Devices speed criminal checks
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
The state is installing 10 new biometric fingerprint recognition machines in its Human Services offices on O'ahu, Maui, Kaua'i and the Big Island to speed up criminal background checks for childcare workers and foster-care providers.
The machines scan fingerprints and send them to the state attorney general's office and the FBI for the background checks required for such workers. With manual fingerprinting, it can take six to eight weeks for such a record check, while the new computerized checks are completed in 24 to 48 hours, said Garry Kemp, assistant administrator with the state Department of Human Services' Benefit Employment and Support Services Division.
"This technology allows us to give the preschools almost immediate feedback on the suitability of an employee," Kemp said. "It is really amazing how much faster it is."
The installation is part of a nationwide trend toward greater use of biometric computer technology for background checks, which is faster and more accurate.
SAGEM Morpho of Tacoma is installing the MorphoCheck 100 livescan digital fingerprint identification systems for about $260,000. The units are being checked and state employees are being trained to use them.
Kemp said the contract includes printers, computer work stations, software, maintenance and training, and allows each office to conduct the checks itself rather than send them to the state Criminal Justice Data Center in Honolulu.
"There is an initial expense up front, but when you look at everything altogether, it makes it convenient for the public and increases the safety for children," Kemp said. "In my opinion, that amount of money is well spent."
Under state law, licensed childcare providers must submit to minimum requirements including criminal history checks, tuberculosis tests and first-aid training. Foster-care providers are similarly checked.
Biometrics is an industry term for security identification systems including voice recognition, fingerprint and iris scans, and hand and face geometry.
Biometrics often are used to control access rather than check public records.
The Honolulu Federal Detention Center, which opened last year, was one of the first to install a fingerprint access system to keep prisoners from using stolen access cards to escape. Maui County, Bank of Hawaii and Hawaiian Airlines are experimenting with various types of biometric security systems, while the Davies Pacific Center in downtown Honolulu recently installed a system for after-hours access.
Ray Sanborn, president of Kama'aina Kids, said the childcare business has rapid turnover, and faster background checks will help give parents security about who is watching over their children.
"We don't allow them to work until they have been fingerprinted," Sanborn said. "Then we make sure they work side by side with another employee until the fingerprinting process is completed. So that becomes a scheduling problem. If the layout of a school is such that they would be alone in a room with the kids, that can't ever happen."
Sanborn said the company had a few cases in which someone was hired and then fired once a criminal background was revealed.
"This new system will make everybody's life a lot easier," he said. "We can wait 48 hours before we have to put somebody in with kids; we can't wait six weeks. It has been a real drawback in our industry."
Kemp said people usually know they will be fingerprinted when they apply for jobs in childcare, so unearthing criminals has not been a huge problem. The applicants are also checked for any history of child abuse.
"The biggest issue for us, of course, is protecting the children," Kemp said. "In my mind, even one child injured is too many."
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
