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In my role at Volunteer Alberta, I’ve advised many organizations on proper screening procedures and how to implement them in their organizations. I’ve also fielded multiple kinds of questions about Police Information Checks: how/when/why/where to get them, who should get them, what do they mean and what can they say about a person, etc. It’s been a long time since I’ve gone through this process myself; my current volunteer roles are relatively low risk (cuddling cats don’t require a PIC!). When I was chosen to volunteer for an unnamed international sporting event occurring in Edmonton and Calgary in December 2011, I assumed I would likely need a PIC since I’ll be working with individuals under 18 years old.

I was so impressed with the process that this organization had created! A few weeks after a quick phone interview, I received an email informing me of my successful application to volunteer. It simply laid out a few details: go get my PIC done at their office during their 9-5 office hours (or visit them during one of two designated Saturdays) and pay by $50.00 registration fee. The fee is to cover the costs of the outfit that I’ll receive while I volunteer. I took the LRT over to their offices last week to get my PIC done. I was actually excited to go do this; I’ve spoken to so many people over the phone and via email about PICs and now I finally got to go through the process myself. It’s the simple things in life that excite me, clearly. Either way, this organization made it incredibly easy to do this, as they submit the PIC on my behalf and the results will be mailed to me, to return back to the organization. Hopefully I won’t get flagged to get my fingerprints taken, but in Edmonton that wait time is also reduced thanks to the Edmonton Police Services’ LiveScan digital fingerprint machine.

So, to review, this organization is well on its way to following almost all of the Ten Steps to Screening that Volunteer Alberta recommends to organizations. 

As someone who likes to be active in the community (and who likes food), I thought it would be a great opportunity for a friend and me to volunteer at this year’s Taste of Edmonton. The Taste of Edmonton has long been one of my favourite summer festivals in Edmonton as it allows me to sample food from a variety of restaurants and I usually find new restaurant that I know I will have to try out. So I signed my friend and me up to be greeters and the next day received an email asking me to come in for an interview. It seemed to me as if they were following the 10 Steps to Screening, however there was no mention of a police information check or to make sure that I had proper identification with me.

After successfully completing the interview, I was given some paper to fill out – one of which was the police information check. It asked for several things that I did not have on me, notably my driver’s licence number. While I do not usually leave my wallet behind, the interview was a 5 minute walk away from where I work so I had left it in my drawer without really thinking about it. Had I known I would have brought it and an additional piece of identification, but I agreed to return later in the week with the missing information and finish my police information check. Luckily for me, this is not an inconvenience, however, this lack of communication could potentially turn other volunteers away. Now I just have to hope that I don’t get flagged, as the festival is only a couple of weeks away!

My take away from the experience is that the 10 Steps to Screening is a great process to use, just make sure that you set the proper expectations and let your volunteers know what you’ll need from them during the process (that and always bring your wallet with you).

Andrew Fisher
Government & Media Relations