PRESS RELEASE

Release Date: 02/14/2008

We are pleased to announce the newest addition to the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office.
We continue efforts to improve the quality of our services to the public. The Clarke County Sheriff’s Office has purchased and installed the Live Scan Automatic Finger Print Identification System (A.F.I.S.) manufactured by Cross Match Technologies, at the Clarke County Courthouse. This system will replace the previous process of ink printing applicants for employment, firearms permits, and background investigation purposes. The A.F.I.S. process will electronically transmit the individual’s fingerprints to the Georgia Crime and Information Center, and FBI for analysis and results. The previous process could take several months for analysis and confirmation results to be returned by the GBI and FBI. Sometimes the inked cards were rejected due to quality issues which would result in the need for reprinting and additional time for re-submittal. With the A.F.I.S. procedure the prints are compared, reviewed, and accepted or rejected before they are electronically transmitted greatly reducing the possibility of return for quality errors. The results from the electronic transmissions can be returned with in minutes, but sometimes can take a few hours or days depending on the volume of submissions. This is a much greater improvement over several months that some results have taken using the ink system. The Sheriff’s Office will continue to print using the A.F.I.S. process for those individuals who need finger prints and have their own employer or organizations cards. The A.F.I.S. machine will print to these cards and not transmit the fingerprints to the GCIC or the FBI. The cost for electronic transmission of fingerprints is $24.25 per transmission, and $12 for fingerprints printed to a card for mail-in submission. We are hopeful that this new addition will continue to improve the quality and timeliness of the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office service to our community.