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(From latentprint.com Alabama is a NEC state. This info was last updated Mar of 99 so keep that in mind.)
Fingerprints speed background checks
01/06/01
KIM CHANDLER
News staff writer
MONTGOMERY - Alabama is
speeding up the process of
conducting background checks on
people who supervise children at
day cares and at schools, Gov. Don
Siegelman announced Friday.
The state Department of Human
Resources paid $750,000 for 30
electronic fingerprint scanners that
will be placed around the state.
"Instead of taking weeks or months
to get results, we will get them back
immediately," Siegelman said.
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The machines will be the property
of the state Department of Public
Safety and will be placed around the
state.
State Public Safety Director Jim
Alexander said the system should
help officials work through a
backlog of 20,000 fingerprint cards
that have been submitted already.
Instead of ink-and-paper prints, a
person will place a finger on
glass-topped scanner. The prints
will immediately be run through a
state database and forwarded to the
FBI.
Increasing the number of machines
around the state also will help stop
criminals from getting out of jail on
bond before police realize they are
wanted for crimes elsewhere, said
Maj. Ken Hallford, director of the
Alabama Bureau of Investigation.
"If he's going under a bad name or
he's wanted somewhere else, it's
going to let those jail administrators
know exactly who they have," he
said.
Legislation required criminal
background checks on teachers and
school employees who supervise
children. The new law created a
backlog that numbered in the
thousands of cases last year. The
department gets more than 1,000
fingerprints a day to check.
Beginning this year, the state started
requiring criminal background
checks on day care employees.
Department of Human Resources
Commissioner Bill Fuller said
several companies approached the
state interested in selling the
service. He said it was cheaper to
buy the machines outright and work
with Public Safety.
al.com
steve |
