| NOTE:
versions of this article also appeared in the following papers:
National Post, Montreal Gazette, Regina Leader Post, Kingston Whig-Standard,
Vancouver Sun and the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.
PUBLICATION: The Ottawa
Citizen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mounties face 4-year fingerprint backlog: New hires called 'day late, dollar short' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The RCMP has gone on a hiring spree to try to cope with a massive backlog of 411,674 requests for fingerprint background checks. The Mounties recently increased the number of staff handling requests by 65 people, or 30 per cent, and have had to seek help from outside contractors to train them all. At the current pace, it will take the force four years to clear the 380,446 criminal and 31,228 civil requests. That's much too long, according to some critics. Conservative member of Parliament Garry Breitkreuz expressed concern that lengthy delays in processing fingerprints would result in criminals being left on the streets. He called the recent spate of hirings "a day late and a dollar short," adding the federal government should have been funding fingerprint and DNA infrastructure over the past few years instead of the much-maligned gun registry. "In four years, how many crimes will be committed by people we could get off street with timely analysis?" he asked. "We desperately need more resources into police." Joe Comartin, the NDP's public safety critic, said the effects are also being felt by people who need security clearances to start new jobs in the government and other sensitive sectors. "There's no question it would explain some of the lengthy, lengthy delays we have in some of my own files in my constituency," he said. "There's no question it's a problem in those areas." He suggested the RCMP seek assistance from provincial and municipal crime labs if it can't handle the workload. RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Nathalie Deschenes said despite the high backlog numbers, they represent a "vast improvement" over the 583,000 requests pending a year ago. Asked whether the RCMP shared Mr. Breitkreuz's concern that delays could put the public at risk, Sgt. Deschenes said, "we can only do what we can do. "We have showed we take this matter seriously by increasing personnel and we are trying to get into more advanced technology to do the fingerprint checks," she said. "We have to deal with what we have, and I think we're doing pretty good considering the improvement." Sgt. Deschenes couldn't say how much the recent hirings cost the force, or whether the employees were brought in on full-time or contract basis. Unlike the flashy and sometimes unrealistic portrayal of fingerprinting and background checks on television programs such as CSI, the RCMP process still requires some manual labour and cases can pile up. Sgt. Deschenes pointed out that the RCMP is currently working on a computerized real time identification system that's expected to significantly reduce wait times for checks. She said the first phase, expected to be completed in the fall of 2006, should allow the Mounties to turn around crime scene fingerprint checks in 24 hours. The RCMP couldn't say how long it now takes. Records obtained by the Citizen revealed requests for fingerprint checks ballooned by 148 per cent following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks due to increased security, which partly explains the backlog. -------------------------------------------------- NEWS RELEASE - February
4, 2005 NEWS RELEASE - May
3, 2005 |