Grant enhances RPD’s fingerprinting capability

The Russellville Police Department will be able to purchase the latest fingerprinting equipment thanks to a recent grant from Gov. Robert Bentley.
The $14,660 grant will allow the RPD to purchase a digital fingerprinting system that lets officers send fingerprint images electronically to state and federal databases, which will provide quicker results when officers need to check for criminal backgrounds of suspects.
Russellville Police Chief Chris Hargett said this system will help the department streamline what they are already doing.
“Right now we have the ink and paper and we have to roll each individual finger to send in for confirmation to the ABI office in Montgomery. Doing it this way, there’s always the possibility that it could get sent back because they couldn’t read it and it can take a long time.
“With this system, we’ll still roll each finger, but there’s no ink and it tells you right off if the print has been accepted so it makes the process much faster. We can also get confirmation of who the person is within a few hours.”
Hargett said the grant would also allow the department to purchase software that would help with organization.”
“The additional software will help us know if the person we have in custody at the time has already been fingerprinted and stored in our system,” Hargett said. “Even if they’ve been arrested under a different name before, we’ll know right off if it’s the same person and we won’t have to have many sets of fingerprints for that one individual.”
In tough financial times where money is scarce, grants like these are essential to help departments advance technologically.
“To protect and serve their communities, law enforcement officers need the proper equipment,” Gov. Bentley said in a statement. “I am pleased to help Russellville provide its police officers with a tool that will allow them to serve residents more effectively.”
The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the grant from funds made available by the U.S. Justice Department.
In addition to grants for police equipment, ADECA administers an array of programs, which support law enforcement and traffic safety, economic development, energy conservation, workforce development, water resource management and recreation development.