A criminal portfolio is commonly referred to as a RAP sheet; also known as the Record of Arrests & Prosecutions. It is a document that holds the criminal history of an individual. The type of information that is to be included or excluded in the criminal portfolio depends on the country or the jurisdiction.
The best ways of checking your criminal portfolio
Firstly, you should be aware of your rights of requesting any information that is held against you. The best way of doing so is to make the Subject Access Request and verify the information that is provided. Though this depends on the government agency, you have every right to verify the information.
However, it is important that you procure the right information. Be aware that providing an inaccurate criminal record can be worse than not providing any. Based on that, mentioned below are a few of the best ways of checking criminal portfolios and ensuring the information is accurate as observed by Bahaa Abdul Hadi.
1. Fingerprint Conviction Check via Government Agencies
To look out for any potential convictions linked to your fingerprints, a request can be submitted to either the FBI or the appropriate Department of Justice of the state. Your request will result in the provision of a criminal portfolio that will contain any records associated with your fingerprints.
2. Check via your local police
Another simple and cost-effective method of obtaining a copy of your criminal portfolio is contacting your local police and applying for it. If there isn’t any information available on you, on their Police National Computer, a certificate to that effect will be issued to you. Else, a complete list of the information, inclusive of spent/unspent convictions will be provided to you. You can enquire with the police regarding the specific information they hold, like any allegations, any arrests, or ‘Not Guilty’ findings.
3. The Vulnerable Sector Check
Your criminal records, if any, can be procured via the Vulnerable Sector Check, based on the record type. This kind of check generally gives criminal convictions from the CPIC or local databases or both. It can give you absolute and conditional discharges as well as outstanding entries against you. Also, it could give you a summary of convictions for the past five years as well. In some scenarios, you might also get non-conviction information for extraordinary disclosure and convictions where a pardon has been granted to you.
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