Destruction of Fingerprints

PLEASE NOTE:  If you have been convicted of an offence anywhere in Canada, you will be required to apply for a record suspension.  You may obtain a Record Suspension Application Guide by calling the Parole Board of Canada (PBC) at 1-800-874-2652 or by downloading the forms from the PBC’s website. The forms may also be available at any police agency or local public library.

There are varying waiting periods that must expire before the destruction process can begin:

• Stay of Proceedings – one year

• Withdrawn – three months

• Dismissed/not guilty – three months

• Acquitted – three months

Each request is looked at on a case-by-case basis and destruction requests may be denied in some cases.  There is no legislation in place that requires a police agency to destroy identification documents.

Most police agencies have developed their own policies with respect to requests of this nature and will use discretion in making a decision as to whether a particular request will be granted or denied.

Should a request not be granted, the processing fee will be returned to the requestor with a letter advising of the denial of the request.

This process will include:

• all identification documents gathered upon arrest, such as your fingerprints and photograph

• the physical file created as a result of your arrest

• the criminal record history pertaining to only Transit Police charges contained in the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) database held at the RCMP central repository in Ottawa

The information compiled as a result of the police incident(s) will remain in our local records management system, wherein destruction or removal is not within our policy or guidelines, and the results of the court proceedings will remain in the court’s database.

If you have non-conviction findings in other jurisdictions, you will be required to make an application to each police agency for destruction of identification documents.  Each police agency has developed their own policy with respect to destruction requests; therefore, it is advisable to contact each separate agency to ascertain what their process for destruction is.

Write a letter addressed to the Information Management Department accompanied by a money order, certified cheque, or lawyer’s cheque, in the amount of $68.25 payable to “TSML”.

The letter should include:

• your full name (include the name you were arrested under if it is different now)

• date of birth

• current address

• the offence you were charged with (to the best of your recollection)

• the date of the offence (to the best of your recollection)

• the Court disposition (to the best of your recollection)

The letter and processing fee can be mailed to:

Court Clerk
Transit Police
Suite 300 – 287 Nelson’s Court
New Westminster, BC, V3L 0E7

or dropped off at our front counter – Open Monday to Friday between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm.

A letter confirming receipt of your request and processing fee will be sent to you at the earliest opportunity, advising you that the procedure to close your local criminal record file and your file with the RCMP Identification Services of Canada has been initiated.

Once RCMP Ottawa has complied with our request, we will send you another letter confirming that Transit Police and the RCMP Central Repository in Ottawa have destroyed your criminal record file, fingerprints, and photograph, and that the information has been removed from the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) database.

Please be aware that the entire process from start to finish may take approximately eighteen months.

If further information is required, please contact the Court Clerk on 604-515-8300 or via email at: TP_Courtclerk@transitpolice.bc.ca