Chief Bill Blair is recommending increased fees to expedite thousands of police background checks.

After the Toronto Police Services Board pushed the chief to deal with a growing crisis in backlogged requests for vulnerable sector screening — an in-depth check required for work in several public industries — Blair will present a solution at the board’s meeting on Thursday.

The proposals include a hike in fees for those seeking the screening and could see the force spend close to $1 million in new hires.

The holdup has affected the health industry, students and others as they wait for clearance, the board has heard — and it may get worse.

Blair’s proposed recommendations will follow a vote by Toronto District School Board trustees Wednesday on whether volunteers — the ones who hand out pizza lunches and chaperone field trips — need to be screened. Parents worry those activities will be thrown into jeopardy.

Blair’s recommendations include increasing the cost of checks to $65 from $50 for employment and to $20 from $15 for volunteers.

The service could also implement a tiered system under Blair’s recommendations, where a background check could be completed within 72 hours at a cost of $110 for employment and $65 for volunteers.

The board had asked the chief to look at a two-week maximum wait time as a standard for service. Blair said the only way to achieve that standard is to hire 13 new civilian positions at a cost of $921,000 annually.

That expense, however, would be covered by the revenue from increased costs to the public, Blair said.

But not everyone is satisfied with the chief’s calculations.

“Increasing fees on the backs of students is not my most preferred route of mitigating the situation,” said Jason Powell, dean of the school of health sciences at Humber College. “It doesn’t seem fair. It’s not right.”

With fees for students increasing across the board — such as higher lab fees and TTC fares — the extra funds required to complete placements could leave some students scraping bottom, Powell said.

Students doing placements in fields such as nursing and social work typically require vulnerable sector screening checks before starting.

“No matter what, any additional costs create an opportunity for students to be overburdened when accessing something as basic as education,” Powell said.

He pointed to other police services, such as Peel and York regions, that have quicker turnaround times with significantly lower costs.

In Peel, students can apply for record checks at $25, while adults pay $45. In York Region, volunteers and students pay $20, while adults pay $50. Wait times range from same-day response to two weeks.

Vulnerable sector screening checks can only be done by the service where the requester resides.

After Blair moved staff to temporarily handle the requests, the backlog decreased from 17,000 outstanding requests in March to 4,300 requests. The service receives an average of 200 new requests daily.

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Even with 13 new permanent staff, Blair said the two-week standard would only apply to requests that didn’t hit any roadblocks. If the requester’s information comes up in a criminal database — for example if it matches that of a pardoned sex offender — the request would be delayed since fingerprints are required.

If the requester has paid for expedited service in that case, a 72-hour turnaround will not be possible and no refund would be provided, the chief recommended.

If approved Thursday, Blair recommended the changes be implemented Sept. 1.

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