EDMONDS – The teenager insisted it was her sister, not her, who had a warrant and a suspended driver’s license.

Fortunately, the Edmonds officer remembered the real offender and cleared her sister. But it usually isn’t that easy.

Victims of identity theft used to be stuck proving the signature on the bottom of a citation wasn’t theirs – especially tough if the fraud was discovered years after the true criminal was gone.

Now, at the Edmonds Municipal Court, the proof is in the fingerprints.

The court on Wednesday became the first municipal court in the state to use a computer to fingerprint those convicted of drunken driving, domestic violence and other misdemeanor crimes.

The electronic prints ensure that criminal history gets recorded in a statewide database and reduces the risk of identity theft.

“This is cutting-edge technology,” Edmonds Police Sgt. Debbie Smith said.

The equipment was purchased with a $4,000 donation by the Edmonds Police Foundation, a group of 18 volunteers dedicated to supporting law enforcement.

“We have a really tight budget, so if the police foundation hadn’t stepped up and paid for the computer, we wouldn’t have been able to get it,” Court Administrator Joan Ferebee said.

Foundation president Harold Huston said the group used money raised from garage sales, raffles and other fund-raisers to pay for the equipment.

“We’re in an area where citizens are concerned about public safety. That’s why we’re here,” foundation president Harold Huston said.

The computer and scanner were set up last week, allowing municipal court probation officer Sherrie Conway to start fingerprinting Wednesday.

Conway will fingerprint everyone convicted of misdemeanor crimes, such as reckless driving. Prints won’t be taken from drivers with minor traffic infractions.

The court needs the fingerprints for the conviction to be listed in a statewide criminal history database, Ferebee said. Without prints, the record isn’t considered validated.

If a conviction isn’t in the state database, “you can run a background check, and that information won’t come up,” without checking every court in the state, Edmonds Cpl. Mike Bard said.

“We know of people convicted of domestic violence who were able to get weapons, even though they weren’t supposed to,” he said. “That’s one of the loopholes that exist, and we’re trying to close it.”

Getting fingerprints isn’t a problem for suspects arrested on felony charges. Prints are taken when they are booked into jail. But oftentimes suspects aren’t booked into crowded jails for misdemeanors. Officers instead cite them and order them to go to court.

“What we see is when we have a defendant in the courtroom, they’re not showing us ID. They’re giving us their signature,” Ferebee said. “We don’t know it’s actually that person. This way, we can fingerprint them and know we have the actual person.”

People who are victims of identity theft, such as the woman whose sister was using her name, also can get their fingerprints taken as a way of preventing future problems.

“I do know how the violation” feels for victims of identity theft, said Ferebee, whose mail was stolen last year. The woman who took it used Ferebee’s personal information to get a driver’s license.

The Edmonds jail has the same technology the court uses, paid for by a state grant. That ensures that suspects who are arrested, but not booked into jail, are fingerprinted.

The computer also is used to confirm suspects’ identities. A witness to an Aug. 25 double homicide in Edmonds gave police two names. Officers scanned in the suspect’s fingerprints and quickly were able to determine his real name, Bard said.

The Snohomish County Jail has the same fingerprint technology, as do four juvenile courts in the state.

Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.