Santa Cruz Police Fingerprint Kids for Free

A Santa Cruz Police Department team staked out the Pacific Garden Mall Wednesday, just outside the remains of the Borders store, to fingerprint children for free.

Once people found out that the prints weren't stored in a database or even kept by the police, they were happy to have it done. In the first hour, 80 people had been printed. Others took home the packets and did it themselves.

"Parents keep the fingerprints, not us," said Officer Joe Hernandez. "That way if something happens, they have them."

In other words, if a kid is kidnapped or missing, the parents can give the fingerprints to the police to help in the search.

Once they heard that, many who were worried about some kind of government intrusion into their lives were relieved.

The kits were provided by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which reports that as many as 2,200 children go missing a day and 800,000 were reported missing in 1999.

Kids got balloons and pictures with cops, and the mood was festive during the four-hour-long service.

No follow-up is planned as yet. However, spokesman Zach Friend said that parents interested in having their kids fingerprinted can make arrangements by contacting Santa Cruz police.