Background Check requirements will not go away.

[K2GW]

For those of you who think that just holding an Amateur license will be sufficient to show up at at disaster in the future, read this excerpt from an AP story on the recent Kansas tornado.  

I expect that the demand for background checks and control over wearing of Red Cross insignia by disaster workers to become even tighter as result.  

73

Gary, K2GW


--

Four soldiers and a reserve police officer were arrested Sunday on suspicion of looting cigarettes and alcohol from a store in this tornado-ravaged town, state officials said.

The soldiers from Fort Riley Army base and reserve police officer had come to assist on their own and were not part of any official detachment, said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the state's adjutant general.

"These were people who weren't supposed to be there," Bunting said.

Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for the adjutant general's office, said the five were arrested at a Dillon's supermarket and were being held at the Pratt County Jail without bond. They have not yet been charged.

Watson said there were in uniform so police allowed them to come and go freely despite a town curfew. Watson said the officer was from a central Kansas community, but she was not sure which town.

In a separate incident, two people wearing Red Cross jackets who were not members of the relief agency were arrested Sunday on suspicion of looting, Watson said, although she did not have any additional details.

[KG4RUL]

If I am volunteering as a communicator at a Red Cross shelter, I am still working for my agency, Berkeley County South Carolina ARES.  I will wear ARES identifiying clothing with the words Radio Communications on them and will display SC State and Berkeley County IDs as necessary.  I will also wear any ARC provided ID badge.  I will not be wearing ARC logoed clothing as I am not an ARC volunteer.  We have cleared this with our local ARC chapter and they are more than willing to accept these terms.

Of course, if I did decide to become an ARC volunteer, I would have to comply with their rules.

Dennis Zabawa KG4RUL
Berkeley County South Carolina ARES, AEC/PIO

[W0IPL]

Well Gary, I think this all goes back to the "stay home until called" situation. Let your local administrator know you are available, get your equipment ready and -stay home- until / unless called.

If you do that, then all of the "what ID will be accepted" should have been covered before you are called (ask, to confirm it has). Then if you have an accepted (by who-ever, what-ever and when-ever) ID, you head out.

I personally do not understand not wanting to have a background check run. But I also work in areas that I end up with a check being run at least quarterly. Oh well. I also have two different forms of ID to prove it. I am also retired, have my house paid for, my vehicle paid for and only have to pay off my credit card each month.

If I were asked to volunteer, I would first ask if either of my IDs were acceptable. If no, I would probably decline, simply to save them time. I do communications, not serve meals, not clean up in the kitchen, etc. - - That doesn't always fit in with what the RedX wants.

Oh well.

[KD8Z]

I believe the big objection is the credit check being overkill, what does a persons credit have to do with being a volunteer.  It does seem extreme to me as well.  Does an education automatically advance one to the top of the volunteer ladder, perhaps I could be King of the comm shack?  When one donated their time they certainly never expect that forgetting to pay the money grabbers at Credit Cards of Upper Slabovia bank would enter into a generous personal attempt to assist someone in need.  Orlando is having a similar situation as we speak with municipal employees, as traffic tickets from 20 years ago are placing otherwise squeaky clean employees into the "not allowed into school zones"  with the recent push against pedophiles in schools.  I guess even well intended laws can have contrary consequences.  

[W0IPL]

Good intentions do not (necessarily) a good law, make.

Isn't there a saying about the road to (some nasty place) is paved with good intentions? Clear thought and planning do help, tho

[AA4PB]

what does a persons credit have to do with being a volunteer
--------------------------------------------------
It *might* have something to say about your integrety and how much trust they should put in you. Someone who is consistantly having a lot of financial problems *might* be more inclined to be involved in the looting, for example. At least that's how the security folks look at it.

[AC2Q]

Self Analysis time.

I realize I do not want to help badly enough to undergo ANY form of background check.....who's with me?

KF8ZN

[AC2Q]

I wish you folks would get a clue and address the fact that IT'S NONE OF THIER DAMN BUSINESS?

If you stopped to help someone change a tire, and they asked for ID, what would you do? I would drive away.

We are being Good Samaritans here.

We are doing the Served Agency a FAVOR, the consequence of which has already been Far Too Much Uncompensated Training and Certification.

I want to help,certainly, but I don't have such a big ego or a Need to be Needed that I will put up with a big load of BS to do so.

[KD5PKS]

   I did an impromptu poll on our local ARES net and out of about 30 hams only one had no problem with the background checks. So I guess the majority of hams in this area are right inline with KF8ZN.

   Why does ARES HAVE to fall under the ARC when we obviously work with local DHS? Do they ask for their own background checks for local sheriff's deputies who are there to provide security? Why not? What about EMT's that may be present?

   There is a local club involved with the ARC and they had invited other area groups such as ARES and other clubs to coordinate some emergency plans. They would meet at the ARC office and at first offered the ARC CPR class for free which was very useful. Then they (ARC) wanted everybody who would be a possible volunteer (including ARES) to take Shelter Management Training, & get authorized to drive their truck that delivers food to remote areas. Most of the other hams I spoke with about it were concerned that ARC would be expecting more of them than communications. They all didn't mind helping in other areas but if it caused them to be away from their radios and unable to operate then it becomes a real problem. Most in our group declined the offer.

   The ARRL recently announced that ARC had agreed to NOT pull the mode of living and financial background checks but refused to remove the requirement that you authorize mybackgroundcheck.com to do exactly that type of check. Everyone on our poll was comfortable with criminal checks but will not submit to the other checks that most consider too intrusive.

   Now the ARC is saying that there can be "instant volunteers" who are authorized to volunteer for 1 week without a check. So if I understand this correctly, ARC is very adamant that they need ARES volunteers criminal AND credit background that they will not budge but offer a one week pass for everybody without ANY background check. Do they suppose that those untrustworthy debt ridden volunteers will not be able to loot or steal for the first 7 days?

   The ARC shelters may become pretty disfunctional in an emergency if they turn away the only communications link they are likely to get.

KD5PKS
   

[KC0SHZ]

The Skywarn/ARES/RACES check that the sheriff's office does on my wife and I each year should suffice.

Afterall, if it will suffice to get me in to the secure area of the county building to go the EOC, and it will suffice to put me out in the middle of nowhere to watch storms, and it will suffice to get me into other areas that are sensitive, or that are dependent on me being the guy I say I am, then why doesn't it suffice for the ARC?

More than happy to stay home till needed.  Sounds like a good plan and will aid the flow of emergency workers.

As for the sheriff, I am happy to comply.  As for some third party vendor that has no barrier to selling my information or otherwise using it without my permission, I can find other things to do at home.

[AC2Q]

You have 7 days......

Yes, that is the most ridiculous outcome so far.

Let's see, the incident is bad enough that Hams are still needed after 7 days, we have reliable communications setup and in progress.

I suspect we would be asked to step outside and have a smoke/coke, and our  "7 day clock" would magically reset........

[KF6IIU]

This is exactly why self-deployment is discouraged, even for the pros, what happens when command and control is not properly implemented, and a perfect example of why one should stay at home unless notified otherwise.

This is nothing that even more stringent background checks would have prevented. No one except the tinfoil hat crowd objects to basic background checks anyway, it was the Red Cross's inept implementation that included no privacy safeguards and requested irrelevant information that raised concerns.

[AC2Q]

I don't own any tinfol hats, and I object to background checks by organizations I am VOLUNTEERING FOR.

I work at a Nuclear Power Plant, and endure the invasion of privacy because I am handsomely compensated for it.

A tinfoil hat would obstruct my view of the Black Helicopters, and might scare off Elvis.

KF8ZN

[NA4IT]

I don't have a problem with criminal background checks. I DO have a problem with an agency I volunteer for looking at my credit records. They have ZERO business looking at those records.

NA4IT

[KE4SKY]

Since this thread has gone beyond making sense, the old Forest Service  McDonald-T aluminum hard hat is no longer being made, but a new replacement is available called the Skull Bucket. It complies with ANSI Z89.1-2003 Standards as a Type 1, Class C (not approved around electrical hazards) helmet and comes with a four point ratchet suspension.  Install a BNC connector through the crown and you have a ground plane for your HT antenna, just reduce your RF output to <1 watt unless to you like to slow cook brain cells in the near-field. Not warranted against probing brain telepathy scans from space aliens, the CIA or No Such Agency.

http://www.cricorp.com/skullbucket/