General Questions

What is Real Time Identification (RTID)?
RTID is a National Police Services (NPS) Project under the stewardship of the RCMP designed to improve the efficiency of Canada’s national fingerprint and criminal record repository. It will replace outdated paper processes and legacy systems with re-engineered workflows and automation. RTID will use modern technology to meet business demands and support interoperability with all clients. Fingerprint identification and criminal record services are provided by Canadian Criminal Real Time Identification Services (CCRTIS) of National Police Services (NPS) to the Canadian law enforcement, criminal justice and public security communities, as well as, international partners, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Interpol.

How will RTID improve the efficiency of Canada’s national fingerprint and criminal record repository?
RTID is a five year initiative that commenced in April 2004. RTID will consolidate the work currently performed by various systems into a single system with multiple functions. The first phase of the project will improve the processing of civil clearance requests by providing users with a new:

• Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS)
• National Police Services, National Institute for Standards and Technology (NPS-NIST) Server
• NPS-NIST Interface Control Document (ICD) Version 1.7.7 specification for electronic submissions

As well, in phase one, the network platform for other functions to be built in phase two will be developed. Phase two project work will focus on re-engineering all relevant fingerprint identification and criminal records processes to streamline and improve service delivery.

Why was the RTID initiative created?
The RTID Project was created in response to the following needs:

• to improve access and delivery of fingerprint identification and criminal records services; and,
• to meet increasing demand for services, particularly following the terrorist events of September 11, 2001 which resulted in increases in:
  • Civil clearance requests
  • Criminal clearance clients with the capability to exchange electronically
  • The use of LiveScan and other electronic fingerprint capturing devices to capture and store fingerprint information

What fingerprint identification and criminal record systems activities will RTID improve?
The RCMP is responsible for fingerprint identification and criminal record activities on behalf of the Canadian law enforcement, criminal justice and public security communities. These services are provided by National Police Services.

RTID will enhance the following RCMP activities in support of fingerprint identification and criminal record systems:

• Providing criminal record verification, including those submitted for employment with Federal departments, by searching for an individual’s fingerprints against the criminal records database. (Note: Civil fingerprints are not kept in the national database)
• Processing, updating and managing all additions and changes to Canadian criminal records;
• Maintaining a central database of criminal fingerprints for search by law enforcement agencies when booking individuals or conducting investigations
• Recording latent fingerprints taken from crime scenes and checking them against existing fingerprints in the fingerprint records system;
• The creation of a new National Palm Print database.

Who will benefit from the implementation of RTID?
Accurate up-to-date criminal records and fingerprint identification information provided by RTID will benefit all system users across Canada, and our international partners through Interpol and the FBI central repository for the United States. Users in Canada include the Canadian law enforcement and criminal justice communities.

Current criminal records and their associated fingerprints are essential to a number of the government’s Public Security and Anti-terrorism initiatives, including:

• The Canada Border Services Agency’s Free and Secure Trade (FAST) program for movement of transport trucks across the Canadian/American border;
• Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s installation of LiveScan equipment to electronically scan fingerprints at key points across Canada;
• Transport Canada’s initiatives to increase port, airport and explosive transportation safety through enhanced security clearance procedures.

In addition, RTID will also benefit the Canadian economy as many agencies and organizations rely on fingerprint identification for civil clearances. Civil clearances are required for employment purposes, immigration, international adoptions and access to information requests.

What are the benefits of RTID and when will RTID agencies begin to experience them?
RTID phase one will be implemented in spring 2007 when the new AFIS and NPS-NIST Server will be operational. Clients will benefit from the full functionality of the AFIS as NPS will be able to respond to 85% of civil clearance requests (those that do not hit a criminal file) submitted electronically within 72 hours.

Following the implementation of RTID phase two in the fall 2008, service times will radically improve as indicated below:

In addition, the improved efficiency of RTID will result in greater client satisfaction, and the ability to process an increased number of service requests including:

• Electronic fingerprint submissions
• Acceptance of ID flats (ten plain impressions) for civil submissions
• Electronic palm print submissions
• Latent identifications
• Electronic criminal record submissions
• Electronic disposition reporting

How will RTID support interoperability with its clients?
The RCMP has been working with partners and stakeholders to ensure that international technology standards are applied to allow full integration with our partners and a smooth transition to electronic processing of service requests when each phase of RTID is developed. RTID will provide agencies with specifications for a standard for electronic submissions to ensure that they can format data to be compatible with the NPSNet. The latest standard is the NPS-NIST-ICD. Existing clients already exchanging NIST transactions electronically with the RCMP will be supported until they transition to the latest ICD specification.