Do the police know who you are? There are many people who go through their whole lives without even thinking about how much personal information the police have about them on file. They don't have to think about it because they have either never committed a crime or they have never been charged of a crime.
The majority of people tend to believe that information such as fingerprints and photo ID is only kept by the police if they are charged and sentenced for a crime. This is not true. Even if you were let go after being fingerprinted, photographed, charged and released, and even if they arrest and charge someone else for the crime, the police certainly do not destroy your ID. They are like elephants. They never forget!
Why do they keep everything on file? If you ever do commit a crime, convicting you would be a lot easier if you already had a file and were once a suspect. However, you don't have to go through your life worried about being hauled away by the police for something you didn't do! You have the option of requesting that the police files be destroyed. This option is not foolproof though; the police still have the right to refuse your request, but in many cases they comply. It certainly helps if you were an upstanding citizen before and after you were arrested, charged and released. Those who did commit crimes but were still released for one reason or another still qualify to request to have their files expunged. Those who have been arrested, charged and sentenced do not qualify for file expungement. If you have a criminal record, the only option left available to you is to apply for a pardon.
File removal can be a wearying process, depending on how many police stations and courts carry records of who you are. (Bureaucracies are not required to make it easy for taxpayers!) You also have to request file destruction from the RCMP, who will ultimately request the same from the CPIC (Canadian Police Information Centre) and you may be required to contact these places more than once during the process. Currently, the wait time is anywhere between 12 and 18 months; however, the wait time can be dependent on your eligibility for file removal.
If you think you will qualify to have your files destroyed, now is the time to do it, because the whole system is currently being reviewed by the RCMP and file removal may or may not be available in 2011. There are 2 options for making this request:
1.) You can choose to do it yourself.
2.)You can do it through a service.
Since time is very limited and no one knows how the RCMP will decide in 2011, it would be advisable to contact a service as they already know how it works and will be able to help speed up the process. (NOTE: No service can speed up the waiting time, only the time it takes to gather all of the necessary information.)For more information, visit:
http://www.canadianpardons.ca/fileremoval/havepolicerecord/