New rules delay criminal record checks for hockey dads

Bethany Lindsay, ctvbc.ca Date: Friday Oct. 8, 2010 
Looking to coach minor hockey this winter? Police in B.C. are warning there's a good chance your criminal record check could be held up because of new rules that demand fingerprints from anyone who shares a birthday with a sex offender. In most Canadian communities, people like teachers, coaches and Boy Scout leaders must submit to a criminal background check before being approved to work with children. But under new regulations, introduced in April, police now have to run every applicant's birth date and gender through a national database. If their birthday and gender match up with those of a sex offender, they must provide fingerprints.

Sgt. Greg Cox in the RCMP's national office told ctvbc.ca that the changes were meant to address the potential problem of pardoned sex offenders who decide to change their names."In some provinces people are allowed to legally change their names and it's not reportable," he said.In the small Vancouver Island community of Sidney, police say that about 50 per cent of the men who come in for criminal record checks have birthdays that match up with those of convicted sex offenders."It's a little overwhelming. It's a manpower issue for us, supplying the people to take the prints," Cpl. Chris Swain told ctvbc.ca, adding that about 1,400 people in the small town need criminal records every year. Once the prints are taken in the Sidney detachment, they're sent off to Ottawa to be checked against a database of offenders' prints -- a process that can take as long as a month."It's a time issue for the people applying for the criminal record," Swain said. "Right now, we're looking at four to five weeks."