Man seeing that little black boy breaks my heart.

When society's expectations are already so low for you.....it's the like cops are confirming a bleak future.

I know, Ppen, I know.

Child ID kits are pushed as a proactive measure for child safety.

There is merit in having the police interact with the community in a positive way.

"Child ID kits are pushed as a proactive measure for child safety."

Ok, so maybe you can explain the logic of them to me, because I don't get it. (No sarcasm, I sincerely don't understand the logic.) Surely if a child went missing the parents would have access to a recent picture, hairbrush, toothbrush, and something the kid had touched recently.

"so maybe you can explain the logic of them to me"

They are pushed in the general overblown fear that your kid will be snatched, and will (heaven forbid) be so disfigured only fingerprinting can id them. At least that is the bs story they tell parents. in reality a voluntary way of getting all peoples fingerprints on file.

They've been doing this across the country for at least 30 years now. My mom still has all our fingerprint kits/cards at home from when they were passed out in the early 1980s. It was all about being helpful when you are kidnapped apparently. When I was in, I think, 6th grade the police came around with the computers that digitally captured fingerprints and it was part of a science unit on how police use science to solve crimes. They did fingerprick blood typing on all of us and taking our prints, which I somehow had the foresight to get out of by being one of the last kids in line then ducking out to go to the bathroom. I don't know that I had any reason for not wanting my prints done other than thinking I just didn't want to. Of course, now as an adult the state has my prints on file from my concealed carry permit, but that was at least partially my choice since I wanted the permit and it was a requirement.

It's gotten so bad that when I became a notary - a NOTARY! - I could not find a signature book that didn't have a space for a thumbprint. Seriously?

While you're at it, could we get a dna sample, too?

"Surely if a child went missing the parents would have access to a recent picture . . ."

Maybe for most middle-class families in the US; But not for everyone and not for some kids who live "split lives" between separate parents and dysfunctional families.

This is one attempt to get the community to interact with Police in a positive way. What can be wrong with that?

Further, as best I can tell the police are NOT forcing anyone to do this. Parents can opt out, can't they? If not, then yes, that would be a problem. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

I really don't see how this is "tone-deaf." Or is it tone-deaf because the cops and other didn't give in to the looters and the likes of Al not-too-Sharpton or Jesse Hymietown Jackson?

Ppen and Amy, I really have to ask what makes you think that this is somehow or other telling that little black boy that he has a bleak future? I really do not see that. How is showing him how some policing works telling him that?

The particular kits shown in the photos stress that the info is downloaded onto a disc for the parents to keep and then all such data erased from the computer. The strategy is for parents to have info on one item they can hand to the police in case of a kidnapping, etc. It pointedly does not generate a police record. I suppose there is a non-zero chance a record is kept, but this program seems like a genuine effort from what I have seen.

The particular kits shown in the photos stress that the info is downloaded onto a disc for the parents to keep and then all such data erased from the computer.

Something to remember is that although it is a crime for you to lie to them, it is considered good investigative technique for them to lie to you.

If these fingerprint kits are for the parents' benefit, then why not just give fingerprint kits and let the parents do the prints themselves? That way, there's no way the police could have these on file, even accidentally, without an arrest.

That said, there is an additional benefit in parents retaining fingerprints. Fingerprints have a way of showing where a missing child has been and might provide some insight into what they're doing/what is being done to them.

I don't trust the police to take fingerprints of my child and then put them on disc for me and then delete them.

Patrick: Parents can take it upon themselves to obtain such a kit at any time. Community events increase participation.

And, yes, I don't trust public officials, just like I don't trust the people around me to drive in a reasonable and prudent manner. But sometimes you have to get out on the road and hope to get somewhere.

There is merit in having the police interact with the community in a positive way.

Posted by: doombuggy at September 7, 2014 8:38 AM

I remember a police officer named Trooper Ash - a striking figure in uniform, and a kind presence in the front of the room. Once each year he came and talked to out class about how police were there to protect us, and to trust someone in uniform if we needed help. He might have mentioned something about street crossing safety too, but I wasn't allowed to cross the street alone - didn't listen carefully to that part. I was amazed that no matter which school I went to, he always showed up, like Art Goes To School. He was amazing that way.

He never needed our fingerprints.

"If these fingerprint kits are for the parents' benefit, then why not just give fingerprint kits and let the parents do the prints themselves?"

Ever helped your average parent with a PC problem? See how they build a swing set or bicycle?

Handing them out also lets prints be substituted, inadvertently or not.

I miss my Dad. Decades ago I was trying to get some sort of Boy Scout Law Enforcement Merit Badge. One of the requirements was to get fingerprinted. In those days we were given the cards back, but had to option to file them with the local cops. My dad had enough sense to put them quietly away.

If the parents are really this worried, can't they just take the sippy cup from the greasy-fingered little bugger and drop it in a bag for future printing "just in case"?

"If these fingerprint kits are for the parents' benefit, then why not just give fingerprint kits and let the parents do the prints themselves?"

Ever helped your average parent with a PC problem? See how they build a swing set or bicycle?

Handing them out also lets prints be substituted, inadvertently or not.

Posted by: Radwaste at September 8, 2014 4:18 AM

So great, screwing up a fingerprint I.D. Card for your personal benefit, with the wrong Information hurts who exactly.?

People, like the DARE program, this meddling in the name of *better relationships with the police* should not be the province of law enforcement.

If they have enough policemen to have a few dedicated community relations folks, to run these programs, their budget needs to be slashed.

Gee, Isab - you not only don't know what a wasted resource looks like, you also haven't noticed that ID theft starts months and years ahead of the activity it supports.

BTW, ID kits are available on Amazon. Have at it, parents.
Oh, wait. Does this look like a tech-savvy neighborhood to you?

("What's a 'Amazon'?" - parent)

Gee, Isab - you not only don't know what a wasted resource looks like, you also haven't noticed that ID theft starts months and years ahead of the activity it supports.

If you can find any ID theft involved with fingerprints, I would be glad to hear about it.

Very hard to fake matching fingerprints. Documentation is a lot easier.

There is no assurance that the kids being fingerprinted are even connected up with a real name, or legitimate documents.

And until they start DNA testing kids at birth, they wont be.

Having handled these issues, mostly with forged green cards, used to procure government IDs for working construction on US military facilities, I will assure you that ID theft for financial and immigration paperwork is done with forged documents, and theft of social security numbers, and credit cards, not fingerprints.

Finger printing your kids is just stupid. Accomplishes nothing but a false sense of security while wasting police time.

"If you can find any ID theft involved with fingerprints, I would be glad to hear about it."

Then, feel free to explain why fingerprint checks are standard at my Federal facility when we obtain security clearances. They aren't just collected.

Silly - it isn't the fingerprints used in identity theft - it's the ability to substitute another ID at some time in the future, to break or poison the chain of custody of said prints.

If I told you my prints are identified as Abell Roverts, of Ottumwa, IA, just how would you show otherwise?

Do you really think prints are just collected to identify a person touching items found at the scene of a crime?