Tim May <tcmay@got.net> wrote :
I've refused to answer questions about neighbors when they were being checked out by the FBI. I told the agents, this was in the mid-80s, that I had no interest in speculating to them about a person I knew only in passing.
I just avoided any sort of speculation. The degree of isolation in our high turnover little suburban (BLECCCH!RETCCHH!!OMIGAWDHOWDIDIGETHERE?!?!?!) neighborhoods is amazing. If you stick to the facts there's usually little to say and it takes little time to say it. All in all I'd guess it's normally a low quality information source and excruciatingly boring duty.
I expect a lot of background checks get idle speculation from bluehairs and busybodies.
I'd bet that they know how to filter out the worst of the non-information.
--Tim May
Mike