New Fingerprint Scanners Granted to
Will Bolster Criminal-Records System
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“Fingerprints are a critical piece of the puzzle when
verifying someone’s identity and checking their criminal backgrounds,” Yost
said. “These grant funds are being invested in the courts to further modernize
the record-keeping system by building in a more fail-safe process to collect
fingerprints. In doing this, law enforcement, employers and even everyday
Ohioans can have greater confidence in the system.”
Ohio law requires the Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal
Investigation (BCI) to maintain the state’s Computerized Criminal History
(CCH), a database of fingerprints and criminal records based on information
supplied by 200+ courts statewide as their cases conclude. These records are
relied upon for criminal investigations; prosecutorial charges; sentencing
decisions; correctional supervision and release; and background checks for
those applying for licenses or firearms purchases, and those who work with
children, older Ohioans or people with disabilities.
The new machines, called LiveScan devices, will be
distributed to courts in 42 counties, helping to shore up gaps in defendant
fingerprinting and to automate courts’ submission of those fingerprints to the
CCH.
Click Here for a List of Courts Receiving Fingerprinting
Machines
The devices, which cost $898,450, were purchased through a
National Criminal History Improvement Program grant being administered by the
Attorney General’s Office. It is the latest such federal grant that Yost’s
office has applied for and received in recent years to modernize numerous
aspects of that state’s criminal record-keeping and reporting processes.
Yost’s decision to fund the LiveScan devices was influenced
by court feedback and supported by Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy of the
Supreme Court of
“Courts are mandated to provide accurate reporting of
criminal case information, supported by essential fingerprinting in background
checks,” Kennedy said. “LiveScan devices will aid courts in fulfilling that
statutory requirement by improving the efficiency of reporting, underscoring
our commitment to prioritizing the safety of Ohioans.”
LiveScan Grants
How the process works
Records are added to the state’s CCH whenever an individual
is arrested, has a court appearance in connection with a criminal case, or is
sentenced in a criminal case.
Court clerks are responsible for supplying much of the data
that populates the database – including fingerprints, which match a criminal
record to an individual.
A defendant’s fingerprints can be captured at various stages
of the criminal justice process. Due to logistical reasons, however,
fingerprinting at times has fallen through the cracks.
Courts can help law enforcement plug the gaps by acquiring
LiveScan machines, creating a “belt and suspenders” approach that improves the
likelihood of fingerprints being captured and a defendant’s criminal record
being promptly submitted to BCI.
Yost added: “I’m pleased and grateful that so many judges and court clerks have stepped up to solidify their protocols and do their part to keep the state’s criminal records as current and accurate as possible.”