City To Start Background Checks On Animal Welfare Volunteers

By Kevin Robinson in News on Jan 28, 2010 3:20PM

Citing an oversight in city policy, Chicago's Human Resources Director is requiring that some 250 volunteers at the city's Animal Care and Control Department undergo criminal background checks. Human Resources spokesperson Connie Buscemi told the Sun-Times that background checks have been a standard practice at city facilities since 2008, even though they haven't been performed. "Animal Care should have been going through that same process. It was an oversight that they didn't. That oversight was identified and is being corrected," Buscemi told the paper.

"We understand the important work they do. We certainly don't want to inconvenience them. But in the interest of public safety, this is a practice that's important. We need to make sure that anybody who's acting on behalf of the city or has access to city facilities has been checked out."

Mark Rosenthal, operations chief at Animal Care, thinks that it won't be that big of a deal. My suspicion is there are probably a lot of volunteers it won't make any difference to. Do I know that for sure? No. But, we have such a dedicated group, I don't think it's gonna be a big deal," he said. "Any of the people who volunteer -- whether for the city or any other organization -- usually believe strongly in what they volunteer for."