DUBOIS – Police Departments in the DuBois area will be getting a new tool to help in their fight against crime.
Sandy Township Police Chief Don Routch announced the award of a competitive technology grant in the amount of $69,890 from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency for two high tech systems in a press release. The grant was written in conjunction with the City of DuBois Police Department.
The first piece of technology is the Live Scan Fingerprinting System. This equipment is currently utilized by the state police in local barracks. It will be housed in a new booking and processing room at the Sandy Township Police Department.
Live Scan Fingerprinting is a biometric technology designed to electronically capture fingerprint/palm print images. Live Scan technology replaces the process of recording a person’s fingerprint patterns manually through a rolling process using ink and a standard 8×8 paper card by capturing the fingerprint impressions digitally in an electronic format. In the immediate future, the Pennsylvania State Police will no longer accept paper card submissions.
Live Scan images are transmitted to an Automated Fingerprint Identification System where it will store fingerprints in databases. This will help law enforcement solve crimes by identifying prints left at a crime scene and to share the information with other jurisdictions.
Routch noted in his press release that Live Scan expedites the fingerprinting process, reducing processing time and eliminating errors. It will also help to ensure consistency and the integrity of the data submitted electronically into the databases as it captures the image of the prints digitally without error.
The second technology is Commonwealth Photo Imaging Network Software. CPIN is a computer program network administered by the commonwealth and used to record and store digital photographs of offenders. Every arrest at a live scan station provides images of faces, scars, marks and tattoos. These images are available to other users of CPIN within minutes of the arrest. CPIN offers a variety of uses for law enforcement such as developing photo line-ups to be viewed by a crime victim, comparison of gang tattoos or scan for intelligence purposes or to aid in investigations.
Routch said in the press release that the integration of their Live Scan System with the PSP AFIS will build upon the state’s data sharing network that is currently in place.
According to the press release the STPD will have the only Live Scan booking and processing site located at a municipal police department within 100 miles. The booking and processing room will also contain a video arraignment system.
This new site will enable police officers to book, process and arraign offenders in front of magisterial district judges 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Routch stated in the press release that this site will be made available to any local law enforcement agency, specifically police departments in Clearfield and Jefferson Counties, as well as the PSP and any other law enforcement agency that requests its use.
-The STPD wished to thank the following people/organizations:
-Sandy Township Manager Dick Castonguay
-The Sandy Township Board of Supervisors
-Clearfield County District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr.
-Clearfield County Criminal Justice Advisory Board
-Magisterial District Judge Patrick N. Ford
-City of DuBois Police Chief Michael Dilullo
-Sen. Joe Scarnati
-state Rep. Matt Gabler