Fingerprinting as a method of identification has been around for well over a century, and in the minds of many people, it still conjures images of crime scenes and detectives. Yet fingerprinting is useful in a wide variety of applications beyond law enforcement, and many people are asked each year by both employers and government agencies to submit a set of fingerprints as part of an application. There are usually two options available: traditional ink fingerprinting and live scan fingerprinting. While the former may be more familiar, live scan fingerprinting has a number of unique advantages. Keep reading to discover a handful of the biggest ones.
No Cleanup
One of the biggest hassles when attempting to gather a set of ink fingerprints is the cleanup that is involved afterward. If you choose ink fingerprinting, be prepared to wash your hands with a more than generous amount of soap for several minutes—and for the possibility of faint stains remaining for the rest of the day. Because live scan fingerprinting is done entirely through the use of digital scanners, there's no ink to bother with and no mess to worry about.
Convenience
The imperfect nature of ink means that it is not uncommon for fingerprint sets to be redone—sometimes more than once—in order to get an acceptable set. Things as minor as rolling your wrist a little too quickly or not pressing down hard enough on the paper can cause another set of prints to be needed. Live scan fingerprinting, on the other hand, is a significantly quicker and easier process. As long as you press each finger onto the scanner when appropriate, your fingerprints can be captured within a minute or two.
Agency Requirements
Even if ink fingerprinting is the more easily obtainable method where you live, it is increasingly the case that agencies and employers require live scan fingerprinting, and simply will not accept ink versions. Luckily, these kinds of requirements have now made it so that live scan servicing locations are more common than ever.
Future Hard Copies
A final great advantage of live scan fingerprinting is that the digital copies can be securely stored in a server at no cost to you. That means that if additional copies are required a few months later, you'll have immediate access to them—something that can't be said for ink fingerprinting.
For more information about fingerprinting, contact a local company like A-1 Fingerprinting and Drug Screening.
