SYRACUSE -- A group of community activists is calling for a change to background checks in Onondaga County.

The Criminal History Arrest Incident Reporting System, or CHAIRS Report, from the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department is just $10 and has been seen as an alternative to costly background checks from New York State.  However, the Center for Community Alternatives says 64% of those reports contain at least one arrest that should have been sealed. Nearly all of them included a non-criminal arrest.

"I was shocked," said Patricia  Warth of the CCA.  "I had anticipated that we would find a significant error rate, but I had not anticipated just how significant that error rate was."

The CCA examined 70 reports in its study, something Onondaga County Undersheriff Warren Darby told me is far from fair.

"That's not even one percent of the activity," Darby said.  "If you're going to extrapolate some thoughts as to how the process is running -- that's not enough of a sample."

Another point of contention is the fact that these arrest records only reflect arrests in Onondaga County.  In other words, if a person committed a crime in some other county, it would not show up on the report.  Darby said he does not dispute that, and adds the CHAIRS Report is a snapshot, not a full criminal history. Darby also pointed out that a state report would not show crimes from other states, just like the county report does not show crimes from other counties.

Darby said this is no plan in place to change the CHAIRS Report, even though the CCA is calling for just that.