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Manual of Policy and Procedures / Volume 5 - Line Procedures / Chapter 3 - Prisoners

5-03/050.05 - Prints Required


5-03/050.00 - Fingerprinting of Prisoners
5-03/050.10 - Procedures When Livescan System Is Down

Fingerprint Cards (FBI Form FD-249) shall be required on all adults, and juveniles over the age of 14, arrested and booked for any crime, with or without a warrant.  Juveniles under the age of 14 may be fingerprinted at the discretion of the handling detective or jailor.  This shall be accomplished as soon as practicable after the prisoner is booked.  This includes all offenses except:

  • Field releases not booked at a detention/holding facility;
  • Weekenders; and
  • Federal prisoners being booked into the jail system while in transit (only prints on the reverse side of the white copy of the booking slip are required).

To have a prisoner's arrest recorded on the California Department of Justice Criminal Record Sheets (Rap Sheet) and the FBI, it is absolutely necessary that the prints be legible and completely rolled; otherwise, they will be rejected and the arrest will not appear in these records.

Whenever practical, fingerprints should be captured on a livescan workstation and electronically transmitted to the Sheriff’s Records and Identification Bureau (RIB) for identification.  Persons arrested and booked for any offense should not be released until a positive identification message has been received from RIB.  In the event a release is imperative, and a positive fingerprint identification message has not been received, the jailer shall contact RIB to determine the status of the identification.  In those instances when a positive identification cannot be established, and the release is imperative, Watch Sergeant or Watch Commander approval must be obtained before the person arrested can be released.

Fingerprint cards shall be reviewed by a Watch Sergeant as soon as practical and prior to a prisoner's release.  If a card is found to have defective prints, the jailer shall reprint the prisoner.  Failure of the Watch Sergeant to review the cards promptly, however, will not justify delaying a release.  Sergeants approving arrestee fingerprint cards shall stamp their approval on the reverse side of the card over the instructions (upper right corner).  Cards shall remain at the Station for audit purposes until after the next Station command inspection has been completed.  Prisoners must be fingerprinted when additional charges are added to an original charge.

The following information should appear on the livescan cards:

  • Prisoner’s last name, first name, middle name (if no middle name, use the initials ‘NMN”);
  • Aliases (AKAs and monikers);
  • Place of birth (2 character state or country code only - Use “List” key available on the livescan device);
  • Date of arrest;
  • OCA (Booking number only - Do not use the truncated file number);
  • Sex;
  • Race;
  • Height;
  • Weight;
  • Eyes;
  • Hair;
  • Date of birth;
  • Charge(s) (include subsections and complete charge descriptions as indicated in the AJIS Charge Table);
  • Social security number (if known);
  • Employer;
  • Occupation;
  • Residence (use complete address - i.e., East, West, Street, Avenue, Apt #, City, State and Zip Code);
  • Scars;
  • Miscellaneous numbers (state driver’s license, state identification card, alien registration card, etc.); and
  • Medical problems.

Refer to section 5-03/050.10 if the fingerprint cards are to be used for facsimile transmission.

The following information shall be filled in on the reverse side of one fingerprint card only, which is the one RIB will forward to DOJ:

  • Employer;
  • Occupation;
  • Residence;
  • Scars;
  • Miscellaneous numbers (driver's license, etc.); and
  • Medical problems.

If prisoner is charged with Failure to Appear/Comply or Violation of Probation, enter in the charge section of the fingerprint card the original statutory code (and the English language equivalent) and the warrant number.