Peabody council OKs CORI check recommendation

PEABODY – Peabody City Councilors voted Thursday night to allow themselves the option to look deeper into the personal lives of those seeking a city-issued license.The councilors unanimously followed the recommendation of Deputy Chief Marty Cohan to somehow allow themselves the chance to receive CORI checks.”We have had this concern for many years regarding your authority to issue licenses and your inability to receive CORI (background checks) from the police department,” he wrote in a memo to the council.During a Legal Affairs Committee meeting, he told councilors, “It would probably be helpful to you people when issuing licenses to someone.”Currently, the Peabody Police Department has the authority to conduct a CORI check on any individual seeking a license, such as a taxi driver’s license, for example. Cohan explained that the department has their own “line” of judgment. Those whose CORI results fall above their “line” are able to continue the process toward getting the license they seek, those who fall below are not. Determining factors include having a clean record for at least five years, holding a current, valid license, as well as a license that is able to be renewed, which means there can’t be any outstanding fees or tickets.In his memo, Cohan said, “it is probably irresponsible on our part to expect that you could license an individual or business without any regard to the applicant’s background and criminal history.””You needn’t know their background to make a more educated guess,” he told the Council.Councilors were hesitant, however, fearing that a person’s background is a private matter and shouldn’t be discussed in an open public forum. To that notion, Cohan recommended that the councilors still move to allow themselves the right, but perhaps take up the issue during executive session.The council agreed, and later voted to attach a waiver to the license application for applicants to sign, thus allowing their CORI check to be discussed and reviewed. City Solicitor John Christopher assured councilors that doing so was within their rights.