New police technology to help protect most vulnerable

CALGARY – Police checks for people in a position of trust are about to become a lot more efficient.

The Calgary Police Service is rolling out improved technology that will flag someone within a matter of minutes – rather than weeks – when that person is applying for clearance to work with vulnerable individuals.

The Real Time Identification (RTI) system was developed by the RCMP and is used by 29 other policing agencies across the country.

When someone applies for a police check when applying for a job or volunteer position with children, seniors and other vulnerable individuals – at times they are flagged and have to provide fingerprints.

The new technology will allow fingerprint verification to be completed in as little as five minutes if that person does not already have a previous criminal record or pardoned sex offence on file.

“If there’s any indication for the police service that maybe there’s something wrong here, that it doesn’t seem to be the right person, if there’s any doubt about it, just to confirm identity, fingerprints are requested,” says Peter Henschel, RCMP Assistant Commissioner.

The faster fingerprint verification will also be beneficial in helping police track prior offenders who may have changed their names or moved provinces as the system is integrated across Canada.

While the live scan devices will be a great help, officials say it isn’t the “be all end all” for protecting those most vulnerable.

“These vulnerable checks will only identify those who have been convicted or previously convicted. There are individuals out there who are predators who have not been caught yet who do not have criminal records who would clear through a security check,” says Police Chief Rick Hanson.

Currently, CPS only has one machine in service but two more will come into place by the end of June.

CPS processes around 100,000 security checks each year. Those checks can sometimes take three months or longer to be cleared.

The new system will now reduce the process to a matter of weeks.

The machines cost between $12,000 and $16,000 and are expected to cut down on administration costs as well as time.