Department for Infrastructure and Transport police checks

Australian National Character Check (ANCC) provides nationally coordinated criminal history checks to persons seeking employment or licensing via the Department for Infrastructure and Transport.

Note: If you require the police check for the purpose of driver licensing and accreditation, please input ‘Driver Licensing/Accreditation’ in the purpose field of the police check application form. In the proposed place or work or type of workplace, please input ‘Department for Infrastructure and Transport’.

Check timeframes: 70 percent of police checks are returned to applicants within 24 hours. Results are emailed on the same day they are received. Approximately 30 percent of checks may be referred to one or more police agencies and can take longer than 10 business days to be returned, due to the manual nature of this process.

Do you work in HR in a government or transportation organisation and need police checks for workers? Australian National Character Check (ANCC) provides a streamlined solution for national police checks via our business portal.

Please apply for your nationally coordinated criminal history check via the individual portal here. If the purpose of the police check is for employment, individual applicants should select the “Employment” check category on their application form. If the purpose of the check is for licensing, please select the “Licensing” check category on the application form.

Businesses (e.g. transport organisations) seeking bulk background checks can apply for access to the ANCC Business Portal.

The South Australian Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) is responsible for regulating and overseeing various transportation and infrastructure-related activities in the state of South Australia. The DIT also works closely with other government agencies, private sector organisations, and community groups to plan for and deliver sustainable and efficient transport solutions for the people of South Australia.

One primary responsibility of the DIT is regulating and licensing commercial and passenger vehicle operations, including taxi and ride-sharing. They are also responsible for the state’s vehicle registration and licensing systems.

All public drivers in South Australia must first obtain the South Australian driver accreditation, which the Service SA Mile End and Accreditation and Licensing Center issues. The driver accreditation is usually issued in line with your driver’s licence expiring or working with children check, whichever is sooner.

Here are the eligibility requirements for passenger transport driver accreditation:

You must:

• ✔ Hold an unrestricted SA driver’s licence
• ✔ Have a minimum of six months of driving experience in Australia
• ✔ Intend to drive a public passenger vehicle, like a rideshare vehicle, taxi, chauffeured vehicle or bus.
• ✔ Hold a valid police check.

A police check returns a document that reveals the applicant’s disclosable criminal record, including charges, matters awaiting court hearings, court convictions, traffic offences, good behaviour bonds, findings of guilt, and other court orders. A police check is officially referred to as a nationally coordinated criminal history check (NCCHC) in Australia.

Public transport drivers, such as bus and train drivers, are required to undergo police checks as a way to ensure the safety and security of passengers. By conducting a police check on public transport drivers, employers can ensure that they are not hiring individuals with a history of criminal activity that could pose a risk to passengers or other employees.

Additionally, public transport drivers have access to sensitive areas and often carry many people. Hence for the safety of the public and general security, it is essential to conduct a background check on them.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) coordinates nationally coordinated criminal history checks in Australia. ACIC works with police agencies and accredited bodies across the country to make police checking service accessible to everyone in Australia.

Here’s how you can get a police check for a DIT driver’s accreditation or licence:

You can apply for a police check via an ACIC-accredited body or a police agency. This process usually involves filling out an online form with your name, date of birth, address, and purpose of the check. You must also upload four identification documents.

They include:

• ✔ One commencement of ID document;
• ✔ One primary use in community document;
• ✔ Two secondary use in the community documents;
• ✔ A biometric link to confirm your identity.

Finally, you must pay the application fee. Australian National Character Check (ANCC) charges a base fee of $52.90 + GST per police check.

The police agency or accredited body confirms your identity in the first stage of processing. Then they send your application details to the National Police Checking Service Support System (NSS), ACIC’s IT system for police checking.

This system runs a name-matching algorithm to find a potential match. If it doesn’t find one, the system instantly returns a ‘no disclosable court outcome (NDCO) to the body requesting the check. But if the system does find one, it sends it to the relevant police agency(s) for manual verification. The police agency(s) also returns an NDCO for an invalid match. However, a good match goes through the vetting stage. Here, they apply the relevant spent conviction scheme to determine which criminal records are disclosable before sending the result to the body requesting the check.

The police agency or accredited body notifies you once the police check result is available.

About 70% of police check results are available on the same day because the NSS system finds no potential match. However, about 30% of applications pull out a possible match that must be referred for manual processing, which can take up to 10 business days.

Technically speaking, police checks do not expire as they are a point in time check. However, they only reveal disclosable criminal records till the issue date of the check result. Hence, organisations define an acceptable time frame based on their operational requirement and risk assessment.

As noted earlier, you can get a police check from an ACIC-accredited body. However, a national criminal history check issued by SA Police (SAPOL) will also suffice.

As Australia’s leading background check provider over the years, ANCC has streamlined the police checking process, making it easy for individuals and businesses to obtain a fast and affordable police check. Check out our police checking service for:

Do you need a police check for DIT driver’s accreditation or licensing? You can trust ANCC to deliver timely police check results to you. The application process is easy and you can track the process in real-time.

Hiring managers can order bulk police checks for applications through ANCC’s business portal. This makes it easier for you to track, manage, and screen multiple police check results, ensuring you make informed hiring decisions.