TALKBACK: Call to update certificate of character process

OFFICER-IN-CHARGE of the police certificate of character department, Sergeant Carlos Lindo, is promising an ease by February.

It has been a busy time for both officers and applicants, starting towards the end of 2016 and into 2017, as various sectors require the certificate of staff.

But readers say the process used is outdated. They called for the use of available technology to streamline the process with the courts and more offices to cut down on wait times.

Michael Goddard: Here is a suggestion for process improvements. Stagger the renewal process across the year instead of forcing a fixed January date for everyone. Make it more like renewing a driver’s licence.

Alinxz: Here is an even better suggestion – make the process digital. It should be easy to cross-reference names and ID numbers to criminal records in 2017.

Bradley Alexander Davis: Decentralise the certificate of character office.

Sarah Pomeranz Layne: In the year 2017 you would think that with all the technology on this island, the requirement to renew the certificate would be far easier than it is. That the same system used to store the information electronically would be attached to the court system and those who break the law would be flagged on such an important document. That spending five to seven hours waiting in line at a system that only processes 100 people per day would be a thing of the past. Move into the 21st century and stop living and working in the 18th.

Shirley Beckles: In this time more than one office should be available across the island. For instance, one in Oistins, one in St James, one in St George.

LadyRhonda Haynes-Sobers: Got there around 6:05 a.m. one morning and got No. 56, left there around 12:35 p.m. My question was what time the others before me got there? And another thing: why can’t the system be such that there is a database that is updated when a felony is committed, so if I commit a crime, automatically next time I go for a certificate the info is there? I don’t know if something like this is possible, but it’s a thought.

Ena Odderson: So does that mean a better system would be found to ease the burden? It is not fair that in this age of technology that I should be standing in line at 5 a.m. to ensure that I am one of the 100 and that I don’t have to waste an entire day in your office.

Veronica Gill-Rollins: You mean every year you have to go through the same thing? Those prints should be on file to make things easy, and probably more than 100 can be processed.

Carol T. Hinds: This process is just ridiculous – 5:45 a.m. standing outside for an office to open at 8 a.m. Madness!

Troy R. Stuart: This is a total joke. Why not make it easier for people to get a police certificate of character from the nearest police station?

Christine Browne: It is madness every year the same long wait.
  

• Sherrylyn Toppin is THE NATION’S Online Editor.