• stoly@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    In the 1980s, millions of parents took their children to be fingerprinted in the name of safety just in case they were kidnapped or something. It was very strange. I think that they were really arguing that people should do this so that their childrens’ bodies could be identified.

    • klemptor@startrek.website
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      10 months ago

      I remember this - in grade school we had a field trip to the local jail. They showed us around (I remember being freaked out by the toilets and cameras!), told us if we didn’t respect our parents and the cops that we’d end up in jail there, then fingerprinted us all. This was 1985 and I’m sure it required a permission slip but jesus what a weird thing to do to little kids.

      • Igloojoe
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        10 months ago

        Think we went as cub scouts, or maybe it was at school, but do remember being fingerprinted. Early 1990s.

      • stoly@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        For me, it was something like a Safeway that had a table and lines of parents and children. I hated the experience.

      • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I did that too. They told me that my dad had been there before and I was shocked. Both of my parents had to spend a lot of time convincing me that this was absolutely not true. I thought my dad was just awful for a while. Guess what, it was true.

      • n0clue@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        They did this to us and they locked the whole group in a cell but somehow missed me, guess I uh really did learn about the real world that day.

    • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Parents didn’t even need to take the kids anywhere. They did that shit to us at school, and then put a little packet together to take home to your parents.

      • nickiwest@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Yup. I remember the day we all got fingerprinted. I’d say it was '86 or '87 when they did our whole school. I remember thinking it was super cool.

        • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Holy shit. What sort of town was this? Was this a local police program? A state thing? A federal pilot?

          I have so many questions.

          I’m pretty sure my first fingerprints were at like age 25 to get licensed as a private eye. Did we have to do them for draft cards at 18? I cannot remember.

    • WarmSoda
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      10 months ago

      Yeah it was for our safety. I remember doing it.
      I’ve had a couple jobs that required it again anyways.

      I’d be surprised if most of those kids fingerprint records still even exist. Most of my old school records are long gone.

      • stoly@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I believe that they were registered with the FBI.

        Apparently fingerprints change as you grow so it was probably a dumb idea to begin with. Your fingerprint as a child is different than your fingerprint now.