A $31,000 budget amendment will allow the Roanoke Rapids Police Department to get new Live Scan equipment, which is critical for fingerprinting as part of background checks.

“The current live scan equipment has exceeded its usable lifespan and is no longer eligible for annual maintenance by the vendor,” Chief Lawrence Wiggins said in a memo to the council, which approved the request Tuesday night. “This is critical equipment for the police department to meet legal and statutory obligations without placing an undue burden on city employees.”

The need for the equipment has also increased since last year's passage of the Fostering Care in NC Act, which requires criminal background checks by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation for any applicant offered a local government position that requires them to work with children, Wiggins said in the memo. “This requirement is in addition to the permissive authority to allow cities to require that any applicant for employment submit to a background check.”

Wiggins told the council that as soon as the equipment passed its maintenance term, it started breaking down and failing.

City Attorney Geoffrey Davis said before an SBI background check is done, being fingerprinted at the local police department is the prerequisite for that happening. “It has to be done before you guys can do the SBI check.”

City Manager Kelly Traynham said there is funding in the budget for the maintenance contract, but because of the age of the failing system, replacement is the only option. “It’s a critical need and therefore we’re asking for funding to fill that need because we realize that we can’t wait until the new fiscal year.”

Davis said the Fostering Care Act was not on anyone’s minds and that he wasn’t sure whether it had been presented to state legislators when the city passed the current fiscal year budget. “This is a need that has become much greater since the passage of that and I think it was kind of an overnight thing — putting these extra requirements on local PDs that we didn’t know were coming when the budget was approved last year.”