Public Safety committee  I would suggest it's because nobody came to us and said we need an up-to-date criminal record.

Public Safety committee  It's composed of representation from many police services across the country and also other public safety agencies.

Public Safety committee  That's correct.

Public Safety committee  Yes.

Public Safety committee  There's been an increase of I think 5,900% in the number of fingerprints that need to be submitted as part of vulnerable sector verifications.

Public Safety committee  I think, generally speaking, that there is probably much more awareness of the requirement for organizations to ensure that they're protecting those in the vulnerable sector for whom they have responsibility. I would think that yes, that is accurate. But it's also up to those organizations to determine...they set the standards of what they expect; it's not the RCMP that sets the standards.

Public Safety committee  I probably don't have that information, or I'm not aware. That's sort of another area of the organization that's responsible for what happens at the detachment level. I wouldn't have an answer for you right now on that particular point.

Public Safety committee  That's probably more likely, but certainly it's something we would be encouraging to RCMP detachments.

Public Safety committee  I think it's very difficult for us to say a specific number. I'll say that more resources would be helpful, but there are many factors. It's not just the actual resources. It's also how quickly you can do the automation. It's also how quickly police services can do the automation.

Public Safety committee  We can give that some thought, certainly.

Public Safety committee  Yes, that's not a police force issue. Requiring fingerprints submitted with legal name changes is provincial legislation, so that's a provincial issue.

Public Safety committee  I don't think so, directly, for us. I think if you are looking at this more broadly from a public safety perspective, one question you could ask is whether or not there should be a requirement, for example, for fingerprints to be submitted—a requirement that they be submitted and within a certain time period, for example.

Public Safety committee  If it's done properly, it's accurate. It's one of the reasons why, I mentioned in my opening comments, in late 2009 we realized, through audits of CPIC, that processes weren't being followed, and part of the risk around that was that meant that the products being offered out there weren't necessarily accurate.

Public Safety committee  Yes, we retain them. Furthermore, with regard to DNA, we abide by the laws and regulations. There are two laws, the DNA Identification Act and the Identification of Criminals Act. We have established processes to protect private personal information in accordance with the acts in effect.

Public Safety committee  As I mentioned earlier, we don't delete those fingerprints after 18 months.