DELAWARE STATE POLICE STATE BUREAU OF IDENTIFICATION
Captain Galen M. Purcell serves as the Director of the State Bureau of Identification (SBI). Ms. Sharon Durham serves as the Assistant Director, Lt. Jeffrey David as the Special Project Manager and Lt. Charles Rynkowski as the Officer in Charge of Detective Licensing. SBI provides the state with a central repository for the collection and accurate organization of criminal arrest records, crime reports, and missing person reports. The Director, along with a civilian staff of forty people work in the following separate but interrelated sections; Fingerprint Identification Section, Criminal History Section, Quality Control Section, Detective Licensing Section, and the Firearms Transaction and Approval Section.
Mr. Russell McNatt supervises the Fingerprint Section, which is responsible for maintaining fingerprint records on people who have been arrested and for people who are applicants for various types of employment requiring criminal history checks. In 2005 the section processed over 69,000 print cards. During 2005 the section continued to process critical latent examinations revealing the identity of suspects who have committed many serious crimes leading to their arrest and conviction. Other police agencies frequently call upon this section to process evidence related to criminal matters.
Ms. Teresa Jones is the supervisor of the Criminal History Section. This section is responsible for fingerprinting citizens and completing criminal history background checks for employment and/or other purposes. In 2005 the section processed over 38,000 requests for criminal histories. Additional duties of the section include registering and tracking sex offenders as required by the Delaware Sex Offender Registry Law (Megan’s Law), and processing pardons and court ordered expungements. The Firearms Transaction Approval Program (FTAP) also falls under the Criminal History Section. This function was established as a result of the Brady Law, which became effective on February 28, 1994. FTAP consists of four criminal history employees who respond to dealer inquiries for state background checks, which yield an approval or denial for the purchase of a weapon. In 2005 there were 11,226 transactions processed, resulting in 323 denials of firearms purchases.
Ms. Renee Rigby supervises the Quality Control Section. This section was responsible for the quality assurance reviews of over 100,000 reports in 2005. The section reviews reports submitted by police agencies throughout the state ensuring proper coding for reporting purposes to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Once this section has completed their review, incidents are then officially counted as a criminal occurrence for statistical and crime tracking purposes.
The Detective Licensing Section is commanded by Lt. Charles Rynkowski and is comprised of one uniform employee and one civilian employee who are responsible for the licensing and regulation of the following industries; Private Security agencies and their employees, Private Investigative agencies and their employees, Security Systems & Protective Services agencies and their employees, non-state Constables, and Bail Enforcement Agents. Lt. Rynkowski is also responsible for SBI North that consists of three civilian employees providing fingerprinting services to customers desiring criminal history checks, processing of security personnel, and registering changes of addresses for sex offenders in New Castle County. There were 11,000 customers fingerprinted in 2005.
