By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Showing up at the police station to be fingerprinted by an officer would hardly seem like something that someone would want to do.
What’s next, a mug shot and an appearance on TMZ?
Nah. No one is being arrested in this case.
Sea Isle City’s Police Department is now offering a free service for people who need their fingerprints taken for jobs, professional licenses, adoptions, visas and other reasons when a criminal background check is required.
“It’s a complimentary service for Sea Isle homeowners, residents and property owners,” said Capt. Anthony Garreffi, the officer in charge of the police department.
Garreffi said the police department began offering the service when someone contacted Mayor Leonard Desiderio’s office and made a request for fingerprinting for a job application.
“Most commonly, it’s for employment and background checks,” he said.
Sea Isle police officers take fingerprints with the traditional “ink and roll” method on information cards that are provided by the person being fingerprinted.
The officer performing the fingerprinting will authenticate the card with their signature and return the card to the owner. Sea Isle police will not retain a copy of the fingerprints and also will not conduct the background investigations, Garreffi explained.
However, police will provide assistance, if needed, in helping people who are fingerprinted with completing the top portion of their information cards.
The fingerprinting service is available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at police headquarters on the first floor of City Hall on John F. Kennedy Boulevard. Other times are available upon request. To reserve an appointment, call (609) 263-4311, ext. 0.
The police department offers other free services that residents and people who own vacation homes may not be aware of.
One of them, known as “citizen call check,” allows police to make sure that senior citizens, people with disabilities or people with special needs who live alone are doing well throughout the day.
Each morning, the person who lives alone is supposed to call the police dispatcher to check in. If police don’t hear from them by noon, a patrol car is sent to the person’s home. Police will then knock on the door.
If there is no answer, police will call the relatives or friends who are listed as the primary contacts for the person living alone.
Another free program has police keeping an eye on vacation homes that are empty during the offseason. Year-round residents can also sign up to have police check their homes when they’re away for a maximum of 21 days, such as on a vacation or a hospital stay.
For someone who plans to be away for an extended period, they must notify police at least two weeks in advance.
The house checks are a way to protect vacant properties from burglaries and such things as fire or broken pipes.
Garreffi noted that the house checks are in addition to the regular patrols and property checks that police make throughout town.
More information on the citizen call check and property check programs is available on the police department website at Welcome to the Official Website of Sea Isle City, NJ – Police Department Forms (seaislecitynj.us).
