Criminal Records Check - time to come clean, or what ?

[Devils Advocate]

My company has just sent me this memo:

The UK Department for Transport has required that with effect from 1st July 2003, all permanent full pass holders with access to the Restricted Zone must undergo a criminal record check at basic disclosure level.

In order to cope with the large numbers involved, the process for obtaining criminal record checks for existing staff will be phased in over a period of time. All existing staff will have to have undergone this check by 31st December 2003.

I will be distributing Disclosure forms to all staff with ID’s within the next week.

Once I distribute these forms could everyone please complete and return them to me within 5 working days.
I will then forward them to Disclosure Scotland.

The process to obtain a CRC check should normally take 10 working days.

When Disclosure Scotland return the forms to me I then forward them to the ID centre where they are verified.

Questions that come to mind include:

Should I admit to convictions for psychopathic mass murder, rape and torture, albeit that these only occurred during the period when I was a mercenary in foreign lands, well beyond the shores of the UK, or should I keep schtum ?

Does my period as a piano player in a Far East whorehouse count as criminal behaviour ?

If I ever happened to have smoked marijuana – but didn’t inhale – does this make me a criminal ?

Should I admit to holding certain sympathies with various ‘freedom fighter’ organisations around the world, albeit that these are contrary to the position held by the presently elected UK government ?

If I’m proved to NOT have a UK criminal record will I now be able to take my 'Leatherman Multi-Tool' to work with me ?


Ps. ( hence the edit ) all hypothetically, of course.

[Unwell_Raptor]

That's just the way it is, DA.

I am a trustee of a small charity that deals with people in the 'vulnerable' group. We have to check all of our (four) staff and (twenty) volunteers. It costs over £40 per head, so we are heading for a thousand pound bill.

But that is what the tabloids wanted, and the Government cannot resist them for fear of condoning heaven knows what.

Unfair? Yes. Pointless? Probably. Avoidable? No.

[Angus Meecoat]

Don't know how much success they are likely to have but several of the Aviation Trades Unions are hoping to mount a legal challenge against these checks. They contravene the Human rights act apparently. They seem to be taking a long time though,
we will all have been checked by the time they get around to it.

What makes the blood boil for me is these checks discriminate against UK born employees, the foriegn pilot sitting next to you, or all the foreign cabin crew in the back may have criminal records as long your arm in their own countries, but will easily get a UK ID as they have no record in the UK.

A misdemeanour several years ago can now result in a UK born citizen losing their jobs airside, where they may have worked without any problems for years. Does this really increase safety and security, will it deter Al Qaeda one bit, bu*****t.

While people flood into the country in their thousands with no ID or documents relating to their background, this government goes into posture mode again and starts putting UK citizens out of work. Could only happen here.

[Miserlou]

I've receiced something similar from my company.

Our union has advised us to do nothing until the situation is clarified

[topcat450]

Obviously none of us have anything to hide,

BUT,

What type of convictions would all of a sudden mean that you can't have your pass.... & possibly lose your job?

I mean, would ANY criminal conviction mean that you'd fail the check?

Or would say, trading on a sunday market without a licence be OK, yet being caught banging your missus in a park mean that your out-on-your-ear?

[Civil Servant]

Does this mean the UK Government's stated aim that throwing people into prison is to rehabilitate them as much as punish them is not working?

Who would be surprised at that?

[maninblack]

I had to go through this check procedure last year due to working with Cadets (fair enough) Those who had never served in the military who applied at the same time were cleared in about four weeks, as an ex-regular serviceman it took EIGHT MONTHS to get clearance.

[strafer]

Is it still true that this only applies to British passport holders and that ex-Taliban, etc are exempt?

PS

Devils Advocate don't admit your conviction for pyschopathic mass murder - I never did

[Number Cruncher]

I believe the list of qualifying convictions are included here:

http://217.8.18.168/start/infopool.n...256D09004DB1AA

[fiftyfour]

Convictions abroad can not be checked. Why should anybody volunteer the information on convictions abroad - especially if you are a budding terrorist. Collecting information on people's religeous beliefs, especially if they were to tick the ' I am a fanatic ' box, would be more productive. Unfortunately, we have allowed ourselves and our governments to become 'pc.'

[steamchicken]

Oh God, this is a grim matter indeed..I recently had to fill in a CRB check form, God knows how many pages - it's been two months and not a sound. And I've never even been arrested. Interesting this thing about "Disclosure Scotland", though. Anyone got the faintest clue who or what they are? Does this suggest that they're taking the job away from the CRB because they'll only make a cock of it?

[goatface]

Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Fail to implement these checks and come the next terroist incident, who gets the blame?

Implement the checks, and god help us! it's an infringement of human rights!

I accept that there are ways to circumnavigate legislation, there always has been and there always will be, but I'd be happier knowing that at least some effort has been made to check out the history of anyone working alongside me.
Besides which, you give away nearly as much about yourself and your personality by using a supermarket loyality card as the security services could find out by tailing you.

Only the completely paranoid and those who have something to hide have any cause to worry.

[Angus Meecoat]

You could not be more wrong Goatface, this has nothing to do with anything to hide or paranoia.

There would be no checks on the person flying next to you if they are foreign, does that make you feel OK cos it doesn't for me.

This is all about the UK government being PC and taking the easy option and trying to be seen to do the right thing, while illegal immigration is out of control possibly allowing people working airside at our airports with no crimnal checks, and oh yes, sitting in the seat next to you.

Nobody is saying lets not have criminal record checks, what I am saying is everybody must be checked not just UK nationals, it's called discrimination.

For a foreign national to work airside at one of our airports,whats wrong with asking them to provide proof of a CRC from their own country, thats not too difficult surely.

[Dyna Soar]

Strange thing is, if you happen to be a certain well known writer, convicted of perjury, you can walk straight out of jail and back into the House of Lords. There you can continue to make/influence the legislation that controls all of us (in the UK).

Strange country we live in isn't it ?

[Flightmech]

All our Engineers have just had to get the Basic Disclosure from "Disclosure Scotland" due to the new BAA Directors Notice. However, strange thing is, every year i go away on the Derbyshire Residential trip as a parent helper with my kids primary school (year 6 kids) for which i have to obtain an Enhanced Disclosure with the CRB every year. When submitting this to the ID unit i was told it wasnt good enough because it wasn't from "Disclosure Scotland", even though mine was enhanced and they only need basic. Are they getting some special deal with the Scottish lot?

[unwiseowl]

Do we have to get the disclosure each time the ID is renewed, or is it only done once in a lifetime?

[Departures Beckham]

I've got my Basic Disclosure back, which took three weeks from sending off to receiving back. At the bottom of the Disclosure forms are the logos of the Scottish Criminal Record Office, the Scottish Executive and British Telecom. Any idea what the hell BT have to do with criminal records? More to the point, what would a non-governmental organisation have to do with it?

For those who haven't yet found it, Disc. Scotland have a website at www.disclosurescotland.co.uk

[Smokie]

So basically, we can file a racial discrimination complaint if it applies to UK passport holders only then.

I'm glad that Sheep sh@gging has been removed from the list ....

[Celtic Frog]

Proof of whereabouts

This problem goes deeper. A few years ago I had to apply for an airside pass at Luton Airport. (Having continuously held various UK airport ID passes for about 15 years at that time) I had to show proof of where I'd been for previous 2 years. I showed them all evidence of where I lived and who I'd worked for, but I had left previous job 2 weeks earlier in order to organise and undertake the house move to Luton. During this 2 weeks I had stayed in various B & Bs and didn't claim unemployment benefit. the beaurocrats at Luton "security" tried refusing me an ID pass because I couldn't "prove" where I'd been for that 2 weeks, and refused to accept that I'd been moving house.
My girlfriend at that time was in exactly the same situation as me and got the same treatment.
I sarcastically asked the question that if I could prove that I had been abroad working for some illegal organisation, would that be OK? "Yes" was the reply...just as long as I could prove where I'd been.
If legislation is going to be enforced about declaring criminal convictions, something must be done to filter out the stupidity of power trip addicts.

[Timothy]

I was sitting in Mags court a couple of months back when we were faced with a student who had arrived in this country for the first time in early February, and by mid-April had pleaded guilty to three serious criminal offences, performed at approximately two-weekly intervals.

In mitigation his defence lawyer asked us to take into account that he was "of previous good character" (ie had no UK criminal record.)

Made me smile, anyway!

W