Sheriff’s department seeks grant for fingerprint ID system

By Doug Russell, News Editor

STIGLER, July 23 — It’s a problem that has plagued many police departments for years: an arrested person gives police a name and, when nothing comes back in a reasonable time indicating he is wanted anywhere else, he’s ordered released. But when fingerprint checks finally come in, police discover they’ve turned a dangerous felon back onto the streets.

That’s a problem that may soon all but disappear in Haskell County, if a federal grant for the sheriff’s department is approved.

Monday morning county commissioners gave the OK for Sheriff Bryan Hale to pursue a $30,000 grant for a Live Scan fingerprinting system, a system that makes positive fingerprint identification much faster and more accurate than the older ink pad method.

Hale will host a public meeting to talk about Live Scan and the grant at 1 p.m. July 30 at the Haskell County Criminal Justice Center, 1304 Industrial St., Stigler.

“We’ll try to answer any questions anyone has at that meeting,” Hale said.

The federal government only allows Justice Assistance Grant monies to be used for certain types of items and Hale said he believes the Live Scan is something that will help the county overall.

“If I could use the money for jail operations or staffing, I would, but that’s not what the grant allows,” he said. “This is something that will help protect the public and, at the same time, it should make life a lot easier for some people.”

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