Background Check Company Looks to Expand Reach
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA Danville company is working with Rose-Hulman Ventures to develop technology designed to protect students and staff at schools. Safe Hiring Solutions Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mike McCarty says the systems will provide instant background checks of people who enter schools. He plans a beta test next year with Fort Wayne Community Schools and hopes to have it on the market by the spring. December 12, 2013
News Release
DANVILLE, Ind. – Safe Hiring Solutions of Danville, Ind., is working with engineers and students at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's Rose-Hulman Ventures to develop a system that provides quick and comprehensive background checks of school visitors to protect students and staff.
Development of Safe Hiring Solutions' SafeVisitor and SafeVendor programs comes at a time when school safety is an increasing issue for education administrators and parents nationally. The systems provide a thorough and reliable background checks within seconds, and keep threatening intruders from entering and leaving schools.
“In simple terms, when a visitor enters a school, our system scans their government-issued identification card and compares the data to a national sex and violent offender registry,” explained Safe Hiring Solutions Chief Executive Officer Mike McCarty. “The system also checks the name against an internal database into which the school can enter information about people who shouldn't be in the building because of custody issues, protection orders, and other family issues. If the person passes these checks, it prints an ID badge with a photo that expires within 10 to 12 hours. It also keeps track of when the visitor arrives and leaves so organizations know who is in their buildings at all times.”
The company developed the concept, and engineers and students at Rose-Hulman Ventures in Terre Haute, Ind., are beginning to develop the software and interface it with a scanner and printer. The system will be tested at Fort Wayne Community Schools early in 2014.
“Our specialty is background checks, and while our team is very technology-savvy, our employees' time is focused on our existing business,” McCarty added. “Being able to draw upon the technical expertise at Rose-Hulman Ventures gives us a way to access today’s most advanced systems and special expertise. Being able to test the system in Fort Wayne schools will allow the system to be adapted to meet the demands of school administrators in a timely manner.”
The project's technical challenges are what problem solvers at Rose-Hulman Ventures have been meeting for nearly 15 years on Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s South Campus. Engineers and student interns have advanced the commercialization of technology for companies enabling them to launch new products or penetrate new markets.
“This is an ideal project for our team,” stated Mitch Landess, manager of client programs at Rose-Hulman Ventures. “It is a project that offers great professional practice experience for our students, is value added for Safe Hiring Solutions' business model and, at its core, addresses a market opportunity with an important social issue.”
“We are eager to work with Safe Hiring Solutions on this new system as a way to provide the highest level of security to our schools,” said Dottie Davis, Director of Security for Fort Wayne Community Schools. “Nationwide, about 44 percent of all threats to buildings are because of poor visitor and vendor access management. This system is one way to address that threat.”
“We're excited about this system, because it will give schools and other organizations significantly higher level of security,” McCarty said. “That will mean greater peace of mind for parents, teachers, administrators and, most important, kids.”
Safe Hiring Solutions (www.safehiringsolutions.com) is one of the industry's most thorough background checks, employment screening, investigation and verification firms. It serves corporations, schools, hospitals, churches, property owners, leasing managers and non-profit organizations throughout the world. The company has earned a reputation for going beyond the typical background screening or criminal records search by providing a customized, in-depth solution for each client.
Rose-Hulman Ventures, a program of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, has engineers and student interns working on hands-on projects in collaboration with real clients where outcomes are both educational to students and add value to companies. This unique combination has developed innovative solutions for technology companies. Rose-Hulman is dedicated to preparing its students with the world's best undergraduate science, engineering, and mathematics education in an environment infused with innovation, intellectual rigor, and individualized attention. For 15 consecutive years, U.S. News & World Report has rated Rose-Hulman as the top undergraduate engineering college in the nation whose highest degree is a bachelor's or master's.
Source: Safe Hiring Solutions Inc.