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GSC Fingerprint Lab Gets New Equipment
Wed Apr 2, 2008


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 04/02/08

For more information:
Bob Edwards
Public Relations Department Assistant
Glenville State College
Glenville, West Virginia
(304) 462-7361x7610

Fingerprint Lab

Glenville, WV—The Glenville State College Criminal Justice Program has installed the latest technology in its Fingerprint Lab. The days of using messy ink pads and rollers are being replaced by digital technology.

GSC used funds from a 2006 Outreach Grant arranged through Congressman Alan Mollohan to purchase a Live Scan 4100 fingerprint system. The new equipment reads fingerprints with a digital scanner that enters them directly into a computer program eliminating the need to apply ink to fingers and press prints on paper cards. The old system was prone to smudges and poor prints that could require the entire process to be repeated. The Live Scan 4100 lets you know immediately if a print needs to be rescanned. The greatest advantage of the new system is that it will allow prints to be directly transmitted to other agencies. The old system required prints to be put on cards and sent by mail. However in West Virginia, the new technology that allows direct transmission won’t be in-place for over a year. Until then, prints can be scanned with the new system but need to be printed on cards and mailed as before.

“West Virginia is one of just a few states that do not allow direct transmission of fingerprints yet, even though the FBI fingerprint center is located in Clarksburg, West Virginia. The State Police and other law enforcement agencies did not have the equipment necessary to do this. The new technology is being installed around the state, but the system will not be functional until the summer of 2009,” said Dan Martens, GSC Instructor of Criminal Justice.

The GSC Criminal Justice instructors and students are not the only ones who will benefit from the new fingerprint technology. The GSC Education and Nursing Departments can also use it for required background checks, and area law enforcement agencies including the GSC Public Safety Department will have access to the new equipment that is totally portable.

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