Fingerprint Board Performance Audit Report #07-01 Highlights

zzzArizona Board ofFingerprintingBoard should improveREPORTgood cause exceptionHIGHLIGHTSPERFORMANCE AUDIT decision timelinessSubjectThe Board of Fingerprinting and theThe Legislature created fingerprint clearance card (card) werethe Board of Fingerprinting created in 1999. The Board considers(Board) in 1999 to review applications for good cause exceptionsgood cause exceptions offor people who were denied a card orapplicants who had beenwhose card was suspended by DPS. Bydenied a fingerprintclearance card or whose law, DPS must deny a card if a person iscard was suspended by subject to registration as a sex offender,the Department of Public has been convicted of or is awaiting trialSafety (DPS). Statutesfor specified crimes, or if it cannot Has been rehabilitated, if convicted of suchrequire a fingerprintdetermine the arrest outcome for these a crime.clearance card for variousIs not a recidivist.professional licenses, crimes within 30 business days ofcertification, and state receiving the criminal records. In 2006,jobs, mainly those that Before the creation of the Board and theDPS denied 5,469 (4.6 percent) of theinvolve working with fingerprint clearance card, five agencies119,260 card applications. During thechildren or vulnerable whose heads now appoint members ofsame year, the Board received 1,769adults.the Board were responsible for decisionsgood cause exception applications.about the criminal records of the peopleOur Conclusionthey ...