Criminal Records backlog

A surge in call-centre and farm-work job submissions and COVID-19 crowd-control measures have slowed the processing of applications at the police Criminal Records Office, forcing hundreds of persons to wait days and weeks for quick-service delivery.

That has caused a considerable backlog for applicants who require criminal-record clearance as a prequisite for job take-up, for travel, and immigration.

The office is seeking to digitise its systems as fast as possible for automated access for customers to obviate the need for in-person transactions, Deputy Superintendent of Police Donna Harris-Jones, who heads the unit, said Thursday.

Fast issuance of records has given way to an appointments system. The bureaucratic logjam has also been blamed on a laboured transition from its Orange Street location to the current 56 Duke Street site in February. That move was triggered by discomfort caused by noxious fumes.

Applicants have been criticised for turning up in breach of their appointments, further contributing to overcrowding at the entrance. Harris-Jones has also said that applicants are turning up to make appointments instead of securing dates via phone call or WhatsApp messaging.

Numbers are available for the Kingston office as well as the subsites in Summit, St James; May Pen, Clarendon; and Pompano Bay, St Mary.

Currently, the Kingston office is processing 300 people per day compared to an average 400-500 in the pre-pandemic era.

Though wait times for appointments extend for weeks, Harris-Jones said the office makes exceptions in extenuating circumstances.

“If you have any urgent case and you come and tell us that you have this situation and you bring something to substantiate – older persons, too – we always assist the person,” Harris-Jones told The Gleaner.

Ian Bayfield, who requested the five-day express service for overseas purposes, stood outside the office on Thursday but was turned away. It was the second time he was being given a date that was not honoured.

“Mi come there and dem a say the machine and system a give trouble and all sort of story, so me come here today fi see weh dem say. Me deh here from 10 o’clock yesterday and a 4 o’clock mi lef’,” he told The Gleaner.

Mickhel McDermott, of St Catherine, has paid for express service for his criminal record and has been given an August 20 appointment.

“Mi just a pray say di other things dem nuh come through before August,” McDermott said.

jonielle.daley@gleanerjm.com