Frequently Asked Questions

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) is an Australian Government agency responsible for facilitating access to nationally coordinated criminal history checks. The ACIC do not provide criminal history information directly to the public, rather they facilitate check requests from accredited bodies like us. All Nationally Coordinated Criminal History check enquiries should be directed to Elite Screening Australia.

As above, most Nationally Coordinated Criminal History check are completed and posted within one business day of Elite Screening Australia receiving the application. You should allow for 10 working days before contacting us about the progress of your application. If you haven’t received your certificate in this time, please contact us. You should only contact Elite Screening Australia about the progress of your nationally coordinated criminal History check. Do not contact ACIC.

Accredited bodies, police agencies and the ACIC work together to deliver the Service, aiming to process 95 per cent of police checks within 10 business days, noting that:

• around 70 per cent of checks are completed in real-time with results being returned to the organisation that requested the check within minutes
• around 30 per cent of checks are referred to one or more police agencies because a ‘potential match’ is found. On limited occasions, this process can take longer than 10 business days to process, due to the complexity of the check.

A ‘potential match’ may be found if the applicant shares similar details with other individuals recorded in police systems, particularly if they have a common name. Processing of a check in these instances can take longer to progress.

Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks are performed by computer systems which run your name and details through police databases in search of a match. This generates an automatic pairing with police history records. This can be a speedy process for many applications, but for others it can be more complex. If the computer is unable to generate a result with certainty, your application may require manual processing.

Manual processing is when your application must be checked and assessed manually, by police authorities. This can be a timely process, and will add more time onto the process.

If a match is found on the database, or your name and details match another person of interest, it will be flagged for further review. A true match must be confirmed, and the computer system is not always able to confirm this conclusively, so people are needed to investigate the matter by hand.

There are multiple reasons for why your Police Check is delayed and takes longer than the average 1 hour. Around 30% of police check applications are sent for further review by the National Police Checking System.

Common reasons for why a police check result might take longer than expected are the following.

Common Names

If the applicant has a name which is relatively common in Australia, it is possible for it to flag matches to information in criminal records belonging to other individuals with the same name. This takes the system more time to establish if you are the person in question, or if you must be excluded from being a person of interest.

Old Information

The information on police record systems should be regularly updated. However, outdated information may still exist on police records. If the applicant’s data has not been updated effectively, this may require the applicant’s information to be gathered and assessed manually by police authorities.

Issues With Police Records

Any problems with the information held on police records can cause delays to your results. If information on the system is found to be incorrect, inaccurate or incomplete, it will have to be fully investigated before the results of a police check can be established.

Transfer Delays

The National Police Checking System works by giving police agencies and ACIC accredited providers across all states and territories in Australia access to criminal history records. In order for this to work successfully, information must be transferred and shared between different states and territories. For various reasons, some agencies may take longer to pass on information, and this will result in delays to your application.

Workload

Sometimes, there are unprecedented levels of police check applications being submitted in Australia. As with every application, it must be managed correctly and meet all requirements as set out by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. Police check applications must not be rushed, and this means that a heavy workload for individual police agencies can cause delays to police checks as they work through applications.

If you already expect that your Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check will contain details of your criminal record, there are some reasons why the results might be delayed.

If you are wondering about a delay with your criminal record, the following are possible causes:

• Legal technicalities and different legislation, including spent convictions schemes in different police jurisdictions
• The state or territory where the offence took place
• The decision process which determines whether a previous conviction or charge is disclosed as part of the results of a police check. This is dependent on the purpose behind the police check, the relevancy of the information and the assessment of the role the applicant is applying for (if for pre-employment screening purposes)

If you find that you are waiting a long time for the results ofpolice clearance, there is little you can do to speed up the process. Once your application is submitted with the NPC provider, the process is handled by the system, and there is nothing that can be done to retrieve the results any faster.

All accredited bodies who submit police checks on behalf of applicants have equal access to the National Police Checking Service. All must follow the same rules and procedures put in place by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. For this reason, you should not attempt to submit applications to different providers, as this will not result in a faster turnaround. It could slow down the process, as multiple providers will be searching for the same results.

Police checks are certified documents which must be performed following strict protocol. A police check result will only be released once the police agencies are completely satisfied and confident that the applicant has been assessed fully.

If there are any issues with the application submitted, the accredited body handling the application will contact you directly, either via phone, email or both. A discussion will be held to inform you of the issues, and to determine the best course of action for moving forward with thecriminal record check. This could include providing alternative documents or further personal information to help to verify your identity.

If the police check request has been sent for manual processing, the applicant will be informed and updated throughout the procedure where possible.

Anybody who applies for a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check cannot control the process once the application is submitted. The important rules to follow as a preventative measure are to complete the application correctly.

For a successful application, you must provide everything asked of you in terms of personal information and identity documentation. Check all dates to make sure documents are valid, and double check that you have entered all information correctly.

Generally, problems with the application itself can be resolved by the applicant if they read and follow the steps carefully. All applicants should consider spellings, typing errors, spacing format and consistency to enable a smooth process.