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Rapsheets, a Memphis company that compiles and supplies organizations with background check information on prospective employees or volunteers, recently completed a system upgrade and is building a national reputation as a premier company in this business.
The company was founded in 1997, after company owner Peter Schutt saw the growth potential for the service. The original idea for Rapsheets came from a daily listing in the Memphis Daily News, which Schutt owned, that publishes bankruptcies, warranty deeds, criminal records, building permits, etc.
According to Camille Gamble, marketing director for the company, Schutt began putting the information on the paper's Web site and allowing people to search the site and build fists.
"The criminal record part took off because there was no central repository for criminal records that you could search for online," Gamble says. "The federal government has a database, but it's not available to the public and it does not contain convictions, only arrests, which don't do you any good unless it's a conviction."
Schutt decided to use...