After Major Child Porn Bust, Pol Seeks Tougher Background Checks Alleged Burglar Gave Laptop Back Moments later, authorities said, the victim walked out of the apartment when, about four blocks away from her home, she spotted Arteaga allegedly carrying what appeared to be her laptop computer. She reportedly walked up to Arteaga and stated the laptop computer belonged to her; upon being confronted, Arteaga allegedly handed the computer to her, then fled. The burglary was later reported to the 104th Precinct. Suspected ‘Gatsby Bandit’ Busted -CONTINUED FROM PG. 14- Follow Us On Twitter @timesnewsweekly our children may be sexual predators. As a parent, I know there is nothing more important than keeping our children safe from harm—and at the moment, there is a flaw in federal law that is making it harder for employers at child-serving organizations to fully screen applicants for jobs and volunteer positions,” said Schumer. “With summer around the corner, I am putting on full court press to pass legislation that will allow summer camps, little leagues, Boy Scouts and other children’s organization access to federal background check data that is the most accurate and up-to-date database and will help keep children safe from dangerous predators,” he continued. “Parents deserve the peace of mind knowing that their children are in good hands when they drop them off at camp or afterschool programs.” Child-serving organizations currently do not have access to the most up-to-date federal FBI background check database. Over 15 million adults contribute volunteer service to education or youth programs. Just about one-third of states allow a range of youth-serving organizations to access FBI searches, and New York is not one of them. And, even when those searches are available, they can be costprohibitive and time-consuming and discourage many groups from obtaining the background checks. Under current law, an organization must apply for a background check through its state. The Child Protection Improvements and Electronic Life and Safety Security Systems Act would create a nationally-accessible background check solution for youthserving organizations, and ensure access to federal FBI fingerprint background checks. Specifically the legislation would do the following: • Provide child serving organizations with reliable and accurate information regarding the fitness of volunteers/employees to have responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of the children in their care; and • Facilitate widespread access to state and national criminal history background checks, not otherwise authorized by federal or state law, on covered individuals and on employers and employees in the electronic life safety and security systems industry. This legislation will require the Attorney General to designate an entity to process state and federal background checks and make fitness determinations for individuals covered by the two categories listed above. This bill is entirely paid for by fees from the entities seeking background checks, and requires no new authorizations or appropriations. In addition, this bill does not impose any new or unfunded mandates on the states. The bill also protects due process by requiring users of this information to follow guidance on using background check information published by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Finally, individuals are provided an opportunity to challenge the accuracy and completeness of their records with the FBI and are ensured that the privacy of their records will be protected. Schumer provided an example of how this process would work: If a summer camp in New York City wants to hire a paid or volunteer counselor, they could call DOJ’s new 1-800 number and find out where to get the background check done locally. Mostly likely this would be at the local police station where systems are already in place to make it a smooth process. The organization would pay a processing fee at the Police station and they would send the counselor’s fingerprints to DOJ. Then the Department of Justice would run the fingerprints through the FBI’s records which cover both state and federal crimes in every state, not just in New York. The camp would then hear the results from DOJ—not a full personal record, but whether the counselor had a serious conviction or open arrest. Statistics from the now-expired PROTECT Act Child Safety Pilot, which was passed in 2003 as a part of the PROTECT ACT, demonstrate the importance of a nationwide fingerprint-based FBI criminal background check. The pilot program helped many of the same organizations that would be served by Schumer’s bill; by working with the state governments to give access to FBI fingerprint background checks to youth-serving organizations. As of September 2010, of 77,000 background checks performed through the pilot in seven years, over 6 percent of volunteers were found to have a criminal record of concern— including very serious offenses like sexual abuse of minors, assaults, murder, and serious drug offenses. In addition, over 40 percent of the individuals with criminal records had committed an offense in a state other than where they were applying to volunteer, meaning that a state-only search would not have found relevant criminal records. Schumer also noted that fingerprint background checks have become increasingly important since name-based background checks have a higher incidence of “false positives” or inaccurate information. In fact, nearly 23 percent of the individuals screened by the pilot provided a different name or date of birth on their application than what appeared on the criminal record. A name-based search would likely not have caught these criminal records. Schumer’s legislation would make running a fingerprint background check easier for youthserving organizations. Schumer’s legislation has been endorsed by: Afterschool Alliance, American Camp Association, America’s Promise Alliance, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Camp Fire USA, Communities In Schools, Inc., First Focus, GLSEN––the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, National Collaboration for Youth and YMCA of the USA. -CONTINUED FROM PG. 19- black handgun during the earlier capers. Federal agents dubbed him the “Gatsby Bandit” because he was observed wearing a tan Gatsby hat (or newsboy hat), a style named for the title character in author F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and a 1920s fashion statement. 55 • TIMES, THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 2014 Pols Sound Alarm For Full 911 System Review all incident information before allowing a caller to connect with fire or EMS dispatchers. As a result, UCT often wastes time by requiring NYPD and FDNY call takers to ask duplicative questions, advocates of change argue. City political leaders like Crowley and James are frustrated by the current system, and so are union heads, including President of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, Steve Cassidy and President of the Uniform Fire Officers Association, Al Hagan. They charge the UCT system with resulting in fire units being sent to incorrect addresses or responding to inaccurate incident information and slowing the ability of FDNY and Emergency Medical Dispatchers to provide life-saving pre-arrival instruction to callers. These leaders advocate simplifying the process by having operators direct calls for fire and EMS incidents by first asking “what is the nature of your emergency,” to determine if the incident merits police, fire or EMS attention. After determining the appropriate emergency response, fire, police or EMS, the operator would then immediately direct the call to a fire or Emergency Medical Dispatcher. “This simple change to the call taking process could be achieved at no financial cost to the administration and was specifically recommended by the city’s own independent investigation of the 911 system in 2012,” Crowley said. But instead of overhaul, the mayor has chosen a piecemeal review approach. First announced in March, First Deputy Anthony Shorris directed that a comprehensive review be taken of the entire 911 system, according to the mayor’s office. This initial phase was a comprehensive operational review of the existing 911 call taking process, the mayor said, and will be followed by a review of the 911 system since current protocols were put into place in 2009. This most recent review was announced the same day of the council’s oversight hearing. “The mayor has made it clear that a comprehensive review of the 911 system is a top priority for his administration to ensure we are providing the most effective emergency response to New Yorkers in need, and the FDNY is 100 percent committed to this goal,” incoming Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.B ut more review is getting the city no place, according to some officials, including Cassidy. “For over five years we have been telling the city that the UCT system is a failure and it has never worked,” he said. “It’s time to finally pull the plug on this 911 system disaster. UCT endangers the lives of New York City Firefighters and the citizens we are sworn to protect.” Hagan agrees the UCT system needs to be scrapped, and wants the city to implement the recommendations of a 2011 report by consultants Winbourne and Costas that called the system “dangerous” to citizens and first-responders, The report was especially critical of the UCT component, the part of the overhaul that reassigned all calls dispatchers, who now forward information electronically to the Fire Department.. Crowley was no less harsh at the press conference last Friday. “Billions of dollars later, New York City is no safer than it was before the implementation of this pilot project,” she said. Current UCT protocol wastes precious minutes and makes it harder for call takers, dispatchers and emergency responders to do their jobs in life threatening emergencies where every second counts.” During the City Council hearing, Crowley played the 911 recording of a nun in Staten Island that had to wait two or three minutes before being transfered to a fire dispatcher while a blaze was in progress, according to reports. -CONTINUED FROM PG. 12- At right, an image of the “Gatsby Bandit,” whom the FBI identified as 48-year-old Patrick Considine of Fresh Meadows. He was arrested at his home on Tuesday, June 3. Following an investigation by the 104th Precinct Detective Squad, Arteaga was arrested last Friday on charges of second-degree burglary, criminal possession of stolen property and petit larceny. According to court records, the suspect was arraigned the following day, Saturday, May 31, in Queens Criminal Court before Judge Deborah Modica, who ordered him held on $5,000 bail. Arteaga is scheduled to return to court on June 17. -CONTINUED FROM PG. 12- Selling A Home Or Car? Renting An Apartment? Let The Times Newsweekly Classified Section Work For You! Call Us At 1-718-821-7500
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