In recognition of the dangers that persons convicted of certain
offenses may pose to the community, the City of North Wildwood seeks
to be proactive. To that end, the City Council believes that it is
appropriate and in the interest of the health, safety and welfare
of the residents of the City of North Wildwood to put into place procedures
to conduct background checks on all City employees as well as volunteers
who will, in the performance of their duties, have regular contact
with children. The City Council has the utmost respect for the volunteers
and employees of the City. This chapter will allow the City to ensure
that persons who have been convicted of certain delineated offenses
will be ineligible for City employment and will have an inability
to volunteer for duties that involve contact with children. In this
way, the overriding goal of providing the maximum protection to the
public at large in addition to children participating in City programs
will be codified and subject to continuing oversight.
Unless otherwise specifically defined herein, words and phrases
in this chapter shall be interpreted so as to give them the meaning
that they have in common usage and to give this chapter its most reasonable
application. The following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
BACKGROUND CHECK
The determination of whether a person has a criminal record
by cross-referencing that person's name and/or fingerprints with those
on file with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Identification Division,
and/or the State Bureau of Identification of the New Jersey State
Police.
CITY-SPONSORED PROGRAMS
Any programs organized and directed by the City Recreation
Department or any other City department for children who are under
the age of 18.
CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD INFORMATION or CHRI
Information collected by criminal justice agencies concerning
persons and stored in the computerized databases of the New Jersey
State Police SBI Criminal History Information System, the National
Law Enforcement Telecommunications System or other states' computerized
repositories containing criminal history record information consisting
of identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, indictments
or other formal criminal charges and any dispositions arising there
from, including convictions, dismissals, correctional supervision
and release.
DEPARTMENT
The City of North Wildwood Police Department.
MINOR
Any person under 21 years of age.
[Added 12-18-2018 by Ord.
No. 1769]
NONCRIMINAL JUSTICE PURPOSE
Any purpose, other than administration of criminal justice
purpose, including employment and licensing, for which applicant fingerprints
or name search requests are submitted by authorized requesters, as
required or permitted by a federal or state statute, rule or regulation,
executive order, administrative code provision, local ordinance, resolution
or by this chapter, to the State Bureau of Identification for the
dissemination of criminal history record information.
PROGRAMS UTILIZING CITY FACILITIES
Any program or event which is organized for the specific
purpose of attracting participation by persons under 18 years of age
which utilizes public land or facilities.
If this background check disqualifies an applicant or existing
employee or volunteer of the City or persons involved in programs
using City facilities for programs specifically organized for participation
by persons under the age of 18 years, the City Administrator or his
designee shall provide the disqualified person with any opportunity
to complete and challenge the accuracy of the information contained
in the criminal history record. The disqualified person shall be afforded
a reasonable period of time to correct and complete this record not
to exceed 30 days.