Background checks & compliance

What is tracked

Office → Background checks (/office/background-checks) tracks the clearances your members must keep current:

• FBI Background — valid for 36 months (3 years) by default.
• State Background — valid for 60 months (5 years) by default.
• Child Abuse Clearance — valid for 60 months (5 years) by default.

These default validity windows can be adjusted per department if your state's rules differ. The system computes each clearance's expiration from its completed date plus the validity window, so the dates stay trustworthy.

Recording and refreshing

Record a new clearance at /office/background-checks/new. Use Refresh (/office/background-checks/refresh) to recompute statuses after you have entered new dates. Like certifications, a clearance is flagged expiring soon within 60 days of its expiration so you can renew it in time.

The reminder ladder

Compliance reminders go out on a ladder — an escalating series of notices as a clearance approaches and passes its deadline, rather than a single email that is easy to miss. This keeps members and officers nudged until the clearance is renewed, which is exactly the kind of lapse you do not want to discover during an audit.