mchelen

If this wasn't actually quite serious it would be so funny! My PCC arrived yesterday, I sent off for it for the second time this year, the first time being for registering to teach in NZ on a WHV which I later decided not to do, lucky as the certificate never came even though they took my money. I rang up to find out where it was and found that as more than a month had passed since they supposedly sent it I would have to reapply, no worries as I had only just applied for my 136 visa in March.

They agreed to prioritise my request however, which was nice.... But I didn't realise they would do it so quick as to send me someone else's record with the same birthday as me! I'm female and they have the male version of my middle name, and a similar sounding surname!

Apparently as my male alias I have been getting up to some bad things including drunk driving and violent disorder, and spent a period of time in juvenile detention...

This is from Cambridge Constabulary, and the guy is from Birmingham, and they still had my correct name and address at the top of the letter?!

Is this a one off?! I can't wait to call them on monday, so I just had to share my experience on here in the meantime!

Check what they send you carefully eh?! What a breach of the data protection act!

ex_exile

You are special but not unique, I have heard such tales before. No they dont check before the send them out either, the whole system seems to be run by badly trained chimps.:curse:

Cheetah7

Scotland yard sent two police checks of ours to the wrong address - we never did get them and the third one I had to go to NSY and collect them in person.

ex_exile

An ex flatmate of mine nearly choked to death over breakfast when he opened his PCC and New Scotland Yard informed him that he was currently serving 5 years at Her Majesties pleasure and wasnt allowed to leave the UK until 2009! The fact that he had applied for his PCC from an address in Sydney, Australia totally passed the met by . Un-freeking-belivable:curse:

Pollyana

As we haven't met, I can only feel hurt that you think I bear a resemblance to a badly-trained chimp.

Now to the OP -
Yes, they are checked before they are sent out, and in the vast majority of cases the "close idents" are picked up before they are despatched. I'm not going to make excuses, just try to explain how the system works, so that you can see why things like this happen.
The Police National Computer works on a system called Soundex. So it matches the sound of the name, not the spelling (for obvious reasons). Criminals often give a different name each time they are arrested, and this person may even on one occasion given an exact match to your own name. That won't necessarily show on the police check.
They also do not necessarily enter the sex of the person when doing the check, as some records are for people whose sex has changed during the criminal history for various reasons.
The date of birth field checks a range that covers about 6 years, as many criminals give a wide variety of dates, often never using the same twice.
So when you enter a name, and a date of birth, it comes up with a wide range of possible matches, most of which can be instantly discounted.
They ask for addresses so that they can try and eliminate possible matches that way, but often it is still impossible, in which case there are times when a record is sent out as "MAY be identical". I can't remember the exact wording on the letter now, but I know all child access enquiries and vetting enquiries in my day went out marked exactly that, "MAY be identical"
Technically its not a mistake, its often too close for the PNC operator to call.

Not knowing your real details, I have to hazard a bit of a guess, but if one forename is the same, and the d of b is the same, and the surname sounds the same/similar, and the PNC operator is relatively inexperienced - with years of doing the work it does get easier to eliminate records, well.....I've sent records out on those grounds, because there is only one other way of separating you and the criminal - fingerprints.

The police will avoid going as far as fingerprints whenever possible - there is the obvious money implication, but it also causes people more stress and worry. In an ideal world if everyone had an ID card with their finerprint on it, identification/elimination would be simple. Here are your prints XXX and here are the prints of the criminal XXXX and they are different so you are not the one with the record (I've worked on that side of the job too, fascinating!)

Your name and address are on the letter as those are the details they were checking on.

Please please ring New Scotland Yard, point out the error, and tell them how much distress it has caused. Mention that if necesssary you are willing to be fingerprinted to prove that you are not the subject - they won't expect that one!

ex_exile

Dont take it personally, some of my best friends are badly trained chimps . I am sure that you do the best you can and am aware that SO4 is overworked but the case I am talking about had serious implications and was never satisfactorily resolved despite repeated and intense efforts. It made us wonder how many criminals get away with a clean sheet.

Pollyana

It was suggested at one time - this was for child access applocants, teachers, nurses etc - that all applicants should be fingerprinted so the records could be checked before the info was released. The main resistance to that came from the employers, who were mostly local councils, because of the resource implications for them, and the hassle it would cause their prospective employees.
I wonder how many visa applicants would be happy to have their fingerprints taken when applying for police checks? (not that its likely to happen, its just a passing thought)

And yes, it does happen the other way round I'm sure, though hopefully very rarely. Most of the guys that we picked up trying to get jobs while in possession of the type of record that disbarred them for child access, did try to change their date/place of birth, and often used slightly different names. We could only check on the info supplied though, and the clearance was issued on those details only. The local authorities were supposed to verify the info with the applicant - check birth certs etc - but they rarely did.

While I'm not a great fan of the national ID card idea, this is one area that would really benefit from its introduction.

mchelen

Thanks so much for the info, I have a better understanding now! I was wondering why his surname sounded like mine, I thought maybe they shouted details across to each other or something! I've rung up and been asked to send a copy back with cover letter explaining my unhappiness with what they sent me... I will also be asking for my money back as the first time I requested it they probably sent it to a wrong address since I never even received a receipt of payment.

I was frontloading so have plenty of time, but hopefully they get it right soon!

Pollyana

Make sure you lay it on thick about needing the check for immigration, and how you may have to delay the process while you wait for the new check! (don't tell them you have loads of time )

Look at the offences that are on the PCC - were you living in an area near where the offender was in court? Did you provide your address details at that time - if so, you are entitled to gently point out to them that the address details might have helped to eliminate you!

Your final court of appeal (before fingerprints, but I'm sure it won't go that far!) is the Commissioner, New Scotland Yard. It should be sorted as soon as you write to them, but if not, threaten to write to him - he doesn't like this kind of thing stuck under his nose!

Good luck - hope you get it sorted soon; give me a shout if you need any more info.