How long is a criminal record kept by CPIC?
The length of time a criminal record is kept by CPIC varies. When an offence is entered into a person’s CPIC criminal record, it is assigned an automatic purge date. Every month, a list is generated that provides the RCMP Criminal History Section with the entries that must be purged from the system. The Criminal Records Act and RCMP Ministerial Directives determine the conditions under which records are purged from CPIC. See Table 1 for the 6 purging categories and conditions. For young offender purge categories and conditions, see Part III regarding the Care and Removal of youth records. When the last entry in an individual’s criminal record reaches its purge date, all information about that person is removed from the system. Hard copy documents kept by the RCMP, including fingerprints, are destroyed. The individual will no longer have a criminal record and there will be no indication on the CPIC system that a record existed. When a person’s criminal record is purged by CPIC, they not
