Halifax Police are planning to reimburse nearly 1,200 Haligonians who were overcharged $25 for criminal record checks.
They’re reaching out to the estimated 1,175 citizens who’ve been affected to begin the process of issuing a refund.
Police say that they’ll be issuing refunds via cheque.
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According to the Halifax Police website, criminal record checks cost either $30 or $50, depending on what you need the check for.
Insp. Julia Cecchetto, the Halifax Police’s information management officer, says that the $25 overcharge is due to a secondary check that police performed on individuals who were flagged during their original application.
If someone was flagged they would be asked to provide fingerprints, at that time Halifax police would charge the $25 fee.
“We’ve since discovered that we shouldn’t have been doing that and that the charge should’ve been covered in the original fee,” Cecchetto told Global News.
Police say that the issue was discovered during a review of the criminal record checks. Once it was flagged, the practice was immediately halted.
According to Checchetto the fee was being charged as early as 2013, though it could go as far back as 2011.
The mix-up looks like it’ll cost the police $29,375.
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In a statement, Halifax police asked for citizens’ patience as they begin the process.
“We expect it will take at least a few weeks to complete this process,” the statement read. “We will do all we can to reach the affected individuals as promptly as possible.”
Police said they’ve already notified 275 of the 1,175 people.
If there are any issues or questions for those affected by the issue, police are asking that people email hrpcrcrefund@halifax.ca.
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