In September of 2021, Alberta RCMP launched an online criminal check system. It allowed citizens to acquire a criminal check without having to visit a detachment.

It was a pilot program that was implemented in 12 select detachments and Cochrane was one of those chosen for the trial.

As of Sunday, March 6, 2022, the Alberta RCMP will be ending the pilot program, and RCMP Corporal Deanna Fontaine explains the process once the program has ended, “It just reverts back to what was always available, even throughout this program, which is that you would go in person at all of the detachments across Alberta in order to obtain a criminal record check.”

According to Fontaine, Alberta RCMP gained valuable insight through the trial, “It was a very complex undertaking for all the detachments across the province on our side. So, it wasn’t that it wasn’t user friendly but the whole big picture so both sides of the platform.”

At this point, the system would not have been able to efficiently expand throughout the province.

Once the online pilot program has ended Corporal Fontaine says, “We’re trying to move forward and examine the pilot and figure out whether there are other options out there that can be done in a different technical manner, and we can gain some insight into it looking a little bit different in the future. Developing a tool that would be a little bit more user-friendly for both sides. For both the user and the RCMP.”

The pilot program has generated interest in other provinces and perhaps that will lead to a more consolidated effort for online criminal checks.  Fontaine says, “Because of this project, other provinces that are served by the RCMP have been examining this option as well and as well nationally for the option of providing online criminal checks for users.”

While it is the Alberta RCMP’s goal to be able to support the public with access to some policing services online, for the time being, Cochrane residents will need to head into the local detachment, as of March 7, 2022, to obtain a criminal record check.