For the 13th consecutive year, AFSCME-represented Oregon Department of Corrections personnel offered free fingerprinting of children on Aug. 29 at the Oregon State Fair. The fingerprinting event takes place at the Oregon AFL-CIO booth, which Council 75 staffs for two days each year. Members of Local 2067 (City of Salem) take over the booth in their home city the second day each year.

"My Corrections colleagues look forward to doing this each year as a public service," says longtime Council 75 member-activist Tina Turner-Morfitt, who coordinates the fingerprinting portion of the booth. Turner-Morfitt is a member of Local 2376 (Corrections Security Plus) and a counselor at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville.

Turner-Morfitt says people tend to think about the obvious "worst case scenario" for a fingerprint card — i.e., identifying a dead body — but that's far from the only focus.

"Thousands of children too young for formal identification disappear from their homes each year in the U.S.," she says. "Often they are runaways, many are victims of parental custody battles and some are simply kidnapped. A fingerprint card can be a valuable tool in those situations.

"Additionally, just doing this when we do, right before school starts, provides an opportunity for parents to have important discussions with their child about being safe, not accepting rides from strangers, maybe having a 'secret word' or whatnot. The fingerprinting kind of helps open the door for that discussion."

Turner-Morfitt said the union's Corrections employees fingerprint any child of any age as long as a parent is on hand to give permission. The completed document includes all 10 digits both separately and jointly, along with instructions on safety and what to do if your child disappears. She notes that the card emphasizes parents should keep a current school photograph with the fingerprint ID.

"This is something you hope you never have to use, but it's important to have the best information possible pulled together in case you do," said Turner-Morfitt. "It just takes a few minutes, it certainly doesn't hurt and most of the kids think it's fun. Again, we are just happy to offer this service to the public each year at the fair. It's an opportunity for us to get outside the walls of our institutions and interact with the community."

In addition to Turner-Morfitt, Corrections members who participated included April Bogue, Tracie Clausen, Marla Jones, Shannon Mecham, Dave Ramseyer, Theresa Shelley and Beth Vanderzee. Also pitching in were David Gonzalez and Karla Myers, Corrections Officers represented by AOCE. Gordon O'Brien of Local 896 (Oregon State Police Support) is also on hand each year.