2. Big Idea - Fingerprinting and Background Checks

The goal of this proposal is to have higher compliance in individuals receiving multiple background checks via DOJ when working with vulnerable populations (significant “recurring access” with children 17 years or younger, persons 60 years or older, or individuals with disabilities).

Barriers

One of the barriers, perceived and real, from the perspective of agencies and individuals is the current protocol for individuals to be fingerprinted multiple times. Individuals that fall under this category include; substitute teachers, service learning students, volunteers with multiple non-profits, non-profit staff, students involved in professional practicum.

The current process involves the individual attending an orientation at the placement site. The volunteer then travels to either a school district office or a LiveScan facility. This requires a trained technician and in many cases a “rolling fee” which is not set, but usually is about $20. Individuals many times must adjust their schedules in work and school to be fingerprinted, pushing back their start date and adding to the time from initial orientation to being cleared to volunteer.

Proposed solution

For those individuals who are fingerprinted multiple times, a site-based authentication could be completed in the main office or HR department. The equipment needed includes: an existing DOJ account, a computer connected to the internet and a DOJ specification approved USB Fingerprint Scanner. This would be exclusively for individuals who have already had a full set of fingerprints rolled via LiveScan. All that would be required for future fingerprints is the authorization to do a background check with a government issued ID and one corresponding fingerprint as verification. This could be checked directly with the fingerprint on file and verified. The permission would be the same as it currently is, so that schools would receive certain background information, employers and non-profits, access to information they are currently authorized to receive from DOJ.

On the part of DOJ, this would require a portal and secure transfer of information to the site as well as identifying the specifications or specific models of approved scanners. As a project, it is rather limited in scale and could be piloted before full roll out. Parameters could be put forth to limit eligibility in program, but the basic concept would drastically streamline the process for fingerprinting and the perceived and actual barriers to fingerprinting.