The Town of Ossining Police Department encourages parents and guardians to maintain fingerprints of their dependent children for identification purposes. In furtherance of this goal, the Town of Ossining Police Department fully supports efforts such as the National Child Identification Fingerprint Program in making fingerprint kits available to Town residents.

Why should we fingerprint our children?

• 450,000 children run away each year
• 350,000 children are abducted each year by family members
• More than 4,600 children are abducted every year by non-family members

That's more than 800,000 children in America missing each year - one child every 40 seconds. Yet, when the National Child Identification Program began, less than two percent of parents had a copy of their child's fingerprints to use in case of an emergency.

The National Child Identification Program is a community service initiative dedicated to changing these statistics by providing parents and guardians with a tool they can use to help protect their children. The I.D. Kit allows parents to collect specific information by easily recording the physical characteristics and fingerprints of their children on identification cards that are then kept at home by the parent or guardian. If ever needed, this I.D. Kit will give authorities vital information to assist their efforts to locate a missing child.

In 1997, the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) created the National Child Identification Program with the goal of fingerprinting 20 million children. In the program's first two years, nearly seven million I.D. Kits were distribution through stadiums, churches and community events. Now, more than 10 million I.D. Kits have been distributed, making the National Child Identification Program the LARGEST child identification effort ever conducted. The goal of the program now is to reach all 60 million children in the United States.

"Our coaches have embraced this project," AFCA Executive Director Grant Teaff said. "It's a positive for a negative. It's sad that we live in a society where children are susceptible to running away or being abducted, but it happens every day. We want to make a difference, and if we can bring one child home safely, it will be worth all the effort."

With the success of the stadium program, the coaches were given an even greater challenge: how can we reach children in every community? To answer that challenge, the AFCA is launching a grass-roots effort with prominent organizations such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Optimist International and the 18,000 law enforcement agencies across the country.
*Source: Department of Justice

The National Child Identification Program inkless fingerprint I.D. Kit allows parents to take and store their child's fingerprints in their own home. Fingerprints are produced using a clear inkless solution, developed by Inkless Image, that leaves no messy black ink or residue on fingers or clothes.

Parents do not need to be fingerprint experts - a black fingerprint appears immediately on the identification card when the clear inkless solution makes contact with the coated fingerprint section of the card.

Each kit is comprised of an inkless fingerprinting foil pouch, containing nontoxic fingerprint solution, and an ID Card, which includes:

• Step-by-step instructions detailing how to take a fingerprint
• An area to practice fingerprinting
• A standard fingerprint area that can be used by law enforcement.
• Sections for recording the child's physical description and identifying marks
• Space for a current photograph
• Sections for recording a doctor's phone numbers

The entire fingerprinting process lasts approximately five minutes. If ever needed, the completed identification card can immediately give authorities the vital information they need to assist them in their efforts to locate a missing child.

For information on how to obtain a National Child Identification Fingerprint Program I.D. Kit, contact the Town of Ossining Police Department at 762-6007, e-mail at topd@OssiningTownPolice.com, and request an appointment with the departments Crime Prevention Officer, Sergeant Brian Purdy.

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