# Criminal background checks **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 5, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/criminal-background-checks/451921 "2008-06-05T19:35:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dumbguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dumbguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumbguy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/criminal-background-checks/451921/1 "2008-06-05T19:35:17Z")
We had an employee at the company where I work that turned out to be selling drugs, and apparently sometimes using the phone at his desk to take orders. As a result there’s been a bit of a panic in the company, and we’re talking about doing background checks on potential employees. Personally I would have never hired the guy that caused the problem in the first place, and I don’t think we needed his legal history to tell he wasn’t a good fit for the company, but I figure if we’re going to do it, I’d be better off getting involved and making sure we keep the process as confidential and unobtrusive as possible. Does anyone know of a good service for running background checks, preferably fast, cheap, and web-based? What kind of info do we need on the applicant? I assume we need them to agree to this in writing. Is there a template for how that agreement should read? Do we need to get lawyers involved? Anything else I’m missing? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/criminal-background-checks/451921/2 "2008-06-05T19:53:32Z")
A lot of companies use [Publicdata.com](http://Publicdata.com). It’s web based and fairly inexpensive.