Volunteers to Fingerprint Students

Sheriff’s Department volunteers will fingerprint Walnut Canyon School third-graders today as part of a department program to build a database on area students in case of an emergency.

The volunteers aim to record the fingerprints of every third-grade student in Moorpark’s elementary schools this school year and make it an annual event. The other fingerprinting sessions will take place within the next few months, the volunteers say.

In May, volunteers recorded fingerprints from 62 third-grade students, and the success of that program led to its expansion to all third-graders in Moorpark schools.

Last week, 96 third-grade students at Campus Canyon Elementary School were fingerprinted by the volunteers, said Vicki Springer, one of the volunteers who organized the program.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 77 of the 100 third-graders at Walnut Canyon had turned in permission slips from their parents that allowed them to be fingerprinted, Walnut Canyon Principal Teri Williams said.

The volunteers will start taking fingerprints about 8:40 a.m. Thursday on the Walnut Canyon campus at 280 Casey Road.

All of the students, whether or not they turn in permission slips, will receive key chains with emergency phone numbers on them and four trading cards featuring sheriff’s deputies who work in the Moorpark station, Springer said.

In addition to the fingerprints, the volunteers will photograph the students and record descriptions of them, Springer said. Parents are encouraged to update the photos every six months, she added.