Bend Dating Background Screening
Mentor Research Institute, 2026
Bend Dating offers an optional Tier 3 background screening as one component of its broader member and public safety program.
The purpose of Tier 3 is not to certify that a person is safe. It is to make a reasonable, good-faith effort to identify specified criminal convictions associated with serious interpersonal safety risks and to create additional friction against participation by individuals whose qualifying convictions can be identified through the available screening process.
Background screening is one layer of Bend Dating's approach to safety, accountability, and informed decision-making.
How Tier 3 Background Screening Works
Every eligible Bend Dating member may choose to complete Tier 3 background screening.
Tier 3 is optional.
Members who successfully complete Tier 3 may see and interact with other members who have also successfully completed Tier 3.
A member who chooses not to complete Tier 3 is not removed from Bend Dating merely for declining the screening. That member simply does not receive Tier 3 status or access to the Tier 3 member population.
If a member voluntarily completes Tier 3 and a verified conviction meeting Bend Dating's established exclusion criteria is identified, the member may be removed from Bend Dating after applicable review and accuracy procedures.
Cost
The Tier 3 background screening may:
be provided at no cost as part of an introductory offer;
be paid or partially subsidized by Bend Dating;
be reduced through a promotional or discount code; or
be charged to the member.
The member charge may be as much as $60.
The applicable price is disclosed before the member authorizes or purchases the screening.
Payment for a screening does not guarantee successful completion of Tier 3.
Screening Provider
Bend Dating uses a named third-party online background-screening service.
Screening Service Provider: [To be Determined]
The provider searches criminal-history information available through the records, databases, jurisdictions, and services included in its screening product at the time the search is performed.
Bend Dating does not represent that the provider has access to every criminal record in the United States.
What Bend Dating Looks For
Bend Dating does not attempt to identify or exclude everyone who has ever been convicted of a crime.
The screening focuses on convictions reasonably associated with serious interpersonal safety risks relevant to people meeting, dating, communicating, or entering intimate relationships.
Bend Dating's exclusion criteria may include convictions involving:
murder or attempted murder;
serious interpersonal violence;
aggravated or serious assault;
strangulation;
rape;
attempted rape;
sexual assault;
unlawful sexual penetration;
serious sexual abuse;
sexual abuse or exploitation of children;
serious physical child abuse;
domestic violence;
stalking;
kidnapping or serious unlawful confinement;
human trafficking;
sex trafficking;
serious coercion involving threats of violence;
serious or repeated violations of protective orders; and
attempts, solicitation, or conspiracy involving substantially equivalent serious offenses.
Convictions from Oregon, other states, federal courts, territories, tribal jurisdictions, or other applicable U.S. jurisdictions may be considered when they are substantially equivalent to Bend Dating's exclusion criteria.
What Bend Dating Is Not Primarily Looking For
Tier 3 is intended as an interpersonal-safety screening rather than a general moral-character evaluation.
Bend Dating does not ordinarily treat every criminal conviction as disqualifying merely because it exists.
Examples of offenses that are not ordinarily automatic exclusion criteria solely on the basis of the conviction may include:
routine traffic offenses;
minor property crimes;
simple drug possession;
nonviolent financial offenses;
tax offenses;
minor disorderly-conduct offenses; and
other offenses without a reasonable relationship to the interpersonal-safety purpose of Tier 3.
Separate Bend Dating rules may apply when conduct independently violates the Code of Conduct or another safety requirement.
Convictions Rather Than Allegations
Bend Dating's Tier 3 exclusion process is primarily directed toward criminal convictions, not accusations.
A member is not ordinarily excluded under the background-screening policy solely because the screening identifies:
an arrest without conviction;
an accusation;
an unresolved criminal charge;
a police contact;
a dismissed case;
an acquittal;
a record belonging to another person; or
an entry whose disposition cannot reasonably be determined.
This does not prevent Bend Dating from acting under its Code of Conduct or separate safety procedures when credible information indicates a current threat or serious safety concern.
Geographic Scope
Although Bend Dating members are Oregon residents, Tier 3 screening is not intentionally limited to Oregon records.
A member may previously have lived, worked, attended school, served in the military, traveled, or committed an offense in another jurisdiction.
Depending upon the screening service used, the search may include available:
multi-jurisdiction criminal-record databases;
Oregon criminal-history information;
state criminal records;
county court information;
federal criminal records;
sex-offender registry information; and
other records included in the screening provider's service.
Bend Dating does not represent that every state, county, federal district, courthouse, agency, or criminal-record system is searched directly.
Level and Limits of Background Screening Service
Bend Dating provides a limited, good-faith background screening service intended to create additional friction against participation by individuals with specified criminal convictions associated with serious interpersonal safety risks.
The purpose of Tier 3 screening is risk reduction. It is based on the premise that conducting a reasonable background screening is preferable to conducting no background screening when people are using an online service to meet potential dating partners.
Standard of Effort
Bend Dating does not undertake a maximum-effort, exhaustive, investigative, or law-enforcement-level search of a member's history.
Bend Dating's obligation under this program is to:
verify the member's identity to the extent required by the Bend Dating membership process;
use a named third-party online background-screening service;
conduct the screening available through that service at the time the member completes Tier 3;
apply Bend Dating's established exclusion criteria to the information returned;
make a good-faith effort to avoid acting on an obvious mistaken identity or inaccurate record; and
provide a reasonable process through which a member can challenge materially inaccurate information.
Bend Dating does not undertake an independent investigation beyond the records and resources included in the designated online screening service except when Bend Dating voluntarily determines that additional verification is appropriate.
No Independent Investigation Requirement
Unless Bend Dating expressly states otherwise, Tier 3 does not require Bend Dating to:
contact courts individually;
contact police departments or prosecutors;
obtain investigative files;
interview victims, witnesses, employers, relatives, former partners, or neighbors;
search social media;
search newspapers or general internet sources;
hire private investigators;
search every county courthouse in which a member may have lived or traveled;
obtain records unavailable to the public or to the screening provider;
independently discover aliases that were not available through the authorized screening process;
investigate accusations that did not result in an available conviction record; or
continuously monitor a member after the screening date.
The existence of another possible source of information does not mean that Bend Dating represented that source would be searched.
Information Available at the Time of Screening
Tier 3 is a point-in-time screening.
The determination is based upon information available through Bend Dating's designated online screening resource at the time the background check is completed.
A successful screening means only that the screening process did not identify a verified conviction meeting Bend Dating's exclusion criteria within the information available through that resource at that time.
It does not mean that no such conviction exists.
Inherent Limitations and Error
Background-screening information is inherently imperfect.
Criminal-history information is maintained by many separate federal, state, county, tribal, territorial, and local jurisdictions.
Information may be:
incomplete;
delayed;
incorrectly entered;
incorrectly matched;
unavailable electronically;
sealed;
expunged;
restricted; or
absent from the particular databases available to the screening provider.
A record may fail to appear because:
the conduct was never reported;
no arrest occurred;
charges were not filed;
prosecution did not result in conviction;
the record is maintained in a jurisdiction not included in the available search;
the record had not yet been transmitted or indexed;
identifying information was insufficient to produce a match; or
the screening service did not have access to the record.
Conversely, a search may incorrectly associate a criminal record with a member.
These limitations mean that both false negatives and false positives are possible.
A Database Match Is Not Necessarily a Conviction
A possible criminal-record match does not automatically establish that the record belongs to the member or that the record meets Bend Dating's exclusion criteria.
Before relying on potentially disqualifying information for a final decision, Bend Dating or its screening provider should make a reasonable effort, within the available screening process, to determine:
whether the record belongs to the member;
whether the record reflects a conviction rather than merely an arrest or charge;
the offense of conviction;
the disposition reported;
whether material corrections or legal changes to the record are reflected; and
whether the conviction falls within Bend Dating's established exclusion criteria.
This is a reasonable verification process. It does not create an obligation for Bend Dating to conduct an independent comprehensive investigation.
What Happens If an Exclusionary Conviction Is Identified
If potentially exclusionary information is identified, Tier 3 status may remain pending while the information is reviewed.
If a qualifying conviction is verified and meets Bend Dating's established exclusion criteria, the member may be removed from Bend Dating.
A member who is removed because of a qualifying conviction does not automatically return to a lower tier simply because Tier 3 was originally optional.
The optional choice is whether to undergo Tier 3 screening. Once a member voluntarily elects screening, Bend Dating may act upon verified information showing that the member meets established exclusion criteria.
Challenging Inaccurate Information
Background-screening information can be wrong.
A member must have a reasonable opportunity to challenge materially inaccurate information, including:
mistaken identity;
a record belonging to another person;
an incorrect offense;
an incorrect disposition;
a duplicate record;
a dismissed case incorrectly shown as a conviction;
a reversed or vacated conviction;
a record that should not lawfully be reported; or
another material error.
When the screening provider maintains a formal dispute process, the member may be directed to that process.
Where reasonably practical, Bend Dating should not make a permanent exclusion decision based solely upon materially disputed information while a timely good-faith accuracy challenge is being resolved.
Privacy
A member's criminal-history report is not displayed to other Bend Dating members.
Other members do not see:
criminal-history details;
specific convictions;
charges;
court records;
the screening report;
the reason a member did not qualify; or
the reason a member was removed.
Other members see only an appropriate indication that Tier 3 background screening was successfully completed.
Bend Dating should retain only the screening information reasonably necessary to administer Tier 3, document its decisions, and meet applicable legal, operational, and safety requirements.
Meaning of Successful Completion
The phrase “Tier 3 Background Screening Completed” means:
The member submitted to Bend Dating's designated background screening, and the information available through the named screening service at the time of the search did not identify a verified conviction meeting Bend Dating's established exclusion criteria.
It does not mean:
“no criminal record,” “safe,” “approved as safe,” “risk-free,” or “fully investigated.”
Screening Creates Friction, Not Certification
Tier 3 is intended to create friction against participation by individuals whose qualifying convictions can reasonably be identified through the available screening process.
That friction has value even though it is imperfect.
Requiring a member to submit to identity-linked screening may:
discourage some individuals with disqualifying histories from seeking Tier 3 access;
identify some members with relevant convictions;
permit removal of members whose qualifying convictions are discovered; and
give members additional information about whether another member completed the same screening process.
Tier 3 should therefore be understood as an additional layer of risk reduction rather than a certification of personal safety.
What Bend Dating Does Not Assert
Bend Dating does not represent or warrant that:
every criminal conviction will be discovered;
every jurisdiction has been searched directly;
every government record is accessible online;
the screening provider's information is complete or error-free;
Tier 3 identifies everyone who has previously harmed another person;
a person without an identified exclusion conviction has never engaged in violence, abuse, stalking, coercion, sexual misconduct, or other harmful conduct;
a person who successfully completes Tier 3 is safe;
a Tier 3 member will behave safely in the future; or
the screening eliminates the ordinary risks inherent in meeting another person.
Relationship to Member Responsibility
Background screening does not replace the judgment of individual members.
Members remain responsible for making their own decisions about:
whether to communicate with another member;
whether and when to meet;
where to meet;
what personal information to disclose;
whether to continue a relationship; and
what precautions are appropriate for their circumstances.
Bend Dating encourages members to use Tier 3 information together with identity verification, observed conduct, the Code of Conduct, member reporting systems, and ordinary personal safety practices.
Relationship to Bend Dating's Other Safety Measures
Background screening is only one part of Bend Dating's broader safety and accountability structure.
It works alongside:
identity verification;
the Bend Dating Code of Conduct;
detailed member information;
relationship screening and evaluation;
member reporting;
investigation of reported conduct;
suspension and removal procedures;
member and public safety functions; and
referrals to qualified dating and relationship professionals where appropriate.
No single safety measure can eliminate the risks inherent in dating.
Bend Dating uses multiple layers because different safeguards address different forms of uncertainty and risk.
Governing Service Principle
Bend Dating does not promise maximum prevention of harm. It provides reasonable, transparent friction intended to reduce identifiable risk.
The Tier 3 program represents a good-faith effort to identify specified criminal convictions using a named online background-screening resource available at the time of screening.
Bend Dating believes that an appropriately disclosed background screening provides useful risk-reduction information compared with providing no screening at all.
The value of the program lies in reducing uncertainty and creating accountability where reasonably possible—not in eliminating uncertainty or guaranteeing safety.