Who can do the fingerprint rolling?
Live scan fingerprints can be taken by any certified fingerprint roller designated so by the Department of Justice. Fingerprint rollers (live scan operators) go through a thorough background check to become certified and licensed by the State. The Department of Justice supplies a list of certified live scan operators throughout the state. In order to be live scanned, applicants must first obtain the necessary form and directions from the agency requesting the criminal background check. Employers who want to include a background check in their hiring process using fingerprints need to contact the Department of Justice to set up an account.

Who is required to be live scanned?
Individuals who are applying for certain job positions and licenses are required to go through the live scan process as part of a background check. Click here to see a list of some of the professions and licenses that require live scan.

What is the process?
Applicants are given a form by the prospective employer or requesting agency to take to the live scan facility. The live scan operator inputs the information provided by the form into a special software program, as well as scans the applicant’s fingerprints into the program. There are codes on the form provided by the DOJ that enables them to designate the information when they receive an applicant’s data. Once the operator transmits the record, the DOJ receives it within seconds. From there, the DOJ will forward a copy of the record to the FBI if they are also doing a search. The DOJ will process the prints and information and will send the results to the requesting employer or agency.

Why live scan and not ink?
Traditionally fingerprints were recorded by rolling an individual’s fingers in ink and then onto a ten print card. Ten print cards were sent by mail to the Department of Justice for processing. This method of submitting fingerprints had some major flaws. Problems commonly associated with inked prints were smudging, smearing, and over or under inking; thus, making prints difficult, in not impossible, to read. If any of these problems occurred, prints would have to be re-rolled until perfect prints were obtained; a very time consuming practice indeed.

The other flaw with the ink prints was the time it took the prints to get to the Department of Justice and be processed. Ink prints can take 10 to 12 days (plus the time it takes to be mailed) to be processed and up to 60 days if there is a criminal history; where as live scan prints are done within 72 hours and up to 30 days if there is a criminal history.

In 1997, legislation was passed that resulted in the Department of Justice developing the automated system that uses digitized fingerprints for conducting background checks known as live scan. Now (as of July 1, 2005), the Department of Justice requires that all submitted fingerprint applications be transmitted electronically due to mandates set forth in Penal Code section 11077.1.

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Why should a background check be conducted using fingerprints instead of the traditional method of name and social security number?
Background checks using modern automated fingerprinting identification systems, such as live scan, have an error rate of less than 1%. Name based background checks have a record of producing a substantial number of false hits. One study, the Name Check Efficacy Study, conducted in 1998-99 by a task force commissioned by the U.S. Attorney General, found that if out of the 6.9 million civil applicant background checks processed by the FBI in 1997 had been processed by Interstate Identification Index name checks only, about 346,500 of those would have resulted in false positives and 70,200 would have produced false negative results. Even though the number of false hits was only 6% of the total number of searches conducted, it’s scary to think that 346,500 people were falsely identified as having criminal records when they in fact did not and perhaps lost the opportunity of getting a job they needed. Even scarier is the idea that over 70,000 individuals with criminal records were shown to have no record and were then capable of being placed in positions they normally would not be allowed, such as positions working with young children.

In fact, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is firmly opposed to name-based background checks for non-criminal justice purposes. The FBI won’t even accept such inquiries unless they are accompanied by fingerprints. For more information on the FBI’s position, click here to read the formal statement of record made before the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime Regarding H.R. 3410 and Name Check Efficacy made by David R. Loesch, Assistant Director in Charge, Criminal Justice Information Services Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The simple fact of the matter is that the only means of positive identification is using fingerprints. Name-based background checks are not based on positive identification. Name based checks are conducted by submitting an individual’s personal identifiers such as name, race, sex, DOB, SSN, etc. If the personal identifiers that are submitted don’t match the personal identifiers maintained in the Criminal History Record Information (CHRI) system exactly, the correct record may not be disseminated. It just takes making a single typo, or the input of the wrong code used to represent gender and race, to produce a false hit or no hit. In addition, common names (i.e. John Smith) can result in multiple hits or when people use aliases or nicknames (Jonathon Smith, John Michael Smith, Johnny Smith….).

Two individuals can have the same name, but no two individuals can have the same fingerprints.

Fingerprint-based inquiries do not use personal identifiers as the primary means of conducting, so accuracy of personal identifiers will not affect accuracy of the search. As the saying goes, “To err is human,” thus whenever a process is done by person, there is some margin of err. In the case of fingerprint-based background checks, however, 85% of the searches performed on AFIS require no human intervention, substantially lowering the possibility of errors.

It is difficult for individuals with a criminal background to get a job, especially if their crimes were violent in nature or were against children. That is why these types of offenders commonly use false names or aliases, or even false dates of birth, on job applications. They are able to provide prospective employers with a fake ID, knowing that a background check that is name based will come back clean. This is why background checks that include a fingerprint search deters people who have a criminal history from even applying for a position with a business or organization that publicizes the fact they require live scan for all new hires.

Individuals can produce false identification, but an individual cannot produce false fingerprints.

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