Let’s say a subject went through an extremely messy divorce process has false allegations placed on there record as a result. If it is discovered during the course of the investigation that those allegations were made under false pretenses does an investigator have an obligation to report that to appropriate law enforcement? If it involves the child abduction would that change reporting requirements?
The short answer is no, an investigator cannot step outside his authority and report information to law enforcement channels on sources interviewed during the course of a background investigation. Only if the subject of the background investigation is actively involved in criminal conduct or falsifies the application, can action be taken and it is usually referred to the Inspector General of the agency that requested the investigation.
In this instance there wouldn’t be wrong doing on the part of the subject
of the investigation as they have reported incidents. Rather the subject is
reporting on wrongdoing or false pretenses of others that led to
derogatories, perhaps even attempted to coerce the subject by those
allegations.
The only thing the subject can do is refute the information provided. A BI is an administrative action and cannot be used to charge others involved with a crime.
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