What’s the difference between an official GCIC report and a private background check?

There are two different kinds of background checks – official and private

Official background checks are provided by the state of Georgia’s official criminal record keeping agency – the Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC), which is a division of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI). We call these GCIC reports. You can get a GCIC report from any police department. 

Reviewing your GCIC report is the first step in knowing what you can remove from your criminal record. After reviewing the GCIC report and confirming what happened in the court case, you can then know what charges are eligible for removal. The next step is requesting restriction and then sealing to remove the charges from your GCIC report.

Private background checks are provided by companies that have their own records and sell their information for a fee. Landlords and employers usually use private background checks. There are thousands of private background check companies, but common ones are HireRight, Checkr, and GoodHire.

Georgia does not sell GCIC data, so private background check companies mostly get their data from the criminal court records. So, to remove something from a private background check usually requires sealing the criminal court record. You usually cannot seal a court record until after you restrict it from your GCIC report, so restriction cases always start with addressing the official background check first.

Need help getting or understanding a background check? Want to know if you eligible for criminal record restriction sealing? Call us to get started on your case today!

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DISCLAIMER: THE ABOVE STATEMENTS ARE GENERAL INFORMATION AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF YOUR CASE MAY BE DIFFERENT. DEVETTER LAW MAKES NO GUARANTEE OF ANY OUTCOME. THE ABOVE IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE AND NO ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP IS CREATED BY PROVIDING THIS INFORMATION.

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