How will I know whether a Pet Sitter has a history of Animal Cruelty?

If an individual is convicted for an animal cruelty offence, the offence will show up as a disclosable court outcome (DCO) on a police check.

If an individual has been acquitted of animal cruelty charges, then no disclosable court outcomes (DCO) will display on their police check. This means their criminal records are expunged. Meaning, their disclosable court outcomes are wiped clean and won’t return in a Police Check.

Police checks are 'point in time' checks only. There is no continuous criminal background monitoring service that exists to monitor criminal history checks offered by the government.

There is BlueCard Working with Children Check monitoring, but we don't work with Children, and therefore we don't have access to that database.

So at the time of applying to be a Sitter, if a Police check states that there ARE disclosable court outcomes, we do not approve their listing on PetCloud.

It is the Pet Owner's responsibility to request the Sitter undergo a police check which costs $53 and can be purchased here: https://petcloud.nationalcrimecheck.com.au/

If a Sitter provided a police check a long time ago and has held an account on PetCloud in the last 10 years and have chosen not to notify us of a change in their disclosable outcomes, or haven't been caught yet, or if the RSPCA have not to advised us, or a Magistrate chose not to record the conviction, you won't know.

You need to ask the Sitter to pay and provide an up to date police check here: https://petcloud.nationalcrimecheck.com.au/

Police & Inspectors do record "Person of Interest" notes which are in their private database which the public do not have access to. Referring Authority (Police or RSPCA) sends the matter to a Magistrate who then decides level of seriousness & decides whether initial evidence is sufficient to go to court.

A clear police check is not an endorsement of an individual's moral compass. It could simply mean they have not been caught yet.