CHENANGO COUNTY – It was announced last week that the Chenango County Sheriff's Office and Corrections offices were awarded grant funds totaling more than $36,000 to update the county's fingerprinting equipment.

While the Corrections Division – located in the lower level of the public safety building on County Highway 46 – was outfitted with a digital LiveScan unit when opened in 2006, the operating system used to power the software has become antiquated, no longer being supported by the software manufacturer.

“The total award is for $36,262 with a 50 percent local match,” said Deputy Sheri Howe, Grant programs Administrator at CCSO. “Our current system uses Windows '98 operating system and is therefore no longer supported by Microsoft or the manufacturer of the LiveScan hardware, MorphoTrust USA.

More than $700,000 in grant money state-wide has been doled out to 51 police departments and sheriffs’ offices for these types of purchases, and as is the case in Chenango County, the funding will be utilized for equipment that replaces current malfunctioning or obsolete LiveScan terminals.

“The new system will provide us with up-to-date technology as well as allowing us to have one LiveScan terminal located in the correctional facility in addition to a terminal located in our law enforcement division’s arrest processing area,” said Deputy Howe.

Howe indicated that the new system will provide rapid responses from the NYS criminal history database as well as the federal criminal history database.