A few decades ago, obtaining the police report of an applicant was a tedious process; filing of paper applications, long waits on queues, and then the endless wait to receive the report. But then came the Internet and it revolutionized the entire process.
Through an entirely online process, HR professionals can sit in the comfort of their offices and order for a national police check on an applicant or current employee. Unsurprisingly, between 2004 and now, the number of police checks requested from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) has more than quadrupled.
This post explores the amazing and secure technology behind a national criminal record certificate and how it’s made life easier for employers.
The Technology Behind a National Police Check
The ACIC has accredited several organizations that can help a person apply for and submit a police check. These organizations are given direct access to the National Police Checking Service’s national database for criminal history checking.
Before any criminal history check can be carried out on a person, formal consent from the person of interest (POI) is required. Once a police clearance request is made, an automatic search is conducted against a central index (National database) which contains the name of the POI. The information obtained from the search is verified by the police system to ensure it’s a match before the results are released, typically between one to three business days.
During the application process, the confidentiality and integrity of an applicant’s information are protected by:
- Secure Storage
Organizations make use of enterprise-grade cloud hosting services with top-notch encryption like AES-256 encryption.
- System Security
Firewalls are used to restrict access to internal system components to a whitelist of trusted IPs. Antivirus and other malware scanners are regularly run to promptly identify any threat signature.
- Transactional Security
Their website incorporates the use of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to establish an encrypted link between their web server and the customer’s browser. This ensures that the exchange of information is encrypted and inaccessible to a third party.
- Highly Secure National Database
The national criminal security database is also highly secure to avoid a breach of data.
Benefits of Technology to National Police Checks
Asides from the obvious fact that high-level security helps to maintain data integrity, the other benefits of online criminal history checks include:
- Speed
Most national checks are returned in less than a day. All other things being equal, the results will be available in, at most, three business days.
- Convenience
Since the process is entirely online, there’s no need for paperwork or standing in long queues. Technology has helped make the process as comfortable as conceivable. Moreover, the process is simple and easy to follow. The online police check application form usually takes less than 12 minutes to complete.
Conclusion
Requesting police checks for individuals is an important part of the pre-employment background screening process. Employers find out about the criminal history of an applicant by running a police check. Thanks to the amazing and secure technology behind national criminal history checks, the process is easier than ever before.
