Friday, August 20, 1999
New system speeds fingerprint IDs in Ohio
Background checks can be done in days, not weeks
BY ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — The state is introducing a system to allow schools, nursing homes, hospitals and other agencies to speed criminal background checks by using electronically scanned fingerprints sent over the Internet.
The system will cut the wait for processing the background checks from a month to 48 hours, Attorney General Betty Montgomery said Thursday.
“Critical decisions about hiring can be made by the schools and agencies in a timely fashion and with some confidence,” Ms. Montgomery said.
To use the system, called WebCheck, employers must buy equipment that includes an electronic fingerprint scanner, a magnetic strip reader for driver's licenses and computer software.
It takes the employer about five minutes to process an applicant with WebCheck, and about 48 hours for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI) to use the fingerprints to search for a criminal history.
In the event of a positive hit, the bureau informs the requesting agency, then sends the record by mail. No criminal histories travel over the Internet.
By contrast, using ink pads and paper to record fingerprints and then mailing them to BCI can take weeks, especially if the fingerprints are incomplete and must be returned for a second try, said Ted Almay, BCI superintendent.
The WebCheck equipment and software costs about $2,500. The price for the background check remains $15.
Beginning in 1993, Ohio passed several laws requiring background checks for people applying to work in a number of occupations, including jobs working with children and older adults.
People convicted of crimes including murder, kidnapping, sexual battery and robbery are automatically disqualified from working with children in Ohio.
The number of background checks the state does grew from 51,948 in 1992 to almost 450,000 last year.
“In the past, people would get fingerprinted, and it'd be weeks and sometimes months before we'd get the information back,” said Dublin City Schools Superintendent Steve Anderson, whose district used WebCheck in a pilot program this summer. “We have hired people in past years that ended up being in front of our students, and we did have problems with them and had to discontin ue their services. That will never happen again in Dublin City Schools.”
Anyone who has lived outside Ohio in the past five years must still submit fingerprints to the FBI for a national background check the old-fashioned way, Mr. Almay said. That can take three to nine months.
While searching for people's criminal background over the Internet by name is possible in some states, Ohio is the first to use an Internet-based fingerprint system, said Mike Rathwell of South Pasadena, Calif.-based Cogent Systems Inc., which designed WebCheck.
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