OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — You can now get an Oklahoma background check on a new employee, future son-in-law, or babysitter – from anywhere.
With the Oklahoma State Bureau’s new online system, it just takes a few clicks to get someone’s criminal history.
“Background checks are public record, and it has been a goal of the OSBI to make it more convenient for employers or just general citizens to be able to find out who’s hanging around their parents, or their pets, or their homes or businesses,” said Brook Arbeitmin, spokeswoman for the OSBI.
The Criminal History Information Request Portal (CHIRP) has been a game changer for the Choctaw Youth Yellowjackets football program. There are a dozen teams, each with 5 to 8 volunteer coaches.
“If you step on this football field, whether it’s practices or games, we do background checks on everybody,” said Aaron McConnell, the football coordinator. “We really want to know who you are. We don’t just let anybody come out and coach these kids.”
McConnell says he used to have to mail out stacks of paperwork for background checks and wait a week or so to get them back.
“CHIRP, the new OSBI system, it has been instant for us,” he said. “We can get on there, type in the information, and within minutes we know everything we need to know, good or bad, about who is out here with our kids.”
You have to create an account and pay $15 for a search.
“This new online portal – CHIRP – does everything the OSBI has been doing since 1985, as far as background checks,” Arbeitmin said. "It’s the exact same information, but the biggest thing is the convenience.”
OSBI has been finetuning the site for months and finally unveiled it to the public on Monday. Since then, more than 1,100 people have signed up for an account.