Duties of State Criminal Justice Agencies as to Submission of Fingerprints, Photographs, and Other Identifying Data to Center; Responsibility for Accuracy

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Law Enforcement Officers and Agencies
  4. Georgia Bureau of Investigation
  5. Georgia Crime Information Center
  6. Duties of State Criminal Justice Agencies as to Submission of Fingerprints, Photographs, and Other Identifying Data to Center; Responsibility for Accuracy

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  1. All criminal justice agencies within the state shall submit to the center fingerprints, descriptions, photographs when specifically requested, and other identifying data on persons who have been lawfully arrested or taken into custody in the state for all felonies and for the misdemeanors and violations designated in subparagraph (a)(1)(A) of Code Section 35-3-33 and for persons in the categories enumerated in subparagraphs (a)(1)(B), (a)(1)(C), and (a)(1)(D) of Code Section 35-3-33.
  2. It shall be the duty of all chiefs of police, sheriffs, prosecuting attorneys, courts, judges, clerks of court, community supervision officers, county or Department of Juvenile Justice juvenile probation officers, probation officers and private probation officers serving pursuant to Article 6 of Chapter 8 of Title 42, wardens or other persons in charge of penal and correctional institutions in this state, the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority, and the State Board of Pardons and Paroles to furnish the center with any other data deemed necessary by the center to carry out its responsibilities under this article.
  3. All persons in charge of law enforcement agencies shall obtain or cause to be obtained fingerprints in accordance with the fingerprint system of identification established by the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, full-face and profile photographs if photo equipment is available, and other available identifying data of each person arrested or taken into custody for an offense of a type designated in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of Code Section 35-3-33, of all persons arrested or taken into custody as fugitives from justice, and of all unidentified human corpses in their jurisdictions; but photographs need not be taken if it is known that photographs of the type listed taken within the previous year are on file. Fingerprints and other identifying data of persons arrested or taken into custody for offenses other than those designated may be taken at the discretion of the law enforcement agency concerned. Any person arrested or taken into custody and subsequently released without charge or cleared of the offense through court proceedings shall have any fingerprint record taken in connection therewith returned or deleted, as applicable, if the fingerprint record was taken in error or upon court order, and such dispositions shall be reported to the center.
  4. Fingerprints and other identifying data required to be taken under subsection (c) of this Code section shall be forwarded within 24 hours after taking for filing and classification, but the period of 24 hours may be extended to cover any intervening holiday or weekend. Photographs taken shall be forwarded at the discretion of the agency concerned; but, if not forwarded, the fingerprint record shall be marked "Photo available" and the photographs shall be forwarded subsequently if the center so requests.
  5. All persons in charge of law enforcement agencies shall submit to the center detailed descriptions of arrest warrants and related identifying data for all felonies and for the misdemeanors and violations designated in subparagraph (a)(1)(A) of Code Section 35-3-33 immediately upon determination of the fact that the warrant cannot be served for the reasons stated. If any such warrant is subsequently served or withdrawn, the law enforcement agency concerned must immediately notify the center of the service or withdrawal. In addition, the agency concerned must annually, no later than January 31 of each year, and at other times if requested by the center confirm to the center all such arrest warrants of this type which continue to be outstanding.
  6. All persons in charge of state penal and correctional institutions shall obtain fingerprints in accordance with the fingerprint system of identification established by the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or as otherwise directed by the center and full-face and profile photographs of all persons received on commitment to these institutions. The prints and photographs so taken shall be forwarded to the center together with any other identifying data requested within ten days after the arrival at the institution of the person committed. At the time of release of any person committed to a correctional institution, the institution shall again obtain fingerprints as provided for in this subsection and forward them to the center within ten days along with any other related information requested by the center. Immediately upon release, the institution shall notify the center of the release of the person.
  7. All persons in charge of law enforcement agencies, clerks of court or the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority as applicable, municipal judges when such judges do not have a clerk, magistrates, persons in charge of community supervision, juvenile probation, or Article 6 of Chapter 8 of Title 42 probation offices, and the State Board of Pardons and Paroles shall transmit to the center the information described in Code Section 35-3-33 within 30 days of the creation or receipt of such information, except as provided in subsection (d) of this Code section, on the basis of the forms and instructions to be provided by the center.
  8. All persons in charge of law enforcement agencies in this state shall furnish the center with any other identifying data required in accordance with guidelines established by the center. All law enforcement agencies and penal and correctional institutions in this state having criminal identification files shall cooperate in providing to the center copies of identifying data, as required in accordance with center guidelines, in those files as will aid in establishing the nucleus of the state criminal identification file.
  9. All criminal justice agencies within the state shall submit to the center, periodically at a time and in such form as prescribed by the center, information regarding only the cases within its jurisdiction and in which it is or has been actively engaged.Such report shall be known as the "uniform crime report" and shall contain crimes reported and otherwise processed during the period preceding the period of report, including the number and nature of offenses committed, the disposition of such offenses, and such other information as the center shall specify, relating to the method, frequency, cause, and prevention of crime.The incident/complaint report forms used by criminal justice agencies shall, when applicable, include the identification of any victim who is a student and the name of the school attended by any such student.
  10. Any governmental agency which is not included within the description of those departments and agencies required to submit the uniform crime report provided for in subsection (i) of this Code section but which desires to submit a report shall be furnished with the proper forms by the center. When a report is received by the center from a governmental agency not required to make a report, the information contained therein shall be included within the periodic compilation provided for in paragraph (9) of subsection (a) of Code Section 35-3-33.
  11. Upon the request of the center, local law enforcement agencies shall periodically provide for audit samples of incident reports for the preceding reporting period so that the center may help ensure agency compliance with national and state uniform crime reporting requirements.
  12. All law enforcement agencies within the state shall report to the center, in a manner prescribed by the center, all persons wanted by and all vehicles and identifiable property stolen from their jurisdictions. The report shall be made as soon as practicable after the investigating department or agency either ascertains that a vehicle or identifiable property has been stolen or obtains a warrant for an individual's arrest or determines that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the individual has committed the crime. In no event shall this time exceed 12 hours after the investigating department or agency determines that it has grounds to believe that a vehicle or property was stolen or that the wanted person should be arrested.
  13. If at any time after making a report as required by subsection (l) of this Code section it is determined by the reporting department or agency that a person is no longer wanted due to his apprehension or any other factor or when a vehicle or property stolen is recovered, the law enforcement agency shall immediately notify the center of such status. Furthermore, if the agency making the apprehension or recovery is other than the one which made the original wanted or stolen report, then it shall immediately notify the originating agency of the full particulars relating to the apprehension or recovery.
  14. Neither the center nor its employees shall be responsible for the accuracy of information contained in records representing wanted persons, missing persons, and stolen serial numbered property established in computerized files on the Georgia Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) network or in computerized files maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Crime Information Center (NCIC). Criminal justice agencies establishing such records bear all responsibilities for entry, update, and removal as dictated by actions of criminal justice employees and officials.

(Ga. L. 1973, p. 1301, § 4; Ga. L. 1976, p. 617, § 6; Ga. L. 1980, p. 396, § 2; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 35; Ga. L. 1983, p. 884, § 4-1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 35; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 35; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1022, § 1; Ga. L. 2001, p. 1024, § 1; Ga. L. 2002, p. 415, § 35; Ga. L. 2003, p. 336, § 1; Ga. L. 2003, p. 840, § 3A; Ga. L. 2012, p. 775, § 35/HB 942; Ga. L. 2015, p. 422, § 5-54/HB 310; Ga. L. 2016, p. 443, § 6B-6/SB 367; Ga. L. 2016, p. 864, § 35/HB 737.)

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 2003, p. 840, § 3A, which amended this Code section, purported to amend Code Section 33-3-36 but actually amended Code Section 35-3-36.

Ga. L. 2015, p. 422, § 6-1/HB 310, not codified by the General Assembly, provides, in part, that this Act shall apply to sentences entered on or after July 1, 2015.

Law reviews.

- For article on the 2015 amendment of this Code section, see 32 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 231 (2015). For article on the 2016 amendment of this Code section, see 33 Georgia St. U. L. Rev. 139 (2016). For note on the 2003 amendment to this Code section, see 20 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 179 (2003).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Fingerprint record following nolle prosequi.

- Defendant was not entitled to have fingerprint record returned following entry of nolle prosequi on charges for which record was made. Drake v. State, 170 Ga. App. 846, 318 S.E.2d 721 (1984).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Recording of crimes necessary to establish and maintain uniform system.

- This article empowers the Georgia Crime Information Center to record crime as the center deems necessary to establish and maintain a uniform system of crime reporting. 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 76-33.

Law enforcement agencies obtain fingerprints from arrested persons and forward prints to center.

- This article requires persons in charge of law enforcement agencies to obtain fingerprints each time a person is arrested or taken into custody and forward such prints to the center. 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U75-34.

Language "or cleared of the offense through court proceedings" in subsection (c) of O.C.G.A. § 35-3-36 must not be viewed in isolation, but in the context of O.C.G.A. § 35-3-37 which provides for inspection, correction, and expungement of records. 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 82-8.

Subsection (c) of O.C.G.A. § 35-3-36 is directed only at a fingerprint record, not at an arrest record. 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 82-8.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 66 Am. Jur. 2d, Records and Recording Laws, § 2.

C.J.S.

- 76 C.J.S., Records, §§ 76, 82 et seq., 116, 130, 131, 152.

ALR.

- Right to take fingerprints and photographs of accused before trial, or to retain same in police record after acquittal or discharge of accused, 83 A.L.R. 127.


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