Winnipeg Criminal Record Check Application

Last updated: July 30, 2026

How to get a criminal record check in Winnipeg

There are two routes for a criminal record check in Winnipeg: apply through the Winnipeg Police Service, or use an online provider for a name-based RCMP and CPIC search. Employers sometimes call either document a police certificate or police clearance. The right route depends on the document requested by the employer, licensing body, volunteer organization or government program.

A name-based criminal record check uses identifying information such as a legal name and date of birth to search police records. It is often the check requested for employment, tenancy, licensing or other screening. A possible match cannot always be resolved by name and date of birth alone. In that case, fingerprints may be required to confirm identity.

WPS accepts online record-check applications from Canadian residents, including youth applications. Its online service is operated at policesolutions.ca through separate portals for people who live inside Winnipeg and people who live outside Winnipeg. The online vulnerable sector route has narrower eligibility rules, covered below.

Instant Record Check provides a name-based Criminal Record Check and an Enhanced Criminal Record Check. Both use RCMP and CPIC data. Identity is verified through TransUnion, with Stripe Identity as backup. The process is explained on the online criminal record check steps page. Applicants elsewhere in the province can also consult the Manitoba criminal record check guide.

Winnipeg criminal record check cost

The price depends on what is being purchased. The WPS online criminal record search is not a vulnerable-sector-specific fee. Fingerprinting and the RCMP processing charge are separate items. The WPS rows below are per the Winnipeg Police Service, July 2026, and the listed WPS online search price already includes any applicable GST. The two Instant Record Check rows are our own prices.

The WPS schedule lists the base fingerprint fees as $78.00 for one or two sets and $152.00 for three or four sets. With GST, the totals are $81.90 and $159.60. The RCMP adds its $25.00 processing fee. If one further set of prints is needed during the following 12 months, only the $25.00 RCMP fee applies, and WPS requires the original receipt to be presented at the time of payment. That allowance covers one additional set from the date of the original purchase. These figures can be checked against the WPS fee schedule.

Instant Record Check prices and the differences between the two name-based products are listed on the pricing page. Fingerprinting and vulnerable sector screening are not included in either Instant Record Check product.

Cost is only part of it. Instant Record Check works with police partners across the country who process checks on its behalf. It belongs to the Professional Background Screening Association and is a BBB Accredited Business. When an employer, licensing body or immigration office accepts a name-based check but needs paper rather than a PDF, Instant Record Check can mail an official police-stamped hard copy, embossed and sealed.

How long does a Winnipeg criminal record check take?

WPS publishes no fixed turnaround for its record checks. It states that all checks are processed in the order received, per the Winnipeg Police Service, July 2026. Processing time can depend on the application type and whether more information or fingerprints are required, so a specific number of days should not be assumed for a WPS application.

Instant Record Check typically returns its online Criminal Record Check and Enhanced Criminal Record Check in about 15 minutes. That is guidance for our own name-based service, not a WPS processing estimate. A result can take longer if identity verification or the record search needs review.

Fingerprint-based work follows a different process. The time needed to take prints, submit them to the receiving authority and receive a response should not be compared with the typical timing for an online name-based search.

Do you live inside or outside Winnipeg?

Municipal boundaries matter when selecting a police portal. WPS polices Winnipeg. It therefore operates two online portals at policesolutions.ca: one for Winnipeg residents and another for people whose home address is outside the city.

Steinbach, East St Paul, West St Paul and Selkirk are all outside Winnipeg and therefore outside WPS jurisdiction. A resident of one of those communities should not identify as a Winnipeg resident on a police application. The outside-Winnipeg WPS portal exists for Canadian residents applying from beyond the city boundary.

Jurisdiction works differently for the national name-based checks provided by Instant Record Check. A CPIC search is national, so the same online application can be used by someone in Winnipeg, Steinbach, East St Paul, West St Paul, Selkirk or another Canadian community. It does not become a WPS product because the applicant lives in Winnipeg, and it does not become an RCMP detachment product because the applicant lives elsewhere.

Vulnerable sector screening is different. Eligibility is tied to the police service and the position being screened. Instant Record Check cannot issue a vulnerable sector check, so the national reach of its name-based service does not remove the local rules for that product.

Fingerprinting in Winnipeg

Fingerprints are used when identity must be confirmed against a police record or when the receiving program specifically requires a fingerprint-based result. A name and date-of-birth match that cannot be resolved through a name-based search is one common reason. Fingerprints may also be required for record suspensions and immigration processes.

Recent RCMP changes to the vulnerable sector search mean more WPS applicants must submit fingerprints to the RCMP National Repository to complete verification, per the Winnipeg Police Service, July 2026. A fingerprint request does not mean that the applicant has a criminal record. It can be the step needed to distinguish people with similar identifying information.

WPS offers an in-person fingerprint-based record check. That check does not include a vulnerable sector check. WPS charges $81.90 including GST for one or two sets, or $159.60 including GST for three or four sets. The additional RCMP processing fee is $25.00. When one further set is required within the next 12 months, the WPS schedule says only the $25.00 RCMP fee applies, and the original receipt must be presented at the time of payment.

Digital fingerprinting refers to prints captured electronically for submission. It is separate from an online name-based record check. Requests described as FBI fingerprinting, fingerprinting for lawyers or immigration fingerprinting can have destination-specific forms and submission rules. The organization requesting the prints determines the required format. WPS or an accredited fingerprinting agency can confirm whether it handles that destination before an appointment.

The published WPS prices are based on the number of fingerprint sets, not a group package. Anyone arranging group fingerprinting should ask the fingerprinting provider how each person will be booked and billed.

Instant Record Check does not take fingerprints and cannot convert a name-based application into a fingerprint submission. Fingerprinting is a WPS or accredited-agency errand. Applicants should keep the fingerprint request or instruction letter because it identifies the purpose and the authority that must receive the result.

Vulnerable sector checks in Winnipeg

WPS states that only Winnipeg residents over the age of 18 may apply online for a vulnerable sector check, and that those under the age of 18 are eligible for a criminal record check only. Applicants under 18 can apply for a criminal record check only. WPS accepts youth applications, but youth eligibility for a criminal record check does not extend to its online vulnerable sector route. Instant Record Check has its own eligibility rules: applicants must be 18 or older and have at least one year of Canadian residency. An applicant who does not meet both should use the WPS route rather than paying for a check they cannot use. Anyone living outside Winnipeg who needs a vulnerable sector search must attend their local police agency to have it completed, per the Winnipeg Police Service, July 2026.

WPS does not provide vulnerable sector record checks for agencies outside Canada. An applicant should confirm that the requesting organization is eligible and that the position calls for vulnerable sector screening before starting the police application. The WPS requirements are published on its online record checks page.

A WPS in-person fingerprint-based record check does not include vulnerable sector screening. Fingerprints requested during a WPS vulnerable sector application are instead a verification step in that application.

Instant Record Check cannot issue a vulnerable sector check. Its Criminal Record Check and Enhanced Criminal Record Check cover name-based RCMP and CPIC searches, not the police-only vulnerable sector component. The vulnerable sector check guide explains the product boundary and the questions to ask the organization requesting the check.

Winnipeg Police Service or Instant Record Check?

Both routes start online, so the choice is about which document is needed and how quickly it arrives. For a name-based criminal record check, Instant Record Check costs $59.97 and typically returns results in about 15 minutes, while WPS charges $65.00 and publishes no fixed turnaround. WPS states that it searches three systems: R.M.S. for local Winnipeg Police Service records, C.P.I.C. for the Canadian Police Information Centre and the RCMP national repository, and P.I.P., the Police Information Portal, per the Winnipeg Police Service, July 2026. An Instant Record Check report covers the RCMP and CPIC portion only, so if the requesting organization specifically asks for a Winnipeg Police Service document, an Instant Record Check report is not that document.

The request letter or application instructions should name the required check. A standard Criminal Record Check searches conviction information. An Enhanced Criminal Record Check, also called a CRJMC, adds a search for outstanding judicial matters. Neither Instant Record Check product substitutes for a vulnerable sector check or a fingerprint-based certified criminal record check.

For the Instant Record Check route, identity verification uses TransUnion, with Stripe Identity as backup. Results typically arrive in about 15 minutes, but an application that needs review can take longer. WPS timing is controlled by WPS and has no fixed published turnaround.

Where to go in person

The Winnipeg Police Service location is:

Anyone requiring fingerprints must book an appointment first, per the Winnipeg Police Service, July 2026, so it cannot be done as a walk-in. WPS lists in-person assistance as Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., closing Wednesdays at 12 p.m. An in-person visit is relevant when WPS directs an applicant to fingerprinting or when the requested process cannot be completed as a name-based online check. The requesting organization should be consulted before the visit so the applicant knows which product, number of fingerprint sets and destination are required.

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

• Criminal record checks across Manitoba
• Vulnerable sector check requirements
• Criminal Record and Judicial Matters Checks
• Criminal record check pricing
• How the online process works

Sundeep Rana

Writing on criminal record checks and background screening in Canada.