Ink Versus Scan For Finger Prints

Fingerprinting is valuable tool for a variety of purposes, including the screening of job candidates, volunteer workers and applicants for certain licenses or permits. Professional fingerprinting services use two different methods to capture prints: live scan and ink cards. Both are dependable and give clean, decipherable results that can be used in federal background checks as well as to find state and local criminal records.

Live Scan: an Electronic Capture Method

Live scan uses a digital capture machine to record fingerprints. The prints are then sent electronically to the appropriate agencies and matched against existing records. In many cases, you can receive results on your applicant or candidate in 72 hours. Live scan is widely available and used by many organizations today.

Ink Card Fingerprinting: Proven and Reliable

Ink fingerprinting is typically done on an FD-258, a card developed by the FBI. After the candidate’s fingers make contact with the ink, they are usually rolled individually in the corresponding spaces on the card for each finger. A fingerprinting professional is specially trained in the process of recording clear, legible ink prints. While obtaining results may take longer, ink cards are still accepted by many agencies that do not accept digital prints.

Both ink and digitally scanned fingerprints are widely offered by professional fingerprinting services. Digital capture gives fast, reliable results while the ink method has the advantage of wide availability. To find out more, visit this website about ink fingerprinting in La Mesa.