Expert: Loren Stevens - 11/3/2004

Question
How long is background information held after you apply to an agency. Ex. You are not hired by an agency for some reason, how long do you keep this information. This is very personal information and if it falls into the wrong hands, could be used for identity theft.

For another example, you are hired by the police agency. What happens to your information then?  

Answer
Mike,
If the information you are sensitive about ever got into the wrong hands, and you could illustrate by a preponderance of evidence that it came from a government agency.....you'd have an attractive law suit to persue.
However, I can assure you, that that government agencies are VERY sensitive to this information as well, and they have a "due dilligence" to control the confidentiality of those files.
If you are hired by an agency, ALL pre-hire, and subsequent information that is germane to your employment will be housed at the agency personnel bureau, or division.
It depends, on what kind of agency it is, eg., if a city, the city personnel dept. would house the records. In any event, they'll be secured.
The other aspect of your question(s) gets a little more complicated. In what ever state you live in, you'll have to research their statutes on: "RECORDS RETENTION SCHEDULES", which lays out the various time issues on all the kinds of records/reports.
This is also referred to as: "PURG CRITERIA", when records/files/reports may be legally destroyed.
Each state has their own laws governing this matter.
In some cases, the agency may have some latitude, on records that have limited value, or foreseeable interests.
Hope this has been helpful,
good luck,
loren