P.A.P.S. is a system that Cody Moore and John Woosley Suggested on a project for Cody's school (Dalton L. McMichael High School) in Madison, NC on how to make North Carolina a more safe or clean place to live. It stands for Print And Prevent System. It is a law that they would like to see passed that states. Any person in the state of North Carolina that applies for a driver's license, Identification card or even a learner's permit must submit an electronic finger print to the state to be recorded and filed along with the normal information provided when obtaining these documents.
HOW P.A.P.S. WORKS
The P.A.P.S. will be set up just like many company employee security systems. The person applying for the license permit, will simply place the tips of there fingers to an electronic pad and the device will then send the print to a database that will automatically record, file and run a cross check on the print against all available databases containing finger prints from solved and unsolved crimes. Providing there is no match in any criminal database, the person can get the document they applied for and be on there way. If there is however a match for an unsolved crime then the computer will be designed to instantly notify police of the matching finger print, what crime it is linked to, all of the persons information provided to the DMV and what DMV the person is in. It will also be designed to do this without the person in the DMV even knowing there is a match. If there is a match to an old crime that the person will be allowed to obtain the license, permit or ID. But the system will be designed to flag this person as an offender to allow police to know where a person or persons that committed a certain type of crime in the past are living. (NOTE) Traditional ink finger prints will be made and scanned in by the DMV officer for people who have heart monitoring equipment, pace makers and other electronic devices.
HOW WILL P.A.P.S. MAKE NORTH CAROLINA SAFER?
There are too many ways that this will help North Carolina to name but here are a few.
Sporadic crime decrease. If the law is passed the number of sporadic crimes such as breaking & entering and vandalism will reduce dramaticly. If a person knows that his or her fingerprint is already on file than he or she will be much less likely to commit a sporadic crime.
Punishing criminals out: If a person applying for an ID, license or permit has committed a crime and has left a finger print in another state or N.C. He or she is faced with being caught, not driving or leaving the state. This will result in several criminals moving out of North Carolina and deter many more from moving to N.C.
Stopping ID theft or multiple identity fraud: When the system is in place and a person has provided his or her fingerprint to the DMV than no other person can go to another DMV and provide the same personal info and receive a license, permit or ID under that name.
Past crimes: Several cases across this country are unsolved with fingerprint evidence. With this system in place we feel like N.C. will be doing its part to help solve several old cases and perhaps bring some much needed closure to families who have needed it for years.
Car thefts: the number of auto thefts, we expect will drop by a large percent once teens have there finger print on file and they know how easy it will be for police to track them down, especially in a situation where a person sees perfect opportunity (AKA easy drive away) to steal a car.
Future and out of state crimes: Currently in NC unless you have been arrested and had your finger prints put into the system the police do not have a copy to cross check for crimes. In other words you can go and commit crime after crime with finger print evidence all over the place and unless they link you to it and decided to charge you. They can't find a match on the print. When the P.A.P.S. is in place it, like a lot of systems will be designed to continuously run all the prints in the database against all unsolved crime databases. This will allow police to be informed if someone who is a resident of North Carolina leaves the state and commits a crime and also get anyone who is trying to slip through the cracks and get a license in NC. Before finger print evidence is found linking them to a crime in N.C., or any other state. As well this will allow police to take current and future finger prints and run it through the system for a match.
Safer travel : We feel like in the proposal for funding route we have taken it will force drivers to give a second thought to negligent acts while driving on N.C. highways
Economy factor: The system database will be set up in NC and obviously residents of NC will be hired to operate and manage it.
Making crime pay: The funding proposal will help as well by trying to make NC a safer place to live. With this bill the people who make us unsafe will have to help pay to keep us safe.
HOW WILL NC. PAY FOR THE P.A.P.S.
The bill also provides a proposal for funding in three parts.
Part one we propose that any and all person or persons convicted of reckless driving, DUI or DWI in N.C. pay an additional fine of $250.00 to go to the P.A.P.S. funding.
Part two we propose that any and all person or persons convicted of a minor traffic offense in NC pay an additional fine of $25.00 to go to the P.A.P.S. funding.
Part three we propose that an additional fee of $5.00 be placed on all document applications at NC. DMVs
P.A.P.S. AND THE FUTURE
It is our thoughts that if North Carolina will pass this bill, then when the license renewals cycle through it will result in NC becoming one of the safest, if not the safest state in the country to live in. We also feel like that the drop in crime across our state will be so evident that other states will soon follow in our footsteps and adopt the bill as well. Eventually if enough states adopt the bill the criminals will have nowhere to hide. If enough states pass this into law the government might very well be able to look at this as each state doing a little more to achieve our goals for national security and perhaps make it a federal law.
