The Town of Olds has approved the purchase of an electronic fingerprint scanner for the local RCMP detachment.At its June 9 meeting, council passed a motion to use $20,000 from town reserves to buy the device.“The process now is that (Staff) Sgt. (Joe) Sangster will let Ottawa know that he has approval from the municipality to go ahead and buy it and then it's just a matter of when Ottawa can supply it,” said Garth Lucas, the town's director of corporate services.Starting July 1, the RCMP headquarters in Ottawa will stop taking information requests and data input with its current paper fingerprint system.“They're not accepting any more fingerprints that way,” said Sangster, commander of the Olds RCMP detachment. “They have to be scanned and sent electronically. Just for time and efficiency.”The scanner costs $40,000 but because the town has committed to the purchase before July 1, the province will pay for half of it.If town approval came after that date, the province would only pay 30 per cent of the cost.The scanner would aid community volunteers, who need to obtain criminal background checks to perform their duties.“It can be done immediately rather than doing the paper portion and sending it in to Ottawa,” Sangster said. “This will be more efficient and will get things done in a more timely fashion.”The RCMP in Alberta is known as “K” Division and needs to approve the purchase.Lucas is unsure when the scanner will arrive.“I would be highly surprised if we take delivery by July 1 unless Ottawa has a ton of these in a warehouse somewhere. Because how many detachments are there spread across Canada? Tons,” he said. “They're all facing the same requirement from Ottawa that they have to have these scanners. So Olds is just one of many.”[email protected]
