Customers blast Criminal Records Office delays
Published:Thursday | November 28, 2019 | 12:39 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
Weeks after the relocation of the Criminal Records Office (CRO) from Duke Street to its current site at 6-8 Orange Street, customers have lamented long waiting periods and failure to deliver documentation on time.
The unit is now being operated from Shop 68, Kingston Mall, in downtown Kingston.
The office had been relocated after its Duke Street location was shut down because of air-quality concerns.
Donavon Edwards, a resident of St Andrew, is seeking a new job that requires proof of his record and told The Gleaner that the agency is not operating according to the performance standards cited on its website.
“I went to the tax office and paid for the five-day service and brought in my documents on November 15, expecting to get back the records within five days to meet the directive of the potential employer,” Edwards said. “They wrote on my receipt to come back on November 26. That’s seven working days, and I paid for five.”
If that did not disturb Edwards, he was flabbergasted when he showed up at the CRO on November 26 and was informed that his document was not available.
“They said to come between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to collect. I went there at 12 (noon), and up until 5 p.m., I still did not get through. I was told that somebody with the dockets had left,” he told The Gleaner. “My interview was the 27th. This is nonsense, and when I asking questions, it’s as if I must not ask. I see other people going through hell to get them things.”
No answers
Another customer painted a different tale for our news team after reportedly visiting the CRO back to back for five days without getting the service.
He requested that his name not be mentioned for this story.
The man, who was visibly upset, told The Gleaner: “A likkle improvements man a try mek and cyaa get tru. Dem a tell mi all sort a tings. A five day straight mi down dere a try get my records. Mi cyaa even make mi employer know. Nobody nuh waan tell mi what the hold-up is about.”
While acknowledging that he was aware of the relocation of the unit, the angry customer said, “Dem move from Duke Street come here suh and things worse because a bare people a get mash up because of the change. If ya go change something so important, the service haffi better ‘cause a pay we pay for the service. All four hours before you reach inside. Dat can’t right.”
When contacted, Deputy Superintendent Donna Harris-Jones, who heads the unit, said that she was in a meeting and couldn’t field our questions and requested that we return the call.
Several attempts to reach Harris-Jones by phone were unsuccessful as it rang unanswered.