AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) _ Maine’s fingerprinting technology is going to get a significant upgrade thanks to help from the federal government.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s National Criminal History Improvement Program is granting the Maine Department of Public Safety more than $1.4 million to replace outdated fingerprinting systems. The money will also help improve access to criminal records.
Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins and independent Sen. Angus King say the grant will be used to improve several different aspects of criminal records technology. Part of the grant will help pay for new three-state Automated Fingerprint Identification System Support shared by Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.
The money will also go toward converting all State Bureau of Identification files from paper to electronic formats.
