By Paul Singer
The Associated Press

CLEVELAND - Thousands of employees and volunteers of Roman Catholic dioceses around the state will have to provide their fingerprints for criminal background checks under new policies being developed to respond to the church's sex abuse crisis.

The Diocese of Cleveland adopted new policies last month to protect children from sexual abuse and to provide procedures for responding to allegations of sexual abuse by priests or church employees. Under guidelines set by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, all dioceses have until the beginning of next school year to implement policies with mandatory background checks for employees and volunteers.

The Cleveland diocese's new policy requires all employees and volunteers who have regular contact with children to submit their fingerprints for a check.

The diocese is still developing a strategy for implementing the screening, said spokesman Bob Tayek. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation & Identification will do the background checks, which cost a minimum of $15 each.