The Ident–A–Youth program is administered free–of–charge to provide Suffolk County parents with a record of their children’s fingerprints to file away for safekeeping.
When a child goes missing, it can be one of the most harrowing and traumatic times that a parent can experience. Having a fingerprint record, along with recent photographs and other pertinent information, to give authorities can greatly assist their efforts to locate and identify a missing child.
The process through which a fingerprint is taken is really quite simple; a participant lightly touches the inkpad with their finger and then presses it into the designated boxes on the Sheriff’s Ident–A–Youth sheet, which is then given to their parent or guardian to take home. There is no other record or copy of the child’s prints left behind, and the ink used to make the print is easily removed from the fingers with the assistance of a paper towel or napkin.
Nationally, an estimated 800,000 children under the age of 18 are reported missing each year. That’s an average of more than 2,000 children reported missing every day. With any efforts undertaken to identify these missing children, fingerprints play a crucial role. Consequently, as part of its external mission to support public health and safety, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department offers the Ident–A–Youth fingerprinting program to the residents of Suffolk County.