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Blog - A cloud of suspicion

October 22, 2009

How much is too much? When is enough enough? How do you justify it? How do you justify NOT doing it? Risk management is a tricky subject. We’ve had to ask a few of these questions on our own lately. But what’s really at stake here? And why do we do it?

A recent editorial in the Globe and Mail highlights an interesting perspective. Although off the mark (in my sometimes not-so-humble opinion) a little perspective is shed by Volunteer Canada President, Ruth MacKenzie in her letter to the editor.

So what IS the balance?

Well there are lots of varied opinions on the subject, as you can tell. There are no blueprints. Obviously we, as organizations, have an obligation to protect those clients of ours who are most vulnerable. But does that mean everyone even remotely connected with your organization should undergo a police check? You know what? Some organizations do exactly that. And that’s so wrong for SO many reasons.

Police checks lull organizations into a false sense of security. While they can be useful at times, they don’t always accomplish much. Police checks can also, if overdone, lower “a cloud of suspicion over all volunteers” as the Globe’s editorial insinuates.

What we need to remember is that police checks are just one step (and I would argue not even the most important step) in volunteer screening. Application forms, interviews, reference checks, and other steps in the screening chain are arguably more important than what the RCMP or local police department can tell you. We need to remember that the police can only tell us about the bad people that have been caught. Right?

What’s most important is that we perform our due diligence. We need to have the proper checks and balances and policies and procedures in place. We need to have proper supervision. We need to have a second person count the money. We need to have two people in the room during the interview. We need to do all the other things that keep our clients and volunteers and staff and organizations and communities safe. If for no other reason than we owe them nothing less.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Feel free to post a comment. It won’t appear on the site immediately because we screen them for spam but we will post it shortly. Thanks for reading!

Posted by: Scott | In: IVC

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