4 ms·

My local PD growing up would have kids in for field trips and one of the 'activities' was getting fingerprinted.

georgeburdell 4y ago
This was my first thought when I heard (after the fact) that the police visited my kids daycare. I was livid with the director, but it looks like the cops in my Bay Area town are a little more restrained
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
jimmygrapes 4y ago
Wait til you find out the widespread practice of getting a baby's footprint on the birth certificate! Maybe those fade or change more with time, I don't actually know.
wl 4y ago
There's a pretty big difference between doing an FBI fingerprint card to show kids the process and send home vs. submitting that card to a database. With the advent of live scan, that distinction may have disappeared, though.
MichaelCollins 4y ago
See also: The boy scout fingerprinting merit badge, which local police departments are naturally happy to assist with. The original requirements from 1938 included "Obtain the fingerprints of 5 persons and present evidence that these fingerprints, together with complete descriptive data, have been accepted for the civil identification file." https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2021/08/09/merit-badge-history-in-fingerprinting-the-fbi-and-the-bsa-found-the-perfect-match/ https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2021/08/09/merit-badge-his...
shadowgovt 4y ago
For my age demographic, the US went through a kidnapping moral panic when I was young and that's why people let their kids get mass-fingerprinted. It was very "We must do something. This is something, therefore let's do it" thinking.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  As boy scouts, we set up a booth at the local Dairy Queen to get fingerprints for kids if their parents wanted it. A lot of parents did indeed want it. Can't remember exactly what year it was, but early/mid 80s sounds about right.
  - dylan604 4y ago
    If those parents were the same age but in today's world, I wonder how many of them would still be so willing to do it. Back then, the concept of mass surveilence and all of the crap we deal with daily today was just not even an idea people would have had. Then again, most people today still are ignorant, so maybe the numbers wouldn't change at all?
- jandrese 4y ago
  It would be interesting to know the statistics on how many missing children have been identified by the fingerprints they filed with the local PD over the decades.
  - kingkawn 4y ago
    And how many times this data was used for other purposes by the PD
- giantg2 4y ago
  I've been finger printed a few times. More and more jobs require it - SEC, security work, schools, etc. Some states require it for the exercise of specific rights. It seems likely that at least 50% of people have been fingerprinted by the age of 30, likely higher.

This was my first thought when I heard (after the fact) that the police visited my kids daycare. I was livid with the director, but it looks like the cops in my Bay Area town are a little more restrained

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

jimmygrapes 4y ago

Wait til you find out the widespread practice of getting a baby's footprint on the birth certificate! Maybe those fade or change more with time, I don't actually know.

wl 4y ago

There's a pretty big difference between doing an FBI fingerprint card to show kids the process and send home vs. submitting that card to a database. With the advent of live scan, that distinction may have disappeared, though.

MichaelCollins 4y ago

See also: The boy scout fingerprinting merit badge, which local police departments are naturally happy to assist with. The original requirements from 1938 included "Obtain the fingerprints of 5 persons and present evidence that these fingerprints, together with complete descriptive data, have been accepted for the civil identification file." https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2021/08/09/merit-badge-history-in-fingerprinting-the-fbi-and-the-bsa-found-the-perfect-match/ https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2021/08/09/merit-badge-his...

shadowgovt 4y ago

For my age demographic, the US went through a kidnapping moral panic when I was young and that's why people let their kids get mass-fingerprinted. It was very "We must do something. This is something, therefore let's do it" thinking.

rootusrootus 4y ago
As boy scouts, we set up a booth at the local Dairy Queen to get fingerprints for kids if their parents wanted it. A lot of parents did indeed want it. Can't remember exactly what year it was, but early/mid 80s sounds about right.
- dylan604 4y ago
  If those parents were the same age but in today's world, I wonder how many of them would still be so willing to do it. Back then, the concept of mass surveilence and all of the crap we deal with daily today was just not even an idea people would have had. Then again, most people today still are ignorant, so maybe the numbers wouldn't change at all?
jandrese 4y ago
It would be interesting to know the statistics on how many missing children have been identified by the fingerprints they filed with the local PD over the decades.
- kingkawn 4y ago
  And how many times this data was used for other purposes by the PD
giantg2 4y ago
I've been finger printed a few times. More and more jobs require it - SEC, security work, schools, etc. Some states require it for the exercise of specific rights. It seems likely that at least 50% of people have been fingerprinted by the age of 30, likely higher.