Alamance County officials recently gathered to discuss widening background checks for referees, coaches and others who work or volunteer with youth recreation leagues. Currently, the background checks only reveal whether or not a person has a criminal record in Alamance County. The current policy of only running a county background check will remain in place until a study can be completed, which may result in the addition of a statewide criminal check to the protocol.

This discussion of policy change occurred due to the news story from July 2006, which revealed that a convicted felon, Rakeem Felton, officiated three games for the county while he was on probation for drug possession and driving while impaired. Felton also had two assault convictions. In October 2006, the county began running background checks for umpires and referees after learning about Felton’s convictions.

Felton is now serving time in a state prison because his probation was revoked in 2007.

Alamance County Commission Member, Bill Lashley, supports the widened background checks and said that the county commissioners will probably sign off on the changes, but those changes most likely will not happen until the fall.

While expanding the checks statewide is a step in the right direction, it would be most effective for Alamance County to start checking nationwide, or at least in all of the areas a person has lived. Unfortunately, sex offenders do not find it difficult to move out of state and avoid re-registering as they should. It is not thorough to only check the current county or state for criminal records, especially for a person who will be working with children.

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