The Sheriff’s Office in Mount Airy, NC held a program at a local elementary school to collect children’s fingerprints in case of inconceivable circumstances. The event, where kids got to have ink fingerprinting done, hoped to provide important information for parents in the case of a missing child. The law enforcement officers emphasized that the fingerprints do not get entered into any database- they are only used in extenuating circumstances.

Officers made the event fun and excited for the students, making the printing a game and explaining how everyone has a unique fingerprint. The kids got to learn how to transfer a precise, unsmudged ink fingerprint onto a card that they got to take home to their parents. The card helps to provide vital information such as emergency contacts, a photograph, medical history, and a DNA sample. While the ink fingerprints help identify individuals, the officers relayed the importance of providing a strand of hair with an intact follicle to sufficiently aid any future investigation.