Fingerprinting Tips

For fingerprinting, you have to use FBI Fingerprinting card FD-258.  This will either be supplied by the police station (if you get it done there) or at the squadron.

You could go to a local police station and pay a small fee to have them fill out your fingerprinting cards, or you could ask if someone is able to do this at the squadron meeting.  

If you would like to read more information than is listed on this page, you can read the US Department of Justice Guidelines for Preparation of Fingerprint Cards.

Useful Tips:

• Make sure to fill out two fingerprinting cards.  If a print on one card does not meet the standard, hopefully that print on the other card will be fine.  
• Use Black pen ink when filling out the form and black fingerprinting ink for fingerprints.
• Wash your hands before filling out the card.
• Print legibly.  When writing, make sure to stay within the box for the field you are writing in.
• Make sure to fill out ALL of the boxes indicated below or your card will be rejected.  
• Do not use a highlighter on card.
• Do not enter data or labels within the "Leave Blank" areas.
• Ensure that fingerprint impressions for the individual fingers in the top two rows of fingerprints are rolled completely from nail to nail.  Practice on a blank sheet of paper before using the card.  You will have the card at the edge of the table so you can roll your hand while over the side of the table.  Have someone help you by holding the card still while you roll your fingers from one side to the other.
• The bottom row of fingerprints are just plane impressions where you push down once and do NOT roll from nail to nail.
• Ensure fingerprint impressions are in the correct sequence.
• Ensure notations are made for any mission fingerprint impression (i.e. amputation).
• Ensure no stray marks are within the fingerprint impression blocks.
• Do not fold the card or it may get rejected.
• Write information first and then do fingerprints so as to not smudge fingerprints if writing second.
• Skip the blocks that do not pertain to you (see explanations below).
• Your card may have the Civil Air Patrol information preprinted in certain boxes, but if it does not, then follow the directions below to write this information in.

See the numbers below the image for further information for each block:

BLOCKS:

1. Signature of subject (who is BEING fingerprinted).
2. Residential address of subject.  Take care if you have a long address to fit it in the box.
3. Date on which subject is fingerprinted in the format of MM/DD/YYYY.
4. Signature of officer / forensic expert who TOOK the subjects fingerprints
5. Likely pre-populated for CAP with three lines of text:
   1. Civil Air Patrol
   2. Maxwell AFB AL 36112
   3. CHARTER NUMBER: MN-131
6. Likely pre-populated with the following text:
   1. VOLUNTEER
7. Write your Last name, then First Name, then Middle Name
8. Enter other names used by subject, like maiden name, in the same format as block 7:  Last name, then First Name, then Middle Name
9. Text in this block should be pre-populated with three lines of text for CAP:
   1. ALAFCAP0Z   [NOTE: the number before the Z is zero and not a capital letter o]
   2. CIVIL AIR PATROL
   3. MAXWELL AFB, AL
10. Date of birth of subject in MM/DD/YYYY format
11. For Citizenship, put U.S. if subject is a citizen of the United States.  Otherwise, spell out country of citizenship.
12. For sex, print M for Male and F for Female.  For other codes, see this table:
    
     
13. Use the following External Code Letter for the race:
    
     
14. Height is expressed in feet and inches, but all crammed together in one number.  For example, five feet four inches is "504" and six feet zero inches would be "600."
15. Weight is written in pounds (rounded off to the nearest whole number).  For example, 149.3 pounds would be "149" and 156.8 pounds would be "157".  
16. For eye color, use the following external code from the following chart:
    
     
17. Use the three letter hair color code from the following table:
    
     
18. Enter the subject's state, province (Canadian) or country of birth.
19. OCA = Originating Case Agency.  You may leave this blank.  
20. FBI Number.  You may leave this blank.  
21. Armed Forces MNU = Miscellaneous Number.  If you have any of the following numbers (including at PASSPORT), then use one of the two letter prefixes from the table below and enter your number:
    
     
22. ENTER your Social Security Number.  Leave it blank if you do not have one.
23. If you have any other MNU other than what you put in block 21, you can enter it here with the appropriate prefix from the table above.

If you are interested, this is what the back side of the fingerprint card looks like: