(rdnewsNOW/Adam Ophus)

By Adam Ophus

will Look again in the future

Rocky won’t charge for criminal record, vulnerable sector checks

Apr 22, 2021 | 11:13 AM

Rocky Mountain House town council has turned down a request from the town’s RCMP Staff Sgt. to begin charging for criminal record and vulnerable sector checks.

Criminal record checks are usually needed for employment, adoption, or volunteering. Vulnerable sector checks are more typically needed by those working with children, the elderly, or persons with disabilities. Municipalities throughout the province already charge for checks to be done, ranging from $20 to $50.

Rocky RCMP Staff Sgt. Carl Dinsdale had told Town administration that checks are completed by the detachment’s support staff, and the multitude of requests they receive can be very time consuming.

In 2019, the Rocky Mountain House RCMP detachment did a total of 1805 criminal record and vulnerable sector checks.

Councillor Len Phillips noted statistics showing roughly 150 record checks never get picked up on average a year.

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“That’s almost a month’s worth of work lost. There’s got to be a way of reducing the number not being picked up. I definitely don’t think that having volunteers pay for a record check is something we want to do.”

Phillips along with other members of council did mention that they want to review the topic again once people become more financially stable.

Mayor Tammy Burke commented that now is not the time to be putting up barriers for people trying to get jobs or volunteer.

Town CAO Dean Krause suggested organizations take a look at whether or not they need checks done, noting the town had just hired on 10 summer students which in previous years required criminal record checks.

“We looked at what are we even gaining from doing that and now we have actually waved that requirement. So that right there is 10 record checks that won’t happen now.”