Duane Hicks
Getting fingerprinted for background checks will be a lot easier in future once the local OPP detachment gets new technology here.
OPP detachment commander Insp. Steve Shouldice told the Police Services Board on Friday that he’s hoping to get “live scan” fingerprinting here.
It’s been announced the OPP is moving in a direction where each detachment hopefully will have a machine that will allow office staff to take people’s fingerprints, electronically send them to the RCMP, and get them back within hours or even minutes.
Right now, fingerprints are sent via mail and it can take several months to get them back.
“That’s going to save a lot of work for the ladies at the front [desk of the detachment], as well as people waiting for their checks to come back,” said Insp. Shouldice.
“Live scan” technology, which does away with the more traditional fingerprinting method using ink and paper, is used at Canada Border Services here.
Meanwhile, the Police Services Board will look into whether or not patrons at the Fort Frances Public Library Technology Centre should be required to show I.D. before they can use the computer lab there.
Coun. Rick Wiedenhoeft said he was speaking with librarian Andrea Avis, who recently attended a conference where she learned some libraries ask for I.D. from patrons who use the Internet in the computer lab.
“What rights do the individuals who are using the Internet at the library have to privacy and not releasing their names versus the library’s right to ask for names when they come in to use the Internet?” wondered Coun. Wiedenhoeft.
Insp. Shouldice noted Coun. Wiedenhoeft was asking for a legal opinion and he is not lawyer. But he felt it is similar to someone checking out a book.
“[Library staff] keep a record of who takes books out,” he remarked.
“Why can’t you keep a record of who uses a computer?
“If we went in there asking for that information, we’d likely go and get judicial authorization for that because we would want it to be able to stand up in court as not violating people’s rights,” Insp. Shouldice added.
