The aldermanic Committee of the Whole on Monday recommended Alton sign an agreement with ISP for the service and with its vendor, iTouch Biometrics of Schaumburg, Ill. The agreement requires iTouch to use scan equipment certified by that agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Once the fingerprints are captured, the vendor must send them to ISP — which is authorized to disseminate criminal history record information — within 24 hours for processing, among other requirements.
Jarvis Swope, the city’s information technology director, said the cost for each fingerprint submission likely would run between $45 and $50, but the city has not set a price. Aldermen would have to approve prices as an ordinance.
Swope said the Police Department will replace its 20-year-old fingerprint machine with one of two units that Alton is buying.
“ISP is not accepting paper but we still are sending it,” Swope said of the APD machine. People also are going to Granite City and other police stations to have their fingerprints scanned live, diverting revenue from Alton.
Besides the police fingerprint scanner, the city also plans to buy a second machine that transmits the fingerprints electronically. That machine will be located in City Hall, for such uses as people working, volunteering or trying to do so in such areas as: childcare, school bus or tow truck drivers, chiropractors, private security, locksmiths, real estate appraisers, early intervention services, nursing and other healthcare, nursing home residents, gambling boats and video gaming and racing.
People also need to be fingerprinted to obtain liquor licenses or firearm concealed carry permits. Turnaround time in getting results is quicker with the live scan equipment.
Comptroller Kirby Ontis said the equipment will cost $9,000. “It will take one to two years to get a return on the equipment” investment.
©2018 The Telegraph (Alton, Ill.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.