A new fingerprinting scan is available in the Pea Ridge Police Department.
"I'm just really excited we're going to be able to serve our community and businesses with the required checks," Police Chief Ryan Walker said.
The scanner, computer, printer and software cost about $8,500, about half the cost of the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) used by some agencies.
Interestingly, the developer of Livescan, Jack Harper, lived in Pea Ridge and attended ninth and 10th grades in Pea Ridge School in 1966-68. "My dad worked for Tyson chicken and we lived right in town, then moved outside Garfield."
Harper, of Evergreen, Colo., is an electrical engineer and a self-described "happy computer nerd."
The fingerprint scanner was originally built on his kitchen table. He said that once he raised the investment capital, he hired a team of seven software engineers to turn it into a marketable product. The scanner is currently used in 56 sites in Arkansas and about 150 across the United States.
"I'm delighted to have Pea Ridge as a customer," Harper said. "Bentonville just bought a second one."
"We've always done fingerprints for local businesses," Walker said, explaining that fingerprinting with ink is "an old talent that was used in law enforcement." He said he began researching an alternative several years ago how Pea Ridge Police could better serve the businesses in the city.
"We can save money and provide the same service," he said of the new scanner.
Officers were trained in using the scanner Friday. Walker said the purchase of the scanner was approved in the 2016 budget.
General News on 01/27/2016