Georgia GCIC

In Georgia we use the Comprehensive GCIC search, not the GCIC felony conviction only search. We prefer this search because the GCIC uses a Social Security Number, Date of Birth and Name Match system. The GCIC search gives you the information for any name used under that social security number or name with a DOB or address similarity. This saves you the additional cost to run a search for each previous married and/or maiden name as is necessary when performing county searches.

We constantly get charges under an alias or other a.k.a. information that would not have been available in a county search. We also receive sex offender and warrant information nationwide in the (GBI/FBI) files through the GCIC at no charge to our clients. In addition the report indicates when there are records in another state. We also now receive First Offender information for Pre-School, Nursing Homes and Mental Institutions.

Another reason we use the statewide search for GA clients is that there are 32 county jurisdictions touching Greater Atlanta. Crime is not contained in the county of residence anymore. The old adage that 80% of all charges occur in the county of residence just doesn’t work in today’s major urban cities. It is still true in the heartland of the country where there are large counties and little population.

In Georgia the city and county courts are connected through computers and when an arrest or booking is entered into the City, Sheriffs and Marshall’s office or county court the information is transmitted to the GCIC. When the jurisdiction takes fingerprints the information is transmitted through Life Scan directly to the GBI who supports the GCIC system. We have seen a number of records that occurred with in days of the application date. However, there is a small chance in remote counties that use the old card entry system that a record hasn’t been put into the system as soon as it was supposed to be (required in 30 days). The chance that one would be your applicant would be infinitesimal.

We run searches on thousands of applicants each year for companies who hire from a labor pool that has a 35% hit record. We have had no records missed because of a county having a late entry. We perform an annual search on all employees for a number of companies and the only thing we have to explain is when a charge disappears from the record because of expungement. Should an arrest appear and not have a disposition we contact the county for the latest information on charges that would disqualify the applicant from being hired.

The Georgia Criminal Information Center requires that a consent form must be provided with the applicant’s physical or electronic signature. There is no way in GA to get a full criminal background report other than with an approved consent form.