A $40 fee for employment-related criminal record checks will come into effect in Martensville on February 1, 2022.
Martensville City Council voted to adopt a policy endorsing the fee at its meeting on Tuesday, December 21.
The policy is identical to one recently endorsed by Warman City Council at a meeting December 13.
Volunteer-related criminal record checks and vulnerable sector checks will continue to be free of charge under the amended policy in both cities..
The $40 fee for employment-related criminal record checks is intended to ensure the cost of the service is uniform between the two cities. Fees must be paid at either Warman or Martensville City Hall, and a receipt for payment must then be presented to the RCMP office in either city before the service can be performed.
Criminal record checks and vulnerable sector checks account for a large percentage of the workload of staff at both detachment offices, according to the RCMP. Last year, the RCMP detachment conducted a total of 6,640 checks at the two offices.
In Warman in 2020, 3,560 criminal record checks and vulnerable sector checks were conducted for employment purposes. In addition, the Warman office conducted 1,484 criminal record checks and vulnerable sector checks for volunteer purposes.
In 2020, the Martensville detachment office conducted 396 criminal record checks and vulnerable sector checks for employment purposes, and 1,200 criminal record checks and vulnerable sector checks for volunteer purposes.
Earlier this fall, the RCMP Advisory Board recommended the two cities introduce fees for employment-related criminal record and vulnerable sector checks. The advisory board recommended against any fees for volunteer-related checks.
Warman and Martensville City Clerks surveyed other cities across Saskatchewan to determine whether fees were charged for their police detachments providing similar services. Most, but not all, cities charged fees for both employment-related and volunteer-related checks. The fees ranged from $10 to $75.
According to a report from the Martensville City Clerk tabled at the December 21 council meeting, Martensville used to have a policy of charging $10 for employment -related criminal record checks. That policy was adopted in 2006 and rescinded in 2016. The reason it was rescinded was because Warman was not charging for criminal record checks and the RCMP wanted consistency between the two detachment offices.
