WATCH ABOVE: Those requiring a criminal-background check from Toronto Police could have to wait up to 6 months. Mark McAllister reports.
TORONTO – The Toronto Police Services Board is struggling to manage a backlog in police background checks that grows by 200 new requests each day and reached almost 17,000 requests last year.
The backlog could also get worse for students, health care workers, teachers and others who need the checks to secure job acceptance and school placements, if the RCMP makes fingerprinting a mandatory part of the process.
Casey Rowed, a paramedic student at Humber College is one month away from graduating and needs a “vulnerable sector screening” (VSS) police check to secure a job placement.
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Police checks look for past criminal records and are required in a variety of workplaces, especially if children or other vulnerable persons are involved.
The checks are divided into categories. The first is a clearance letter which shows a person’s criminal record and can be accessed by any police force using the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) database.
The second is the VSS check and requires a more in-depth process by the police force where the person lives. Police check the applicant’s name against several criminal databases. This type of police check is required in positions for teachers, social workers, taxi drivers, day-care workers, or sport coaches.
A Peel Regional Police spokesperson told Global News a VSS check takes roughly 20 minutes to complete and can be done on the spot.
Jason Powell, dean of the school of health sciences at Humber College, said the issue of waiting for a background check creates a stressful situation for students.
Powell says students waiting six months for VSS checks appear to be the new norm, and sees a growing demand for police checks with increasing enrolment at post-secondary institutions.
Toronto police spokesperson Mark Pugash said a smaller staff and greater increase in demand has led to the backlog.
“We’re just emerging now from three years of a hiring freeze where many, many people who left weren’t replaced,” said Pugash. “We faced the last several years of reduced staff combined with an increased in demand.
“There are a number of things we can do to reduce or eliminate the backlog and we are looking very closely at those.”
Toronto Police chief Bill Blair said in a report last week a redeployment of staff reduced the VSS request backlog of nearly 17,000 applicants to 4,750, but police had since received 7,206 new applications.
Blair said current staffing of 11 to 14 employees specifically to address VSS checks was “interim” and had impacted other service areas because staff were shifted away from their usual tasks.
The police board is looking at several ways to reduce the backlog and prevent future backlogs from happening
The board has asked Blair to report back in April with options to address backlogs.
*With files from Global’s Mark McAllister
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