Fingerprinting, minus the ink
By Alyssa Schafer, BHG News Service
No more messy ink for the McLean County Sheriff’s Department. A new state-of-the-art fingerprinting system scans a person’s fingerprints into an electronic database, eliminating the need to press ink-stained fingers to paper. The county acquired the $25,000 Livscan system in January, thanks to a grant from the North Dakota Crime Bureau, McLean County Sheriff Don Charging said. Charging said the county is lucky to have access to this advanced technology. "There are only 24 facilities that have this capability at this time in the state of North Dakota," he said. Located in the seat of McLean County, Washburn, the law enforcement center received the system because the facility processes a relatively high number of prisoners. The county jail usually houses about eight prisoners, and about 15 different individuals are processed each month, Charging said.
