Mounties get man -- in job interview

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From 2005 to 2011, about 150 individuals admitted to serious criminal offences during the RCMP applicant-screening process. (POSTMEDIA)

Want to be a Mountie? Careful what you say during your job interview.

From 2005 to 2011, an estimated 150 individuals who signed up to be law enforcers with the national police force ended up becoming the subjects of investigations after they admitted to "serious" -- and previously undetected -- criminal offences during the applicant-screening process, according to the results of an internal RCMP survey of regional recruiting units shared with Postmedia News.

Most of the admissions were made during what's known as the "pre-employment polygraph interview and examination," officials said.

In some cases, answers given by job applicants in their recruitment questionnaires caused such "grave concern" that recruiters felt duty-bound to call attention to the information.

The RCMP was not able to provide details of each of the alleged crimes, but, in general, the agency identifies "serious criminal offences" as murder, sexual assault, accessing and possessing child pornography, arson, forcible confinement, robbery and weapons-related crimes.

"We have received admissions to almost all of those listed, as well as cases of domestic violence," RCMP spokesman Sgt. Greg Cox said in an email.

It is not known how many of the roughly 150 flagged individuals were subsequently charged or exonerated. The RCMP doesn't keep track of that information.

While admissions of past serious crimes don't happen often -- there were more than 13,000 individuals screened during that period, the force says -- they can present a bit of a conundrum, as the RCMP is forced to weigh public safety against a job applicant's right to privacy.

Information provided by an applicant during the screening process is considered personal under federal privacy laws, but the law does allow disclosure of personal information in limited circumstances where the "public interest" is deemed to carry more weight.

An "urgent" briefing note forwarded to the commissioner's desk in Ottawa last year and released under access to information laws illustrates the dilemma.

The briefing note, prepared by recruiting officers in Saskatchewan, referred to the case of a job applicant from Manitoba who admitted to a serious crime -- exact details were redacted -- during the pre-employment polygraph.

The recruiting officers, seeking permission from a commanding officer to disclose that information to criminal investigators, wrote that disclosing the information could pose a "threat" to the applicant's privacy.

But to not disclose the information could "adversely impact the administration of justice or ultimately affect the public's confidence in the law-enforcement community."

"The decision should be balanced against the immediate and long-term foreseeable impact on the applicant's privacy rights and charter rights, as well as the protection of any existing or potential future victims," they wrote.

In the end, public interest won out and Assistant Commissioner Bill Robinson, commanding officer of D division in Manitoba, authorized the release of information to criminal investigators.

Sgt. Line Karpish, a D division spokeswoman, said this week the investigation is ongoing.

During the early recruitment stages, applicants are asked a range of questions, including whether they have outstanding gambling debts, experimented with or sold illegal drugs, committed an act of domestic abuse or had sex with someone without their consent.

In late 2005, the polygraph interview and examination was introduced in the recruitment process to help recruiters assess "truthfulness" and verify that prospective recruits are who they claim to be on their application forms, questionnaires and in their interviews, according to the RCMP's website.

But "no one had foreseen that we would start to receive information about crimes of such a serious nature at this interview," Cox said.

Cox said the RCMP's response to each admission of a crime varies and is dealt with on a case by case basis.

"The applicant's charter and privacy rights are of paramount concern in the treatment of serious criminal admissions," he said.

Before applicants do the questionnaire and polygraph, they have to sign a consent form acknowledging that if they admit to having committed a serious criminal offence, that information could be passed on to law enforcement or some other authority, such as a child-protection agency, for investigation.

"The RCMP strongly discourages any applicant from completing the applicant questionnaire or attending the (pre-employment polygraph) interview and examination if you believe this notice applies to you," candidates are warned.

Yet they still do it.

"Why people tell you the things they tell you, sometimes you wonder," Karpish said.

-- Postmedia News

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 21, 2012 A17