SA Police clearance says: "no contact with vulnerable people"

[mullein]

Hey all, this is on behalf of my dad. anyway.

my dad just got a police clearance for a job he was trying to go for. and it came back with an assault charge from 2010 (we thought they were supposed to be wiped after 7 years, but anyway..). This isn't much of a bother as my dad knew how things went with this incident, what the truth really was etc...


But what has really upset him is that on the clearance it says: "no contact with vulnerable people". Now this is total BS, the FIRST thing my dad, me and EVERYONE says when asked what does this tell you? they say it makes you look like a pedophile. This has gotten my dad furious, simply due to the principle of this (the fact of having this as an official label), but more practically that this is basically a guarantee of NEVER getting a job. And its already caused arguments within the family due to ignorant people ALREADY being misled by this statement!!!!!

The main issues are this:

1.Now I can SORT OF see how 'vulnerable people' can mean anyone who can be intimidated, but the WORDING of this is absolutely disgusting and totally implicit. My dad rang and asked them if they can change it to 'prone to violent behavior' or something along those lines (which is being totally generous considering the original assault case was coz the other guy attacked him with a machete, and ended up getting beaten up. but first to call the cops wins right?)

2. No contact with vulnerable people. I can see how this needs to be stated IF your going for a job relating to kids or elderly or disabled, I really can.... hes going for a Concreting job. a CONCRETING job! do you seriously think theres gonna be vulnerable people constructing slabs of concrete? And they knew this was the job he's going for as they make you put the job position your attempting on the application form. My dad is a manual worker, hes trying to get manual labor jobs or truck driving jobs, this is utter BS for them to even have to put that on the clearance when they damn well know what line of work he is going for.

3. if you were an employer, what are you gonna think when some 50 yearold man walks in with a police clearance that says "no contact with vulnerable people"? DOES NOT even matter what line of work it is, your INSTANTLY gonna get persona about it. "wtf has he done to get this? hurt some kids? damn, I got kids, what if he did it to my kids?".... come on...

don't know if anything can be done about this or if its just another case of laying down, gritting your teeth and taking it like a man. any advice is helpful.

 

[mullein]

Is this considered defamation?

I have read that this whole "vulnerable people" thing refers to anything that involves 1 someone under 18 or 2. someone over 18 with a disability or something like that. Well the assault case was someone of the same age as my dad, and able enough to swing a machette at him lol. but I digress, the point being: my dad has never done or had legal problems with anybody that meets this "vulnerable people" critera, so WHY would they put this on there for then?

And on the application sheet for the police clearance it asks is you are trying to get a job working with "vulnerable people". well he obviously checked NO on that, so again, why has this been plastered on his official police clearance?

 

[Rod]

Call the SA Ombudsman's Office and see if they can help.

 

[mullein]

on their website it says "actions of SA Police" fall under "matters ombudsman can't deal with"

so basically your saying nothing can be done, just gotta 'take it like a man'.

 

[Rod]

Ombudsman can't get involved in day-to-day policing, not sure about police clearances. Worth a call.

 

[mullein]

well its all sorted now. he spoke to the sergeant and he said that they are doing it on all police certificates now. that sounds weird to me (like surely other people are gonna think the same thing), but either way, they are resending him a new police certificate that will not have those words on it