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Ottawa Police advise Ottawa residents of possible delays in Police Records Checks as a result of enhancements made to the Vulnerable Sector Query
10/08/2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 1:15 pm
(Ottawa)—The Ottawa Police Service would like to advise Ottawa residents who require a Police Records Check that they may experience some delays in the processing of their request.
Applicants seeking employment and/or volunteer work with the ***vulnerable sector are required to obtain a Police Records Check. This police records check is used to query information from national and local police databases regarding the existence of criminal convictions and outstanding charges, as well as incidents of any notable police contact, for the last five years.
Part of the records check involves a “Vulnerable Sector (VS)” query. This query is used to identify whether the individual being checked has ever been granted a pardon for a sexual offence.
As of July19, 2010, the RCMP instituted changes to this query, which is done through the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) operated by the RCMP, in order to enhance the screening process for pardoned sexual offences. Previously, the “Vulnerable Sector (VS)” query was completed using an individual’s surname, given name, gender and date of birth. With the latest changes, an additional query will be subsequently performed using solely the gender and date of birth of the individual. If the additional search identifies the possible existence of a pardoned sexual offence record which matches the individual’s gender and date of birth, the individual will be asked to provide their fingerprints. The rationale behind the enhancement is to ensure that pardoned sexual offence records remain associated with individuals even if they have changed their name.
This added query has resulted in a considerably large increase in fingerprint requests and while fingerprints submitted for Vulnerable Sector purposes are treated as a priority, Ottawa residents should be aware of the following estimated processing times:
- If a fingerprint is submitted to the RCMP and is found NOT TO BE LINKED to a criminal file, the processing time is estimated at approximately two weeks.
- If a fingerprint is submitted to the RCMP and IS LINKED to a criminal file, the processing time is estimated to take up to 120 days.
Volunteers working with the Vulnerable Sector are exempt from paying a processing and fingerprinting fee upon submission of a letter from the volunteer agency.
Non-Volunteers working with the Vulnerable Sector are required to pay the processing fee of $25.00 to the Solicitor General of Canada (by money order or certified cheque), and $20.00 to the City of Ottawa (cash or cheque), for fingerprinting services.
For further information regarding records checks, please visit the Ottawa Police website at http://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/ServingOttawa/RecordsChecks/index.aspx .
***Who are vulnerable persons?
Vulnerable persons or individuals refers to a class of persons who, because of their age, a disability or other circumstances, whether temporary or permanent are in a position of dependence on others or are otherwise at a greater risk than the general population of being harmed by persons in a position of authority or trust relative to them (for example: children, disabled or elderly)
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CONTACT:
Background Clearance Section
Telephone: 613-236-1222, ext. 5485
Ottawa Police Service - Service de police d'Ottawa
www.ottawapolice.ca
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