The Texas Auditor’s Office recently reported
October 3, 2011“Data in the DPS’s (Department of Public Safety) Computerized Criminal History System is not complete, and users may not receive a reliable result from criminal history background checks that are conducted based on the data in that system.” The Audit also provided, “A significant number of prosecutor and court records are not reported to DPS, which impairs the quality of information that DPS uses to conduct criminal history background checks,”
Although Texas law requires prosecutors and courts to send that data to DPS within weeks, DPS has no authority to penalize these agencies for failing to do same.
Therefore, a more accurate criminal record history check in the State of Texas would include conducting county criminal checks in the counties in which the subject has resided over the last seven years, rather than simply relying on the Texas statewide DPS database.
