密苏里州共和国镇首次对青年体育组织实施背景调查要求。该镇公园和娱乐部颁布的一项新政策转变将要求该地区的大多数青年体育教练在与孩子们一起工作之前通过犯罪背景调查。

该政策的语言仅适用于申请青年体育教练职位的 18 岁以上的个人。从技术上讲，18 岁以下的人不必清除背景调查要求。然而，由于许多青年体育教练是父母，18岁以下的“漏洞”可能最终不会产生太大影响。除了年龄，Republic 对青年体育志愿者的新背景调查要求也没有例外。

从共和国将对青年体育志愿者进行的背景调查的描述中，听起来新政策将是一项强有力的政策。对于支票，成年志愿者必须提交姓名和社会安全号码。根据密苏里州 ABC 当地分支机构 KSPR 33 的一份报告，这些信息随后将通过“国家和地方犯罪数据库”进行处理。每次背景调查还将包括对国家性犯罪者登记处的搜索和地址历史检查。根据每个地址历史检查的结果，Republic 是否会在其他司法管辖区进行县背景调查，目前尚不清楚。

通常，像这样的当地青年体育筛查政策的范围太有限了。他们要么只查看县级或州级的犯罪记录，要么不进行地址历史搜索。如果主题移动了很多，这种有限的检查可能会错过大量信息。例如，如果一个城镇只进行州和县检查，但一名志愿者在另一个州犯下了暴力罪行，那么这种罪行很可能会被忽视。Republic 的背景调查政策，尤其是地址历史搜索，听起来会更全面一些。

所有志愿者还需要每两年接受一次新的背景调查。这种重复筛选政策将有助于淘汰那些在通过初步背景调查后被判犯有犯罪活动的教练。

根据关于新背景调查要求的 KSPR 33 报告，共和国市制定该政策已有一段时间了。事实上，该镇花了一年多的时间为其当地青年体育项目设计了理想的背景调查。不难看出原因。共和国是青年运动的主要中心，拥有 360 名成人志愿者和数百名儿童。新的背景调查政策有望帮助确保每位年轻运动员的安全。

The language of the policy applies only to individuals over the age of 18 who apply for youth sports coaching positions. Those under 18 technically won't have to clear the background check requirement. However, since many youth sports coaches are parents, the under 18 "loophole" probably won't end up making much of a difference. Beyond age, there are no exceptions to Republic's new background check requirement for youth sports volunteers.

From the description of the background checks that Republic will be running on youth sports volunteers, it sounds like the new policy will be a strong one. For the checks, adult volunteers will have to submit names and social security numbers. This information will then be run through both "national and local criminal databases," according to a report from KSPR 33, a local Missouri ABC affiliate. Each background check will also include a search of the national sex offender registry and an address history check. Whether or not Republic will run county background checks in other jurisdictions, based on the finding of each address history check, is not immediately clear.

Often, local youth sports screening policies like this are too limited in scope. Either they only look at criminal records on a county or state level, or they don't do the address history search. Such limited checks can miss big pieces of information if the subject has moved around a lot. For instance, if a town only ran state and county checks, but a volunteer committed a violent crime in another state, that offense would very likely go overlooked. Republic's background check policy, particularly the address history search, sounds like it will be a bit more comprehensive.

All volunteers will also need to submit to a new background check every two years. This repeat screening policy will help to weed out coaches who were convicted of criminal activity after passing their initial background checks.

According to the KSPR 33 report on the new background check requirements, the city of Republic has been at work on the policy for a while now. Indeed, the town has spent more than a year designing an ideal background check for its local youth sports programs. It's not difficult to see why. Republic is a major epicenter for youth sports, featuring 360 adult volunteers and hundreds more kids. The new background check policy will hopefully help to keep each young athlete safe.