Are you supposed to force close apps?
A couple years ago, SVP of platforms and ecosystems at Google, Hiroshi Lockheimer, tweeted to a couple tech reporters that it's best to leave Android alone. The OS will manage apps for you; there's no need to manually force close them.
How do you know if you can trust an app?
You can find the permissions on the apps page in the app store. If the permissions match the features of the app, it is most likely trustworthy. The easiest thing you could do is to perform a quick Google search. This is a simple way to see if there have been any public reviews of the app.