[Background Index] [Media Relations] [Home]
March 1, 1996
Fingerprinting Children
The Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office makes contact with every grammar school -- public and private -- in the parish annually to fingerprint children in voluntary compliance with Act 122 of the 1985 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature. While there is no penalty for non-compliance with the law, Sheriff Don Hathaway said that more importantly than just following the law, the practice is "an excellent way for the Sheriff's Office to provide some additional security and a peace of mind for the citizens of Caddo Parish."
The Identification Section of the Sheriff's Office Operations Support Division begins planning, scheduling, packet preparation and delivery in September each year and finishes making fingerprints sometime in February. Each First Grader in the parish receives a form on which a parent or guardian gives permission for the Sheriff's Office to fingerprint the child. Once the fingerprints are completed, they become a part of the student's permanent school record.
In the current school year, the Sheriff's Identification Technicians used 144.5 deputy-hours to fingerprint 2,833 students in 63 schools. The number of students fingerprinted represents 70.86 percent of the students enrolled at the schools. Every student who returns the permission slip is fingerprinted.