The Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC – pronounced see-pick) is a centralized computer system that all law enforcement officers across the country can access. Information from PRIME-BC is available nationally through CPIC. CPIC is controlled by the RCMP and located at RCMP headquarters in Ottawa.

Over 80,000 law enforcement officers, within 3,185 police departments, RCMP detachments and federal and provincial agencies such as Transport Canada, Canada Border Services, Passport Canada and other agencies use the CPIC system. (1) Each agency is responsible for the accuracy of the data that it inputs.

Through CPIC, searches of other systems can be done, such as the Canadian Firearms Registration OnLine system, the Offender Management System of the Correctional Service of Canada, (2) and provincial and territorial driving license systems.

Access to CPIC is governed by the rules in the CPIC Reference Manual.  Non-police agencies must enter into a Memorandum of Understanding which sets out the rules for sharing information. They are subject to audit from time to time.

CPIC is broken down into four data banks: Investigative, Identification, Intelligence and Ancillary which contain information on: stolen or abandoned vehicles and boats; wanted persons, accused persons, persons on probation and missing persons; stolen property.

CPIC also contains criminal intelligence and surveillance information and a summary of an individual’s criminal record, which is contributed by police agencies, but access to this information is restricted to police agencies.

CPIC also contains the Canadian Firearms Registry and the Wandering Persons Registry, which is a registry of people who are registered with the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada in case they go missing.

Sharing CPIC information with the USA

The Automated Canada United States Police Information Exchange System (ACUPIES) provides CPIC users a link to the U.S. National Crime Information Centre data banks, and to individual state databases, and all U.S. users have access to the CPIC files, although not all information in CPIC is shared.  Wandering Persons Information is not shared with U.S. agencies.

How To Find Out What Information is Held About You In CPIC

You have a right to request access to your personal information held by the RCMP, including information that may be in CPIC. However, you may not be given access to all of your personal information if a legal exception to your right to get access to the information applies.

Also keep in mind that you could get access to some of the information through your local police department. You may also want to make the same or similar access request to your local police department, because a different access law applies to your local police department than to the RCMP, so the information is managed locally. There may be similar limits on your right to see your personal information as those that apply to the RCMP, but because you will be dealing with different agencies, making the request may be worth a try.

 

(2) A computerized case file management system  for managing information required for tracking federal offenders throughout their sentences and making decisions about them. Information on provincial offenders applying for parole in provinces without their own parole boards is also stored in OMS.