I just went to mexico it's amazing how much freer the people are.

If you’re ticketed by Green Bay police, you’ll get more than a fine. You’ll get fingerprinted, too. It’s a new way police are cracking down on crime.

If you’re caught speeding or playing your music too loud, or other crimes for which you might receive a citation, Green Bay police officers will ask for your drivers license and your finger. You’ll be fingerprinted right there on the spot. The fingerprint appears right next to the amount of the fine.

Police say it’s meant to protect you — in case the person they’re citing isn’t who they claim to be. But not everyone is sold on that explanation.

“What we’ve seen happen for the last couple of years [is] increasing use of false or fraudulent identification documents,” Captain Greg Urban said.

Police say they want to prevent the identity theft problem that Milwaukee has, where 13 percent of all violators give a false name.

But in Green Bay, where police say they only average about five cases in a year, drivers we talked with think the new policy is extreme.

“That’s going too far,” Ken Scherer from Oconto said. “You look at the ID, that’s what they’re there for. Either it’s you or it’s not. I don’t think that’s a valid excuse.”

“I would feel uncomfortable but I would do it,” Carol Pilgrim of Green Bay said.

Citizens do have the right to say no. “They could say no and not have to worry about getting arrested,” defense attorney Jackson Main said. “On the other hand, I’m like everybody else. When a police officer tells me to do something, I’m going to do it whether I have the right to say no or not.”

That’s exactly why many drivers are uneasy about the fine print in this fingerprinting policy.

Police stress that the prints are just to make sure you are who you claim to be and do not go into any kind of database; they simply stay on the ticket for future reference if the identity is challenged.
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Dietas

So, if the fingerprints aren't being entered into a database, how do they guarantee the identity of the fingerprinted individual?

They either have to be run against an available database of fingerprints to make sure a different name doesn't pop up, or stored "temporarily" against a claim from the car's owner that the ticket was never issued to them.

Either way, the print only does what the police claim it's for if it's put in a database somewhere.

Are we supposed to be so credulous that when the police tell us that the data they collect from us won't be used in a database no alarm bells go off on our BS detectors?

Pretty soon they'll have field DNA anaylzers... "excuse me sir, I just need to swab your cheek".

Have a Merry (and somewhat cynical) Christmas :)

I really, really dislike being crass and offensive but I've given some minor serious thought to calling a news conference and getting my Social Security number tattooed on my arm just like the Nazis did to the Jews to protest our emerging police state. Sometimes I hate this place.

Ah yes, reminiscent of being told that our SS numbers could not be used for identification?

Happy Yule and a New Year's too!