What is Origin™?

Origin is a powerful multi-level validation of a subject's vital information, and a search of state and county criminal record databases.  Origin establishes an excellent investigative starting point.

Why Origin?

Origin is the best way to validate a subject’s identity and personal identifiers, e.g. name(s), date of birth, social security number and address history.  It also:

• Reveals criminal information on all names associated with the subject.
• Identifies jurisdictions where it would be prudent to do more thorough criminal, sex offender searches, and other inquiries.
• Reveals information quickly and is instantly available to investigators to properly begin a thorough background investigation.  Trained investigators will compare the results of Origin against your company's policy to decide what additional inquiries are required.  Human intervention is key at this point of an investigation to rule out false positives and avoid unneeded searches, saving costs.

How does Origin work?

1. Origin starts by taking the subject’s social security number and running it through our SSN & Address Information inquiry.  This inquiry is a powerful investigative tool that verifies the validity of an applicant's Social Security Number, various names (aliases) associated with the SSN, and provides information on prior addresses and movement patterns.
2. All names are then run through our Multi-jurisdictional Criminal inquiry.  No inquiry provides better instant coverage of the United States than this search.  With only one inquiry, more than 345 million criminal records are combed from US counties, Department of Corrections (DOC), Administrative office of the Courts (AOC), and sex offender registries covering all 50 states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico, and Guam.
3. Included in CI’s Multi-Jurisdictional Criminal inquiry is our Multi-state Sex Offender Registry inquiry which  contains sex offender data from the following nationwide sources: Bureaus of Investigation, Departments of Law Enforcement, Departments of Corrections, Departments of Justice, Departments of Public Safety, Sheriff's Departments, State Attorneys’ General Offices, and State Police.  Data is collected from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
4. Also searched are national and international terrorism sources, more than 4.1 million photos, and a proprietary database of previously completed reports.

The addition of Origin to their background investigations allows CI clients to enhance their due diligence by adding another level to their criminal record data searches.  However, not all counties, states or departments of correction data are included.  Thus, CI does not recommend that clients utilize the Origin inquiry as their only criminal record inquiry but rather as an enhancement to an already established state, county and federal criminal record package.

Explore more about Origin™:

July 2014 CI Times - Inquiry Spotlight

January 2013 CI Times - 1st page article

September 2012 CI Times - Inquiry Spotlight

November 2010 CI Times - The New Beginning in Background Investigations

CI’s SSN & ADDRESS INFORMATION inquiry is a powerful investigative tool that verifies the validity of an applicant's Social Security Number, reveals various names (aliases) associated with the SSN and provides information on prior addresses and movement patterns, including the approximate dates of residence at each address.

CI’s SSN & ADDRESS INFORMATION inquiry is appropriate for proper due diligence.  It establishes an investigative starting point and allows for a more complete background investigation by verifying applicant provided information against a third party database, thus ensuring a thorough criminal investigation encompassing at least the last seven years of residence.

Cursory Indicator New York is a New York statewide search that is comparable to the very costly OCA statewide search.  Clients that have used CI NY have seen a dramatic savings.  Read some FAQ's here.

This proprietary inquiry allows CI clients to quickly assess when additional criminal record research is needed in New York.  Cursory Indicator New York positively identifies the subject.  CI's investigative staff handle the tiered inquiry and will automatically proceed to tier two if Cursory Indicator New York indicates that it is necessary to perform more comprehensive inquiries.  Cursory Indicator New York is extremely comparable to the New York Statewide Office of Court Administration (OCA) inquiry in all respects except cost.

      - Statewide Criminal Data Available in One Inquiry

      - Cost Effective Tiered System

      - Indicates When More Comprehensive Inquiries are Needed

      - Most Results Available Within 2 - 4 Hours

      - Includes Misdemeanors and Felonies Convictions

      - FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) Compliant

      - Proprietary to Commercial Investigations LLC

Cursory Indicator New York has been proven to be more effective than running county court criminal record inquiries in New York. This is so because Cursory Indicator New York contains levels of misdemeanor information, which is not usually found in New York County Court Criminal record inquiries. Cursory Indicator New York contains local, town and city criminal data not found at the county level. It also contains Federal criminal data.

That being said, Cursory Indicator New York is an exceptional value when compared to the New York Statewide Office of Court Administration (OCA) search where the state charges $65 per name plus financial transaction fees.

COMMERCIAL INVESTIGATIONS' LLC (CI) President, Michelle Pyan, has been involved in the development of Cursory

Indicator New York (CI NY) since 1999.

Read more here or contact a member of our Business Development team for more information.

Generally, statewide searches are performed on a few states that have somewhat thorough results.  A few of the acceptable statewide searches are for New York, New Jersey, and Vermont.  Outside of those states, CI prefers to go directly to the county in question.  We believe this is the best practice for statewide searches.

Cursory Indicator New York is our preferred method of searching NYS.  Alternatively, we run the NYS OCA search when it is needed for further research or is the preferred method of the client.  This statewide criminal record inquiry consists of information from the New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA).

The OCA inquiry results include data from all 62 NY counties pertaining to misdemeanor and felony convictions and open/pending cases originating from city and county courts.  Some town and village criminal disposition data is also included.  Since January 2003 approximately 20% of all NY town and village Courts have been reporting disposition data to OCA.  All NY City and County courts are required to report criminal disposition data to the NYS Office of Court Administration.  Cases are updated within New York City approximately every 24 hours and outside NY City at least once a week.

OCA results returned are based upon an exact name and date of birth (DOB) match.  The OCA charges $65 per name and DOB submitted.  In most cases, New York Statewide Criminal Record inquiry results are relayed to CI clients within four to six hours.

Under New York State law, violations and infractions are not crimes.  Also under New York State law, and covered by Federal EEOC guidelines, employers can not inquire into an applicant’s arrest history.  Therefore, all OCA results are reviewed by at least two CI Investigators and information that is illegal for client’s to obtain is not relayed to them.  Thus, ensuring compliance with New York State law and EEOC guidelines.

To add CI’s NY Statewide Criminal Record inquiry to your BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS,  contact a CI representative.

A COUNTY CRIMINAL inquiry is highly recommended as a minimum criminal record search to ensure the discovery of any misdemeanor or felony charges that may have been brought against a subject.  Due to compliance standards, county criminal searches are usually run where a subject has lived.  CI conducts County Criminal inquiries by submitting a query to a professional court researcher who physically retrieves the records from the appropriate jurisdiction.  Examples of charges that can be revealed through a County Criminal Inquiry include assault, robbery and murder. More often, a County Criminal inquiry uncovers “minor” convictions such as theft, drug possession or shoplifting that are very relevant to employers seeking the best applicants.

Note that in New York State, county level searches reveal felonies only and will not reveal “minor” crimes considered misdemeanors such as those mentioned above.  For this reason, CI does not recommend that county level only searches be performed in New York State.

CI's FEDERAL CRIMINAL inquiry is a powerful search, generated for each name and address attributed to the subject based on our SSN & Address Information inquiry. Due to compliance standards, federal criminal searches are typically run for the past 7-10 years at the client's discretion. CI's FEDERAL CRIMINAL search is unique in that it employs additional verification elements via the subject's date of birth and social security number to eliminate false hits. False hits frequently occur when a subject has a common name.

A FEDERAL CRIMINAL inquiry is an important step for eliminating an employer's liability for negligent hiring.  Federal searches often reveal serious violations of federal law that state or county searches do not encompass.  Examples of federal crimes include drug trafficking, embezzlement, carjacking, kidnapping and many crimes committed across state lines.

CI’s SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY inquiry helps mitigate a company’s risk of workplace violence and potential negligent hiring or retention lawsuits.  CI recommends that its clients conduct a Sex Offender Registry inquiry in every state the subject has lived in, and by every name the subject has used, within the previous seven years.

According to a 1997 Bureau of Justice Statistics report, on any given day in the US, there are approximately 234,000 offenders that have been convicted of rape or sexual assault under the care, custody or control of corrections agencies.  Nearly 60% of these sex offenders are under conditional supervision residing in the community.  An estimated 61% of violent sex offenders confined to State prisons have a prior conviction history that resulted in a sentence to probation or incarceration.  Approximately 25% of imprisoned rape and sexual assault offenders have a prior history of convictions for other violent crimes and 1 in 7 have been previously convicted of a violent sex crime.

Convictions for sexual offenses will appear on the subject’s criminal record in the county or state where the offense was committed.  However, oftentimes, sexual offenders will relocate to a different jurisdiction where their criminal record might not reflect the offense.  Fortunately, under federal law, sexual offenders must register with the appropriate sexual offender database whenever they relocate.   The U.S. Department of Justice reports that there are more than 500,000 registered Sex Offenders nationwide.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, the

recidivism rate for sex crimes is four times higher than for other offenses.

These statistics more than justify conducting a Sex Offender Registry inquiry as part of a thorough

background investigations policy.

CI’s GLOBAL SCAN Inquiry is a result of the US Patriot Act.  In one search you can determine if

your applicant is on any of these terrorist related lists.

*  OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) & Blocked Persons

*  OFAC Sanctioned Countries, including Major Cities & Ports

*  Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories

*  Department of State Trade Control (DTC) Debarred Parties

*  U.S. Bureau of Industry & Security (formerly BXA) -

*  Unverified Entities List

*  Denied Entities List

*  Denied Persons List

*  FBI Most Wanted Terrorists & Seeking Information

*  FBI Top Ten Most Wanted

*  INTERPOL Most Wanted List

*  Bank of England Sanctions List

*  OSFI - Canadian Sanctions List

*  United Nations Consolidated Sanctions List

*  Politically Exposed Persons List

*  European Union Terrorism List

*  World Bank Ineligible Firms

This inquiry helps impede terrorists by identifying individuals linked to terrorism or classified on government watch lists, improving compliance with the Patriot Act

CI’s GLOBAL SCAN PLUS Inquiry is a result of the US Patriot Act; however, it expands way beyond by including foreign terrorist lists too.  In one search you can determine if your applicant is on any of hundreds of terrorist related lists as compared to our seventeen lists contained in our GLOBAL SCAN inquiry.

Global Scan contains:

*  OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) & Blocked Persons

*  OFAC Sanctioned Countries, including Major Cities & Ports

*  Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories

*  Department of State Trade Control (DTC) Debarred Parties

*  U.S. Bureau of Industry & Security (formerly BXA) -

*  Unverified Entities List

*  Denied Entities List

*  Denied Persons List

*  FBI Most Wanted Terrorists & Seeking Information

*  FBI Top Ten Most Wanted

*  INTERPOL Most Wanted List

*  Bank of England Sanctions List

*  OSFI - Canadian Sanctions List

*  United Nations Consolidated Sanctions List

*  Politically Exposed Persons List

*  European Union Terrorism List

*  World Bank Ineligible Firms

Global Scan Plus contains hundreds more including (but not limited to - this is a very small sampling):

*  European Union Sanctions

*  Metropolitan Police Service UK

*  US Secret Service

*  Lloyd's Insurance Market

*  Reserve Bank of India

*  Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation US

*  Autorite des Marches Financiers Canada

*  US Department of Justice

*  Financial Regulator Ireland

*  Central Bank of Belize

*  Centro Mexicano Para La Filantropia (CEMEFI)

This inquiry helps impede terrorists by identifying individuals linked to terrorism or classified on government watch lists, improving compliance with the Patriot Act.

CI recommends an International Criminal Records inquiry for all districts/provinces the subject has lived or worked in outside the U.S. within the past 7-10 years at the client’s discretion.  CI submits international inquiries through various international criminal records vendors who are experts in foreign court procedures.  Our vendors have established vast networks of contacts in the international courts which allow CI to return records from all 6 foreign continents as well as Mexico, Canada and Puerto Rico.  Our vendors work closely with the FTC and U.S. Department of State to ensure compliance with international access and privacy data laws.

Most countries provide for three tiers within their justice system.  The tiers are usually comprised of a local or district level, provincial level and federal level.  Research for relevant criminal court information is best accomplished initially at the district or local court level where available.  Court files are usually archived manually with very little automation and require local investigative personnel to travel to remote locations.  Records may also be available through a local prosecutor’s office requiring a similar approach to data collection.

Crimes and offenses that are reported are comparable to felonies in the United States; less serious offenses (misdemeanors) will be reported if available within a particular country.

An employer’s interest in a subject’s online life, because of its potential effect on their business, necessitates CI’s CYBER INVESTIGATION ™.  A subject’s online life relates to:

How a subject might follow a company’s IT protocol by providing a track record of responsible use of information systems including data protection.

Involvement in illegal activity and/or groups with concerns that are adverse to a company’s products and services.

Offensive postings and activities by a subject that may reflect negatively on the employer and jeopardize its reputation.

Starting with a subject’s cyber identities and disclosed online activities, CI’s CYBER INVESTIGATION ™ searches through current and archived Internet sites.  The search includes an exclusive illicit activity search of current and archived sites identified as potential places for illegal and offensive behavior.  This exclusive search covers data collected over a seven plus year period.

CI's Cyber Investigation ™ can be customized extensively through a consultation with our Business Development team.

CI's Department of Corrections (DOC) inquiry informs the client of whether or not a subject is currently, or has ever been, an inmate in a state prison.  DOC inquiries should be conducted for each state the subject has resided in for the past 7-10 years at the client’s discretion.  DOC inquiries are less expensive than a full criminal history search and return information on only high level offenses for which the subject served, or is serving, a term in state prison.

An affirmative hit from the state's Department of Corrections is accompanied by a full explanation of the charges, any relevant hearings and trials leading up to the sentence, parole if granted and the dates and duration of the time served.  Not all states have inmate data available and some states only have current inmate data available.

HEALTH CARE COMPLY PLUS ™ provides information on individual health care providers by conducting a search of the sanction information compiled by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), the General Services Administration (GSA) and other federal agencies.  The information reported meets requirements for sanction screening set forth in the OIG's Compliance Program Guidance for health care employees and contractors.  The information is more thorough than only checking the OIG and GSA databases established by these governing agencies because it includes historic, as well as current, sanction data.

HEALTH CARE COMPLY PLUS ™ also conducts a search of disciplinary actions taken by federal agencies other than the OIG and GSA, including those actions taken by licensing and certification agencies in all 50 states against individual health care providers.  HEALTH CARE COMPLY PLUS ™ includes CI’s Global Scan inquiry, a Patriot Act terrorist database search.

HEALTH CARE COMPLY PLUS ™ :

•        Office of the Inspector General sanctions

•        General Services Administration sanctions

•        State licensing agency actions

•        Global Scan anti-terrorist data

HEALTH CARE COMPLY PLUS ™ is the most comprehensive search available to screen health care individuals and contractors for the sanctions described above and for actions covered by the Patriot Act.