The Police Department section of the October 16, 2019 consent agenda reveals the $5468.00 grant award from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program will be used tp purchase LiveScan fingerprinting equipment. The equipment will be used to complete fingerprinting for prospective new employees, volunteers, and cleaning personnel.
The acceptance of this grant award comes on the heels of an August 25 news report where the fingerprints of a man taken as part of an employment background check process were used to solve a cold case murder in Brandon, Florida
From Fox News:
"A man linked eight months ago to a Florida 1998 cold case murder ---when he applied for a job requiring his fingerprints for a background check--has been sentenced to life in prison for the crime.
Todd Barket, 51, of Brandon, Fla., was told his sentence Friday in West Palm Beach after he was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of 68-year-old Sondra Better in August 1998. Better was working at Lu Shay's Consignment Store in Delray Beach when she was stabbed and beaten to death during a robbery, investigators said.
Police said they got their big break in the unsolved case this past December when Barket applied for a job that required a fingerprint background check.His fingerprints matched those found on a decorative marble ball at Lu Shay’s, the Palm Beach Post reported. His DNA also matched evidence from the crime scene."
