At several of my local stores, a group calling themselves “CPEA” have begun setting up tables ostensibly for the purpose of fingerprinting children in case they go missing or some such thing. They also sell merchandise like calendars and take donations “for the missing children”.
They don’t appear to be affiliated with any government agency as far as I can tell, and they buttonhole shoppers as they’re entering the store flashing a smile the likes of which I can honestly say I haven’t seen since the heyday of the Moonies or Lyndon Larouche. The people doing the soliciting are generally young, attractive, and female.
Cynic that I am, I’m not entirely comfortable with the idea of fingerprinting children, regardless of the motivation behind it, by a *government *agency, let alone some private group. This just absolutely gave me the willies.
Who are these people? Is it a scam? Are they the reincarnation of the aforementioned Moonies? Or am I being overly suspicious?
Child Protection Education of America has purchased the latest technology to provide parents with a product that would be useful to law enforcement agencies if a child is missing and would help identify that child.
CPEA is proud to announce its “ID ME NOW” program. Using state-of-the-art digital technology, the we can now provide to parents digital fingerprint scans and photographs of their children.
The scanned fingerprints will be forensic-quality, a term defining law enforcement’s ability to accurately read the print.
Address one of America’s Most Pressing Concerns, Missing and Exploited Children
Educate Parents and their children about the dangers that face them
Work with law enforcement agencies and parents on missing children cases
Distribute photographs of missing children to thousands of outlets throughout the entire United States
Conduct fingerprinting events using state-of-the-art technology
Work with local civic organizations, law enforcement agencies and communities for the betterment of each neighborhood.
Operate 866-USA-CHILD 24 hours a day/7 days a week to handle missing children cases.
Provide all of our services free of charge due to the generous support from the public.
Sounds like a well-meaning non-profit.
When I was a kid in the 80s, I was fingerprinted (with ink). I remember going to the strip mall to do it - not sure if it was the local cops who did it or some sort of agency.
Fingerprinting your kids is not unheard of…although in today’s digital world it might be kind of creepy if they digitally fingerprint and shoot digital photographs and KEEP them. Even if they keep a copy.
I know when I had mine done, the parents kept the fingerprint sheet. But there’s nothing keeping the CPEA from keeping the prints and pics…
Young, attractive females? I think the only acceptable response is “Eh, these kids aren’t very good anyhow. What say you and me go and make some better ones, and we can fingerprint those.”