Disclosure Fact Sheet

It is important to note that not all police check results arrive at the same time. Some checks take longer than expected to finalise. These reasons can include:

• The check subject may have a disclosable court outcome, that requires more time to retrieve on policing systems
• The check subject having a common name, or a name that matches with many potential Persons of Interest on policing systems
• The check subject having old police information that requires manual collection and processing of hardcopy records,
• The relevant police agency having inaccurate or incomplete records which need to be investigated properly before the check can be finalised,
• Transferring information between the various state and territory police agencies before the information can be vetted and/or released, and The NPCS recommends that because of these reasons above, every customer and/or check subject allow as much time as possible for any check to be processed. Rapid Screening can now follow up on checks that have been processing for more than 10 business days (sometimes 15 business days).

The NPCS recommends that because of these reasons above, every customer and/or check subject allow as much time as possible for any check to be processed.

The AFP Police Check is the highest level of police check available in Australia. It gives a comprehensive overview of an applicant’s criminal history, including previous convictions and pending charges.

The AFP Police Check provides employers information that helps them assess the risks of hiring people, particularly if they work with vulnerable groups like children, or in regulated industries like banking.

The Australian Department of Home Affairs will Only accept an AFP Police Check for migration purposes, including migration related to employment.

Rapid Screening provides a simple and straight forward way for individuals or businesses to obtain their police check. Rapid Screening is an online application that permit the submission of police checks in a fast, straightforward and quick turnaround. With 70 percent of all checks submitted to the ACIC are completed and returned to the accredited body immediately, all other checks can take longer than 10 days to return.

A National Police Check involves identifying an individual’s disclosable court outcomes and any charges. A National Police Certificate (NPC) is a document that lists an individual's disclosable court outcomes and pending charges (that is, where a person has been charged with an offence but has not yet been to court) sourced from the databases of all Australian police services. Some people refer to this as a person's offender history. Certain convictions, such as spent or juvenile convictions, may not be disclosed on a NPC in accordance with the legislation and policies of the various police services.

The following is required for a successful police check entry;

-Online Informed Consent and upload of required ID’s

Rapid screening must gain consent from all individuals that will be undertaking a police check. We also require acceptable identification to meet police check requirements.

- Check submission and processing

A Police Check request will be submitted once we have received your details and consent. Once submitted an automatic search will be completed on the ACIC/AFP National database which contains all individuals who are known to the police. The Police agency will extract the relevant information and ensure they match to your input. The Police agency will also look at the category and purpose of the check to determine the type and amount of information that is released.

ACIC are not able to disclose or discuss any police check requests with the public. Please contact Rapid Screening by phone 1300 RAPID-X (1300 727 439) or 03 9044 7260 or by email [email protected] for assistance.

ACIC Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check: While 70 percent of all checks submitted to the ACIC are completed and returned to the accredited body immediately, all other checks can take longer than 10 days to return.

AFP Immigration/Visa purpose police check: Certificates issued by the Australian Federal Police are printed on secure paper. This secure paper is now used nationally by all Australian Police Services. It will arrive in the mail at your chosen address. The processing time for a routine National Police Check can be between 4-15 working days from the date it is received. Please be aware that processing times for National Police Checks may vary as the AFP may need to seek information from other police jurisdictions.

Employment purposes (ACIC) results will be delivered electronically so you have instant access to your information. Visa/Immigration purposes (AFP) results will be sent to your chosen address via post mail.

If you believe your police check is incorrect, you are able to dispute the results by contact us by phone 1300 RAPID-X (1300 727 439) or (03) 9044 7260 or by email [email protected]. We will discuss with you and investigate the dispute. We will contact ACIC/AFP to investigate the dispute further and notify you once an outcome has been reached. Please find attached our Dispute Policy and Form. This Dispute Form will need to be attached as an email and sent to us.