Home >Police Enforcement > Tickets and Cash > Arizona: Fingerprinting for Speeding Tickets

Related News Utah DOT: No Downside to 80 MPH Speed Limit Increase Florida May Put Loud Stereo Tickets on Driving Record Hawaii Supreme Court Questions Laser Speed Gun Accuracy Study: West Virginia Traffic Cops Target Innocent Minorities Road Safety Group Argues for Return of Rational Speed Limits View Main Topics: Camera Enforcement    Speed Cameras    Red Light Cameras    Revenue from Cameras    Camera Accuracy    Engineering/Signals Police Enforcement    Random Checkpoints    Speed Limits/Traps    Tickets and Cash    Seizure/Confiscation    Parking Tickets    Taxes and Tolls    Drunk Driving Laws Miscellaneous Issues    Miscellaneous    Hypocrisy    Bad Policy and Injustice    Propaganda    New Technologies    Privacy Issues The Revolt    Protests    Camera Destruction Subscribe via RSS or E-Mail Back To Front Page

10/20/2005 Arizona: Fingerprinting for Speeding Tickets Maricopa County, Arizona's Sheriff will demand fingerprinting for anyone suspected of a routine criminal traffic violation. Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio will now demand fingerprints from any motorist stopped for a routine traffic violation in his 9000 square mile territory. The fingerprints will be entered into the Automated Fingerprint Identification System. During an eight month voluntary test of the program, two-thirds of motorists refused to provide thumbprints, but as of Wednesday, Arpaio is no longer accepting "no" for an answer. "This will be mandatory. No exceptions," Arpaio said, as reported in the Arizona Republic. "If they don't want to give the print, they're going directly to jail. Period." Arpaio claims the fingerprinting is necessary to cut down on identity theft. The requirement applies to all criminal traffic violations such as speeding more than 20 MPH over the limit and DUI. Of 10,500 stopped during the pilot program, 3000 were listed as criminal violations. Over 99.5 percent of those stopped produced legitimate identification. The colorful sheriff has made headlines for a number of initiatives. According to his own website, "Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Joe Arpaio are well known for a lot of things -- Tent City, pink underwear, green bologna, and chain gangs are just a few." Source: Traffic violators face ID theft check (Arizona Republic, 10/20/2005) Permanent Link for this item Return to Front Page

Front Page | Get Updates | Site Map | News Achive | Search | theNewspaper.com: A journal of the politics of driving