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International News

Moving Beyond Police Clearances in Global Screening

January 05, 2026 posted by Steve Brownstein

It is a common frustration in the industry: many Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs) default to police clearances because they are often "official" and appear cheaper. However, as we've noted with Puerto Rico and other jurisdictions, police certificates are frequently incomplete or non-compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and GDPR.

 

The "Single Point of Failure" Risk

The most dangerous assumption in international screening is that a "Police Certificate" is a comprehensive criminal history.

 

The Problem: Police databases often only show "Police Records" (arrests or local precinct data) rather than "Court Records" (final dispositions, convictions, and sentencing).

 

The Gap: In many countries, once a case moves to the judicial system, the police database is no longer updated. A candidate might have a clean police certificate but a felony conviction sitting in the local court.

 

Case Study (Puerto Rico): A PR Police Criminal Certificate only shows certain "active" records. It often misses dismissed cases or older convictions that are still legally reportable under the FCRA but "hidden" by the police administrative process.

 

2. FCRA Compliance: Accuracy & The Right to Dispute

Under the FCRA (specifically Section 607(b)), CRAs must follow "reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy."

 

Maximum Accuracy: Police certificates are administrative documents, not legal verdicts. Relying on them can lead to "False Negatives" (missing a criminal) or "False Positives" (reporting an arrest that was actually dismissed in court).

 

The Dispute Trap: If a candidate disputes a record, a CRA cannot simply point to a police certificate as the "source of truth."

They must verify the record at the original source—which is almost always the court clerk. Using a court record provider from the start eliminates this double work.

 

3. GDPR & The Principle of Data Minimization

For candidates in the EU or UK, Article 10 of the GDPR strictly regulates criminal data.

 

Legal Basis: You must have a specific legal basis to process this data. Police clearances often provide "too much" or "unrelated" data (e.g., spent convictions or minor infractions) that the employer is not legally allowed to see.

 

The Court Advantage: Court record providers can be instructed to filter for "Job-Relevant" and "Legally Reportable" offenses only. This supports the GDPR principle of Data Minimization, ensuring you only process what is strictly necessary for the role.