Fingerprinting, pictures for kids available today
CENTERVILLE – To help ensure the safety of children within the community, the borough council has arranged for children to have their pictures and fingerprints taken by Baltimore Life Companies today. The event, to be held between 1 and 7 p.m., is free of charge, and children receive their identification card in a protective pouch.
Baltimore Life has provided this service at many of the local fairs and day-care centers.
Mayor Frank Stanko coordinated the event, hoping to provide a valuable service to the community. Flyers were sent to the Bethlehem-Center School District, but anyone is welcome to participate.
“This is for the safety of our children, which is a top priority for council, our police and myself,” Stanko said. “This is a good opportunity for parents to have some type of safety factor in case a child comes up missing. The (identification card) would make it easier for the child to be located.”
Lisa Pavone, agency team manager at Baltimore Life, said the identification card and fingerprinting are meant to help authorities in searching for missing children.
“Although we hope no one will ever have a need for this type of card, we think it will give you peace of mind in knowing you have another protection that may provide assistance to law enforcement if your child ever becomes missing. We have conducted this service several times in the community. The police tell us that every second counts when a child is missing. This card can save precious seconds when the police are trying to gather vital statistics on your child.”
The identification includes a picture, the child’s name, address and phone number, sex, age, birth date, eye color, hair color, Social Security number and emergency contact.
Stanko said, however, that any information the parent does not want included on the card can be excluded. He said the fingerprints also are incorporated with the card and sent home with the child.