Criminal rehab notes....... it might help u

 

 

 

Since joining i have asked a few questions in threads and been given some excellent answers which have really helped me.

What i wanted to do was type out my experience of the Criminal Rehabilitation process for Canada so that others can see how it is unfolding as my way of giving something back to the forum.

To be fair most people are too embarrased to detail exactly what they were convicted of, what steps they had to go through to collect the evidence for their application etc so i thought i would be open and honest to help others going through the same process in the future as there are things you can do to help yourself.

Just to clarify my situation is ongoing and i will update this thread with new info as and when i receive it. I am applying for rehabilitation first before my PR application is even started.

Background

I successfully applied for a 10 year USA visitors visa in December 2008 so that i could go to Vegas for my brothers wedding, my Association of Chief of Police Officers Certificate from the UK shows the following information:

Assault 17/09/01 - Sentence deferred, Compensation and 250 Community Service order.

Sadly the certificate is only valid for 6 months so i needed to re-apply for a new cert for my Canadian Criminal Rehabilitation application, a point of note that your full ACPO application including proof of ID is destroyed by ACPO after 12 months so i had to complete all of the paperwork again from scratch.

Details on my conviction

I was attacked inside a nightclub by 3 guys who mistook me for my younger brother, once put outside i made the stupid mistake of staying to fight when i had an opportunity to walk away, the fight outside was captured on CCTV.

I kicked someone in the head causing him to fall to the ground to his injury (broken jaw)

The above description is taken directly from my extract of conviction from the Scottish Courts and is the exact wording that the CIC will read.

I ordered and paid for a certified copy of this from the local court and will be sending it with my application

Sentence

This extract also details my sentence of a £300 fine and 250 hours unpaid Community Service.

The reason i was not given a custodial sentence was because i renderred first aid to the gentleman i had assaulted by placing him into the recovery position and only struck him once, i also remained calm enough not to strike his 2 friends despite them swinging several punches at me. Sadly the attack on me within the night club was not captured on camera. An important point to note as i am sure it may be asked by CIC is that alcohol was not a contributing factor, i was driving that night and was drinking soft drinks.

I have a copy of the CCTV video should CIC wish to view it.

Proof of payment of fine

From the same Court i also asked for proof that i had fully paid my fine this was sent and again stamped as a certified true copy.

Please note it is very important that you check your personal details on any paperwork sent to you.

Both my extract of conviction and proof that my fine had been paid had my DOB incorrectly shown

Community Service

Lastly i applied to the Criminal Justice Service who wrote a detailed report on my behaviour whilst on Community Service, this included details of the work i undertook, a ranking of my behaviour and an exact date that my 250 hours was completed.

The 10 year rehabilitation period only begins at the end of your sentence e.g. when your fine is fully paid OR Community service is completed which ever is the later

Additional supporting info

In order to make sure that i had every base covered i took the step of applying to every Police force that i had lived under for details of any information held on me under either 1 - Disclosure Scotland legislation for Scottish Forces or 2 - Subject Access request for English Police Forces.

I was in the Army and moved around a fair bit, i wanted all of the information held on me from every force i had lived under to go in with my application to prevent CIC having to search for it.

An important point of note regarding English Police Force Subject Access request.

In England you apply on form 1091A for basic information held on you on the Police National Computer to your local force (It shows up exactly the same as on your ACPO cert so a completewaste of £10)

However if you want full details of any contact with the police e.g. as a witness to a crime or for arrest but no conviction then you need to apply on form 1091B which provides you with the full disclosure of any info held.

You do not have this problem in Scotland 1 form provides the full details.

Every request costs £10 and if you want to find the exact forms just use Google and type in for example "Suffolk Police Subject access request" and you will find a link to the official form

Character reference

I took the additional step of having a serving Canadian Police Officer write a character reference for me, we served together in Bosnia for 2 years and he has helped me detail the Canadian law and section number for assault as this is required on the application. This character reference is not required but hopefully will carry some weight.

Final points

My life has changed a huge amout since my charge, i have settled back into Civilian life and have been working hard to improve my life, i attended University for 3 years and gained my MSc, i have put a copy of this in with my application, i have also had a steady job for the last 6 years with the same employer and they too have supplied a character reference. I have had no further dealings with the Police since 2001 and i intend to keep it that way, hopefully showing that the incident was a one off lack of judgement that i regret from the bottom of my heart!

My forms go in on Monday morning, i will keep you all posted on any feedback i receive and will update this thread accordingly.

I hope ths thread helps others who are considering the criminal rehabilitation route?

Regards