Marion County Common Pleas Court Gets New Fingerprint Scanner

Marion’s Star
| USA TODAY NETWORK

A grant program to improve the accuracy and completeness of the state’s criminal repository will pay for 77 new devices that courts across Ohio will use to fingerprint defendants for uploading to a database. The Marion County Common Pleas Court Family Division is among the recipients.

“Fingerprints are a critical piece of the puzzle when it comes to verifying identity and criminal background checks,” said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. “These grant funds are being invested in the courts to further modernize the recordkeeping system by creating a more robust fingerprinting process. This will allow law enforcement, employers and even ordinary Ohioans to have greater confidence in the system.”

Ohio law requires the Attorney General’s Bureau of Investigation (BCI) to maintain the state’s Computerized Criminal History (CCH), a database of fingerprints and criminal records based on information provided by more than 200 courts across the state at the conclusion of their cases.

This data is used in criminal investigations, charging, sentencing, correctional supervision and release, and in background checks for individuals applying for firearms licenses or purchases, as well as for individuals working with children, seniors in Ohio, or individuals with disabilities.

The new devices, called LiveScan devices, will be delivered to courts in 42 counties. They will help fill gaps in the system for taking fingerprints of defendants and automate the transmission of those prints from courts to CCH.

The $898,450 devices were purchased through a National Criminal History Improvement Program grant administered by the Attorney General’s Office. It is the latest such federal grant that Yost’s office has applied for and received in recent years to modernize multiple aspects of the state’s criminal history recording and reporting processes.