PA Bill Number: HB1867
Title: In firearms and other dangerous articles, providing for prohibition of extreme risk protective orders.
Description: In firearms and other dangerous articles, providing for prohibition of extreme risk protective orders. ...
Last Action:
Last Action Date: Sep 17, 2025
PA Police Fail to Fingerprint 'Thousands' of Criminals :: 06/29/2014
In 2013, 30,000 suspected criminals whose charges included sex crimes, assaults and murder were not fingerprinted by Pennsylvania police, according to state records.
State law requires that suspected offenders be fingerprinted within 48 hours of arrest.
So, if thousands of people aren’t getting fingerprinted, whose fault is it?
"It’s up to the police to do it. It’s a mandatory function. It’s not anybody else’s job but the arresting department," said Eric Radnovich, director of the Bureau of Justice Services at the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office.
But police often pass the buck, relying on judges, jailers or even defendants themselves to be sure prints are made. In many cases, prints are made more than a year later, if they’re made at all.
