What happens when an applicant’s Police Check is referred for manual review?

A Nationally Co-ordinated Criminal History Check (National Police Check) that is referred for manual review is a system generated response that advises the relevant State or Territory Police Partner agency of a potential match.

During the process the applicant’s personal details are checked against a national database using a name matching algorithm. If the personal details match any police information held in police records, the system will generate a ‘potential match’.

Any potential match will be referred to the relevant State and Territory police agency (or agencies) for a further manual assessment. If the police agency confirms the applicant’s details do not match the police information, a ‘No Disclosable Court Outcome’ result will be provided.

When the State and Territory Police Partner Agencies confirm a match, they then release the police history information in accordance with current State or Territory legislation to National Crime Check. 

If there is not a match

The police check will be released to NCC with a result of No Disclosable Court Outcomes to National Crime Check, we will then dispatch your police check immediately via your selected method.

If there is a confirmed match

The police check application then moves into the vetting stage (referred for manual review)

Request for Further Information (RFI)

In some instances, the State or Territory Police Partner Agency may need additional information to assist in making a matching decision. To do this, they  may raise an RFI with National Crime Check.

The RFI will generally take the form of additional address details, photo ID or requesting an Applicant attend a police station to submit a fingerprint sample.

It is the responsibility of National Crime to ensure that RFIs are completed and to liaise with the Applicant to obtain the relevant information.

Vetting

Once a confirmed match has been determined, the Police Partner Agency undertakes vetting of the relevant Police History Information (PHI) held on its systems. Vetting involves applying relevant State or Territory legislation and/or policy to the PHI, to determine what can be released. The State or Territory Police Partner Agency also takes into account the category and purpose of the Police Check to determine the type and amount of information that is released. The Nationally Co-ordinated Criminal History Check then goes into the Final Vetting stage.

Final Vetting

The coordinating Police Partner Agency is responsible for reviewing the vetted results and applying its own State or Territory legislation/policy to determine what PHI will be released to National Crime Check.

Results released

A NCCHC result will either be:

• No Disclosable Court Outcomes (NDCO)

NDCO means there is:

• no police information held against the applicant
• no police information that can be released according to the purpose and category of the police check, and the application of relevant spent convictions legislations and/or information release policies.

DCO means there is:

• police information that can be released.

A check result with a DCO may list the following police information:

• charges
• court convictions, including penalties and sentences
• findings of guilt with no conviction
• court appearances
• good behaviour bonds or other court orders
• matters awaiting court hearing
• warrants and/or warnings
• traffic offences.