By STEVE PRISAMENT
Staff Writer

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP – The president of the local Police Athletic League appeared to hit the fingernail on the head Tuesday, March 25 as Township Council pondered whether athletic coaches really need to be fingerprinted every three years as required by ordinance.

The ordinance is three years old, which means that coaches would need to have their prints recorded again at a cost to the township estimated at more than $35,000.

“We have about 1,000 volunteers this year,” according to Township Manager Jill Gougher. “In a time of tight budgets, this is an expense that we should be able to avoid.”

Mayor Tom Bassford suggested amending the ordinance to extend the time between fingerprinting to five years “or maybe longer.”

PAL President Rich Dase was in the audience and council members asked for his opinion.

“Fingerprints don’t change,” Dase said. “I don’t see any reason to redo the coaches’ fingerprints.”

People are fingerprinted when they get jobs teaching in the school district, Dase said.

“They don’t need to be fingerprinted again. If they move to another district, then they’re fingerprinted there.”

The fingerprinting and setting up of coach identification cards was done through Sagem Morpho, a multi-biometric solutions company with offices in Tacoma, Wash.; Alexandria, Va.; Albany, N.Y., and Austin, Texas.

Dase said it didn’t make sense to have the coaches routinely fingerprinted.

“I think it’s a little overkill,” he said. “Every three years or every five years.”

Bassford asked Police Chief Peter Romanelli for an opinion on how often fingerprinting should be required.

Romanelli asked for time to research state guidelines and practices before answering. He said the state police may have some specific requirements.

Deputy Mayor Bill Ackerman said council should wait until the situation is fully researched.

“I want more input from the PAL and our other athletic organizations,” he said. “And I certainly want to hear back from Pete (Romanelli) on the law enforcement aspects.”

Bassford said it appeared that everyone was comfortable with not requiring fingerprinting again this year.

“I definitely think it should be extended,” the mayor said. “It’s a question of for how many years … or does it even have to be done a second time.”