request.

Our data is stored at a remote third party location for security and recovery reasons.  Our data is secured by state of the art security measures and is stored in a climate controlled atmosphere for retrieval and integrity purposes.

Full state criminal histories can be obtained in many states in compliance with each states statutory law. In some instances it may be necessary to conduct a county level criminal history search. However, some companies will lead you to believe they can do a full state criminal search, when they are only checking that states felony conviction records through the Department of Corrections. This is a search you can conduct at no charge on the internet. It only gives you a list of people who have been or are serving a sentence in prison. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (2002) only 69% of those convicted of a felony in State courts are sentenced to incarceration. Forty-one percent are incarcerated in prisons, and 28% are incarcerated in jails. Thirty-one percent of those convicted of a felony are sentenced to probation.

No. Nor do we require that you have a contract or minimum amount of background investigations conducted on a monthly or yearly basis. Whether you need one per year or 1000 per month, we are staffed to accommodate your request.

It depends upon the amount of services requested. Our overall turn-around time is currently 2 days.

No. This has long been a misunderstanding about criminal histories. A criminal history will only tell you about crimes committed in that particular state. If you want a thorough background investigation conducted, you need to know every state the applicant has resided in, not just the ones they listed on the consent form. The first thing we do after receiving your consent form is to check the Social Security Number submitted by the applicant. This ensures we are conducting our investigation on the correct person. It also gives us a listing of the past twelve to fifteen years where this applicant has resided. If they only listed Georgia as their place of residency and we find they have lived in Alabama as well, we will go ahead and perform a criminal history check in that state as well. It is not uncommon for someone to move from state to state to try and leave their past criminal history behind. If you do not know to check that state, you are not getting a thorough background investigation. We take every step to ensure you have the information you need to make an informed hiring decision.

Many people get into trouble at one time in their lives, and then learn from their mistakes, move on, and lead productive, law-abiding lives thereafter. What sort of prior "mistakes" you wish to tolerate in your business is your business. You should decide in advance of a background investigation program what sort of results will result in an employee's termination or a no-hire decision. An unreported DUI from six years ago may not be as grave an omission as one from six months ago. A shoplifting offense committed when one is 18 years old may not be relevant when the employee is 35 and has had no subsequent problems.

An important consideration in evaluating how people handle these issues is, however, whether or not they accept the consequences of their actions. You would probably feel better about someone who told you that they were convicted of a bad checks offense five years ago than if they had decided not to tell you, hoping that you wouldn't find out. Having all of the information about someone allows you to evaluate them without bias due to their appearance, apparent sincerity, or economic situation.

We have had clients who discovered that people whom they employed were convicted felons or sex offenders, when they had no knowledge of this information previously. The information that is obtained from a thorough background investigation may not always be pleasant, but it is critical to the security and continued success of your business. Forewarned is forearmed.

The applicants who are most likely to deceive you are the ones with the most to hide. Criminals are people who identify the weaknesses of others, and then exploit them. Even the best interviewers have been fooled. A person who intends to use their position in your business to gain a criminal advantage over you or someone else is probably very good at "putting on a good face" for others. Thieves, sex offenders, and people prone to violent outbursts look and act just like everyone else until they decide to do otherwise.

Employees and applicants with nothing to hide have no reason to fear someone looking into their background. Keep in mind that your employees probably spend more time with one another than they do with you. Would your honest employees want to be working closely with a criminal? They may be victimized as easily as you, as the business owner. If this happens, the victimized employee may have legal grounds to take action against you for negligent hiring and lack of due diligence. When proper background checks are performed, employees can be confident that their workplace is safe, and that their advancement in the business will be based on work-related factors, rather than on malfeasance.

An employee who was initially hired as a dock loader might later be promoted to a truck driver. A past history of drug use or alcohol abuse might not be critical for someone who unloads trucks, but it could be highly relevant for someone who drives them. If that employee was involved in an accident, and was found to be under the influence at the time, the employer would be open to greater civil liability for the employee's actions. Convicted felons are barred from many occupations because of restrictions on their civil rights. If an employee with a felony record moves into a position that is affected by these restrictions, the employer that allows him or her to work there can be open to civil or criminal penalties.

It is a commonly held belief that some or all prior criminal offenses "expire" or are dropped from criminal records after a period of time. This is not true. Except in the case of an expungement, sealing of records, or a pardon (all of which are unusual, and are not automatic), criminal records remain in place for the life of the offender. Even traffic offenses that result in an arrest remain on a person's criminal record, although they may not be considered for insurance ratings after a period of time (the amount of time varies with the offense and the insurance company). Even some offenses committed as a juvenile can appear on a criminal history, and are not automatically purged when the juvenile reaches adulthood. Some states will only provide criminal history information that dates back seven years.

Unfortunately not. No background investigative company can make that guarantee (and be wary of any that do). Our investigation is based on the information that we are provided, and that information most often comes from the applicant or employee themselves. Depending on the services ordered, we will check multiple sources to attempt to verify the information provided and reveal additional prior addresses, or identities that the subject may have used. When discrepancies are found, you will be notified.

The only way to absolutely identify an individual is by comparing a fingerprint record, and that is beyond the scope of our service. A local law enforcement agency may be able to process this kind of inquiry, but it will require that the person being investigated be fingerprinted at their office, sign a number of consent forms, pay substantial fees, wait several weeks or months for the record to be returned, and then hand-carry the report back to you. Meanwhile, the employee is usually working at your business as an unknown quantity. We feel that the investigative depth that we can achieve is the best balance of economy and thoroughness.

We can provide limited background investigative services without the consent of the subject of the investigation, but an in-depth investigation requires obtaining a consent and disclosure form (which we will supply to you) that notifies the subject of the investigation and of their rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Legal and ethical requirements mandate that we do this, and we will refuse any requests to circumvent these. We strongly recommend that you advise your applicants and employees that their backgrounds will be investigated, and provide them with an opportunity to discuss in advance anything we may find.

If your employee is going to be handling your money, aren't you concerned about how well they handle their own? People with bad credit histories can find it much easier to justify using some of their employer's money to meet their needs, since they will view you as being much better off than they are. Most people have a basic moral sense that stealing is wrong. In order for these people to commit a theft, they have to find some way of rationalizing the act to make it morally acceptable. Being in a tight financial bind can supply that rationalization. The employee may tell themselves that they are only borrowing the money or goods, and will make it right later, but this seldom happens. Some people steal out of greed, but the ones that you would least expect to steal perceive that they have a need to do so. A credit history that shows many prior bad debts, liabilities that exceed the employee's income, or lack of prudence in handling credit can give you some insight as to how closely you want to supervise this person.

Credit histories also provide insight into other places that the subject may have lived that they may not have told you about (providing us with a better basis for obtaining a complete criminal history), prior marriages, and other information that the subject may have wished to conceal.

Yes. PSI is a licensed private investigation company which conducts business as a consumer reporting agency, and we adhere to all requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and any other federal or state laws.