THIS May affect us all. Do you have criminal record that you don't know about?

Question

GMTV this morning 10/07/2008. a lady had applied to do work at her childrens local school . The school welcomed her then did a CRO (criminal record office) check and it came back with that she was ,Drug dealer , drug user , been in mental insitutions , been to prison many times ,fruad convictions , theft convictions , she had wrote to the CRO and requested they correct this because it was not her , they stated to her that they would have to take her fingerprints photos and do full background check on her before they would correct this .Is this the state gone mad when an innocent hard working person could be branded a criminal without them even knowing . What would you do , and what advice would you give her .

Answer 1

Call a lawyer and get this thing straightened out.  It sounds like identity theft.

Answer 2

i know that i have a crimm record sure but my brother dont know yet iv gotten several tickets and iv used his name bdate ssn# and never paid them its that easy in small ruel towns the cops trust every body

Answer 3

give finger prints or tell them to f**k off

Answer 4

Gosh. I don't know. I do have security clearance with the Dept. Of Corrections and stuff but I gotta tell ya, when I was waiting for the background check to be completed, I did wonder a little bit.  Identity theft is a huge problem and it's not just finances.

Answer 5

start dealing drugs.

Answer 6

If she looks up on the websites about CRO checks or Police Disclosures she will see that they have a system in place to advise about disputes and a helpline number.  This suggests that she shouldn't have to do it independently through a lawyer, and that mistakes have happened before on occasions, actually I remember reading about something similar a year or two ago.  She may have to have a fingerprint check as a last resort if they can't sort it out any other way, but she certainly shouldn't have to pay anything at any stage if it is their mistake.  The education authority might know something about what to do as well as they may have come up against similar cases before.

Answer 7

Just another example of our incompetent, bullying and unfair government. If you or I miss a return deadline, supply wrong information or fail to comply with some of the masses of legislation, we will be fined. When the government makes mistakes unless it relates to discrimination, it is normally the  member of the public who pays.

The Blair government was characterised by promoting rather than dismissing the incompetent so it is no surprise that this approach to (mis) management is rife throughout the public sector.

Answer 8

If that was me I would go through every measure to correct this. I would probably take out a loan if I didn't have the money to pay for solicitor's help. Thats awful, especially if you're innocent.

Answer 9

Obviously that more is needed than just what is written down to describe and convict what happened in someones past and to make sure they have stored the correct info to that person.  The government did suggest that we have our DNA information stored on a database but most of people turned their nose up at it.  Why?? i would be comfortable doing it because i have nothing to hide and it would not be an invasion of my privacy. With the technology that is there to convict and track criminals faster we should not fear if our DNA is stored, at least it would stop mistakes like what happened to this woman, this is not the only case of wrong identity happening.  I do not believe in ID cards tho no use and waste of time and money, we have enough id cards as it is- student-passport-construction cards-security and drivers licence etc

She should write to her local MP as well to raise this issue.

Answer 10

What a coincidence, I just did something similar and found that I alledgedly have two convictions I didn't know about, one for DUI and the other for theft.  Problem is I wasn't even in the country when the arrests or convictions took place.  I am also attempting to straighten this issue out.  It's totally f 'ed up.

Answer 11

OMG that is some freaky s**t... scary really to think that you could be 'checked out' and the wrong info given out about you.

Do you think that this is big brother's way of getting people's fingerprints and photos on file?  Give out false info about you so that you have to contact them, then make out like the only way to fix the problem is to have your prints, etc. taken?  

Either way it ain't good!!!

Answer 12

She should have no problem getting legal aid. She looked and sounded devastated and unfortunately mud sticks - there will always be some idiot pointing the finger. I'd sue for defamation of character and i'd win!

Answer 13

'Do you have criminal record that you don't know about?'

Nope....only the one I do know about...lol

Answer 14

remember fraud is a big problem in this country and we may not know that someone has used our details for fraud cases. This is very unfortinate indeed and the police and CRO need to work together to reduce this happening to other people.

Answer 15

id tell her go through the process to correct this and i'm totaly for criminal background checking its a great idea to know exactaly who the person is thats being hired there will be a few people which will be mixed up with theese criminals but overall its working and a great idea