In-House Fingerprinting

[Pylon]

I was curious to see how many squadrons and other units do the fingerprints for new members in-house, versus sending them to a local law enforcement agency?

If you do it in-house is it worth it for the ease and speed?  Did your members get training from a local Law Enforcement agency or some such or do you have former LEOs in your unit who do it or train others?

Just curious to see if it's worth it.  Some agencies near our unit charge residents for the fingerprints, others don't, and other's require appointments.  I was thinking it may take the delay out of getting a new member's feet wet if one could expedite the application submission by the several days it usually takes a prospective member to get around to visiting the station and getting them done.

[MIKE]

I went to the local PD when I had mine done for CAP, I don't think they charged anything for 'em... However; the CGAux trains members to do them... Fortunately for me, one lives locally and came to my house to do 'em for my PSI package. 

[davedove]

I went to the Sheriff's Office to do mine.  The office is basically next door to our squadron building.  They perform the service for anyone needing fingerprints in the community every Saturday afternoon and charge five dollars.

[lordmonar]

At Misawa...it was such a PITA to get the fingerprints done, I bought a kit on-line and did them my self.  It's not really that hard to do, just takes a little practice.

[Becks]

Got mine free from Charleston PD.  The officer who did it waved the $5 fee because of what it was for. 

[Eclipse]

Most of my members are getting theirs done at local PD, and most don't charge - the ones that do will sometimes waive the fee when they understand WHY you need them.

I don't see anything wrong with doing them in-house as long as they are clear.

[Hawk200]

I don't see anything wrong with doing them in-house as long as they are clear.

Easy way to make sure they are. I did prints at one of my previous units. The best thing I found to do was to make two cards. Wait til both dry. Put a sheet of paper on top of the card when dry, and paper clip the sides. Never had an initial member package returned after I started doing that.

[Lancer]

I was under the impression the need to have your fingerprints taken by a local law enforcement agency was due to the fact that there was a need for a official/registered agency recording them?

From what I've read on the FBI's website, you need to submit your ORI # (Originating Agency Identification) on the FD-258 for them to accept it. Is this not the case? Or, can anyone register for an ORI #?

Personally I'd rather do them in house to spare our members from having to incur a cost and take the time off work to get them done. Even after calling the local sheriff's office, the police dept. for the city I work in and the police department for the city I live in and telling them what I was needing them for, there was still a cost and it varied from $10.00 to $15.00.

[Hawk200]

I was under the impression the need to have your fingerprints taken by a local law enforcement agency was due to the fact that there was a need for a official/registered agency recording them?

From what I've read on the FBI's website, you need to submit your ORI # (Originating Agency Identification) on the FD-258 for them to accept it. Is this not the case? Or, can anyone register for an ORI #?

Personally I'd rather do them in house to spare our members from having to incur a cost and take the time off work to get them done. Even after calling the local sheriff's office, the police dept. for the city I work in and the police department for the city I live in and telling them what I was needing them for, there was still a cost and it varied from $10.00 to $15.00.

The cards sent from National are preprinted with that info. The only thing you have to do is fill out the name, and put the prints on there.

And actually, there is no need for a law enforcement agency to do prints. The only reason I went to one when I rejoined is because the squadron didn't have a print kit.

[cyclone]

Our Wing HQ has a kit and we have people trained to use it.  We try to go that route to save time and $ whenever possible.

[Eclipse]

I was under the impression the need to have your fingerprints taken by a local law enforcement agency was due to the fact that there was a need for a official/registered agency recording them?

From what I've read on the FBI's website, you need to submit your ORI # (Originating Agency Identification) on the FD-258 for them to accept it. Is this not the case? Or, can anyone register for an ORI #?

Personally I'd rather do them in house to spare our members from having to incur a cost and take the time off work to get them done. Even after calling the local sheriff's office, the police dept. for the city I work in and the police department for the city I live in and telling them what I was needing them for, there was still a cost and it varied from $10.00 to $15.00.

The cards sent from National are preprinted with that info. The only thing you have to do is fill out the name, and put the prints on there.

And actually, there is no need for a law enforcement agency to do prints. The only reason I went to one when I rejoined is because the squadron didn't have a print kit.

Local agencies aren't recording it, in fact, except for the sig line, there's no track as to who did the prints.  Local PD just know how, is all.

I had a potential member who came in to join, and had real issues with the fingerprinting.  First it was several weeks before he said anything, then he asked if his work could do it (and I said "yes", as he said he worked for an immigration bureau).

When a few more weeks passed, (and he only showed once or twice total), I suggested (again), he go to the local PD and just get it done.

That's the last I have seen of him.  

Frankly, I think I'll just tell people from now on that it has to be local PD - that's round one of an informal background check - nobody with warrants or iffy immigration status is going to walk into a PD station and ask to be printed.  

[Psicorp]

This is definately going to become a problem within the next year or so.  Our local police and sheriff's offices will do them for free since the fingerprint card from National says "Volunteer".  However, more and more law enforcement agencies are going to ink-less, computerized fingerprint formats.  This is going to make it more of a "PITA".   My unit has already had three prospective members play telephone tag with various agencies (including a university campus) to get them done.

One possible solution might be for each unit to purchase a fingerprint kit and make arrangements for either an experienced member to do it or to have a friendly LEO drop by once a month or as needed.

[lordmonar]

One possible solution might be for each unit to purchase a fingerprint kit and make arrangements for either an experienced member to do it or to have a friendly LEO drop by once a month or as needed.

That is the way to go...as long as we have no way to use the electronic finger printing.  I had no training in fingerprinting.  I just followed the instructions in the kit I bought.  As I said before....it is pretty easy and only takes a little practice (I finger printed some of my cadets, my wife, my kids and my self...mostly for fun).

It is not rocket sciences.  Just make sure the fingers touch the paper straight up and down and roll them.

[Lancer]

This is definately going to become a problem within the next year or so.  Our local police and sheriff's offices will do them for free since the fingerprint card from National says "Volunteer".  However, more and more law enforcement agencies are going to ink-less, computerized fingerprint formats.  This is going to make it more of a "PITA".   My unit has already had three prospective members play telephone tag with various agencies (including a university campus) to get them done.

I don't understand the problem, my local PD has this system and there wasn't an issue (other than having to pay). The cadet officer took my fingerprint card, inserted it in the printer and after taking my prints, printed them on the card. The best part of those systems is no ink on the fingers.

[Psicorp]

I don't understand the problem, my local PD has this system and there wasn't an issue (other than having to pay). The cadet officer took my fingerprint card, inserted it in the printer and after taking my prints, printed them on the card. The best part of those systems is no ink on the fingers.

The couple of agencies here who use the electronic format can't print the cards, or say they can't print on the cards, for some reason.

No ink?  What fun is that?

Tags - MIKE

[Nick]

I honestly haven't even heard of an agency that didn't have a printer on an AFIS terminal.  Wow.  But yeah, that was the same way we accomplished the prints for Lackland -- the on-base personnel security office had AFIS with a printer, we furnished them the cards, and they did it on the terminal.

With that said, perhaps someone should bring the question up to NHQ/DPX about the fact that a lot more agencies are going to electronic submissions.  From what I understand of the system, you should be able to electronically submit the prints to the FBI as long as the agency furnishes CAP's ORI (ALAFCAP0Z) during the submission ... once the check is complete, CAP will receive the CHRI return through whatever process they currently receive them.

Not only will that drastically decrease the time for a senior member background check, but I'm sure whoever is converting the ten-print cards to digital format (whether it's CAP, Alabama DPS or the FBI) will be glad to see the reduced workload.

[lordmonar]

Can the AFIS printer accept the CAP finger print card?  I was under the impression that CAP could only accept finger prints on their cards with the CAP overprint (which still have the old charter number squares).

Is this not the case anymore?  Can they accept any finger print card now...or does it have to be a specific format?  Anyone?  Bueller?

[davedove]

The police here in Frederick use the electronic system and were able to print on the CAP provided card, so I would think others could do so as well.

[Hawk200]

The police here in Frederick use the electronic system and were able to print on the CAP provided card, so I would think others could do so as well.

The cards are pretty much standard. Whenever I got fingerprinted in joining CAP, or the Guard, the active duty, or just needed it for a security clearance, every last one of those cards was the same one. Just different agency stuff in the one corner. They were all even the same size and shape.

[JohnKachenmeister]

I bought an ink pad several years ago, and its still good.  When the police department I worked for went to an inkless computerized system, they threw out all the card holders, so I scarfed one up.

Some local PD's charge our people, some don't.  Some require appointments.  It is just easier to do it ourselves.

I went out to the civilian job of a new member once to fingerprint her.  She was a bank manager (and a blonde).  I asked her to show me where the break room was, so that we could do the fingerprinting in private.  She said that wasn't necessary, that we could use the edge of her desk.

So... I asked her:  "Are you sure you want the customers to see the Branch Manager being fingerprinted when they're coming in to deposit their life's savings?"

Oh...  The break room's in the back.