What Is a CPIC Check? Canada's Criminal Record Search Explained
Every MyCRC check is a search of the RCMP's national database through CPIC, so we're often asked what a "CPIC check" actually is, and what it will show. Here is the plain explanation, in the RCMP's own terms.
What CPIC is
CPIC stands for the Canadian Police Information Centre. In the RCMP’s words, “the CPIC system provides access to the RCMP National Repository of Criminal Records”, which the RCMP’s Canadian Criminal Real Time Identification Services (CCRTIS) manages. The RCMP describes that repository as “Canada’s national database for fingerprints and criminal records for persons charged with criminal offences”.
So when an employer asks for a “CPIC check”, they almost always mean a criminal record check that searches that national database. It’s the same thing many people call a police check or a criminal record check.
One thing that confuses people: the public CPIC website, cpic-cipc.ca, is not where you check a person. It’s where the public can search whether a vehicle, bicycle, boat or other property has been reported stolen.
Name-based and fingerprint-based CPIC checks
The RCMP defines two kinds of criminal record check:
- Name-based: “a search of active criminal files in the NRCR, based on the applicant’s name and date of birth”. This is the common check for jobs, leases and volunteering, and it’s the check MyCRC provides.
- Fingerprint-based (certified): “a search of all criminal files in the NRCR, based on the applicant’s fingerprints”. It’s done through a police service or an RCMP-accredited fingerprinting company, and it’s needed for some purposes and whenever a name-based search can’t settle who you are.
The RCMP is clear about the difference: “An absolute confirmation of a criminal record can only be done through fingerprint comparison.”
What a name-based check shows, and what it doesn't
This is the part most people don’t expect. A name-based check does not hand you a list of your convictions. It returns a result, and with MyCRC your report shows one of three statuses, set by the police and the RCMP:
- Negative: no criminal record was found matching your name and date of birth.
- Positive: a criminal record was confirmed.
- Incomplete: the police could not confirm a result from a name-based search alone.
That’s why we ask about past convictions before the search. Under the RCMP’s policy, declaring your convictions is how a name-based check can match a record without fingerprints. If you have convictions and don’t declare them, or the details don’t match, your report comes back Incomplete, and the next step is the in-person fingerprint process at a local police service.
If you want to see your own full criminal record, for example before a record suspension, a name-based check isn’t the tool for that. A fingerprint-based check through a police service or an accredited fingerprinting company is. For a record suspension, for example, the Parole Board of Canada sends you to an accredited fingerprinting company or a police service that submits fingerprints electronically, and the RCMP sends back either your criminal record, showing convictions and discharges, or a Certification of No Criminal Record.
Can I get a CPIC check online?
Yes, for the name-based kind. MyCRC searches the RCMP’s national database, CPIC, using your name and date of birth, and confirms your identity with a photo of your ID and a selfie on your phone. Fingerprint-based checks and vulnerable sector checks can’t be done fully online; they go through your local police.
Getting your own check, the simple way
If your employer or landlord has asked for a CPIC check, this is the name-based check they mean, done from your phone.
- The outcome you want: your criminal record check in hand before a start date, a lease signing or a volunteer orientation, without taking time off.
- A check you can rely on: a name-based search of the RCMP's national database, processed through accredited Canadian police detachments.
- Fast: ready in as little as 15 minutes, about 4 hours on average.
- Little effort: a photo of your ID and a selfie from your phone. No police station and no appointment.
- One clear price: $68.23, tax included.
On average, 100+ checks are completed through MyCRC every day. Start your check.