Albemarle County is getting earning several thousand dollars each year by offering a service the city police department has discontinued.
The county Sheriff’s Office uses volunteer members of the reserve division to take fingerprints.
By using volunteers, the Sheriff’s Office turns the service into a moneymaker, which sends $6,000 to $8,000 per year to the county’s general fund, Sheriff J.E. “Chip” Harding said.
There’s been plenty of demand for the service, he said. Residents often need fingerprints when they’re applying for jobs. Teachers, for example, need the card, he said.
“It’s hard enough getting jobs to have something held up because of the fingerprinting process,” he said.
The Sheriff’s Office charges $10 for the first card of fingerprints and $5 for each additional card, Harding said. The fingerprints aren’t submitted to any databases, he said.
Before the office started using the reserves to provide the service, the office’s captain would have to leave his work to take the prints. The process is performed using an electronic system, so printees’ hands don’t get inky.
The city police discontinued the service over concerns about the transmission of a virus that was passing through the community and it was never re-started, Lt. Ronnie Roberts said. The program had been a drain on manpower, sometimes requiring officers to come in off the streets to take the prints, Roberts said.
The Albemarle County Police Department also offers fingerprinting, but only for county residents, said Albemarle police Sgt. Darrell Byers.
The city had charged $5 per card. The county police charge $10 for the service.
Residents looking to get fingerprinted should go to the Sheriff’s Office, located behind the Charlottesville/Albemarle Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court on High Street, between 8 a.m. and noon Fridays. County residents also may go to the police department, located on Fifth Street Extended, between 10 a.m. and 2:45 p.m. Wednesdays.
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