Criminal Record Checks – Are you being negligent?

by Matt Cruchet

I've been wanting to get this up since the Scouts Canada thing blew. I've been getting lots of inquiries related to how organizations should be managing their child protection programs. Here's a quick snapshot of some of the key issues.

A police criminal records check (PCRC) or police check or police records check is a standard request for most organizations working with youth. If your organization has adopted this practice there’s a few things you need to know - starting with what a standard PCRC does not generally cover:

• Outstanding entries, such as charges and warrants
• Absolute and conditional discharges
• Current judicial orders, including Peace Bonds, Probation and Prohibition orders under the Criminal Code of Canada
• Convictions where a pardon has been granted
• Convictions under provincial statutes
• Local police contact
• Provincial Ministry of Transportation information
• Special Interest Police (SIP) category of CPIC
• Family Court Restraining Orders
• Foreign information
• A Vulnerable Sector (VS) Query of pardoned sex offenders to ascertain if the applicant has been convicted of and granted a pardon for any of the sexual offences that are listed in the schedule to the Criminal Records Act (CRA)
• Any reference to incidents involving mental health contact that did not result in a conviction
• Charged and processed by other means such as Diversion

Note: There’s a large variation in what you get based on the local police detachment

A typical PCRC does cover criminal convictions (summary and indictable) from the CPIC and/or local databases. The CPIC is the Canadian Police Information Centre run by the RCMP. So if someone has a criminal conviction it should show up on a PCRC. Now compare this with the above list. Two glaring points stand out: pardons and the vulnerable sector query.