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[maki2]

You need to hydrate your fingertips before you go. They will not give a proper print wi moth clearly defined ridges if the skin on your fingers is dried out.
Many times every year I can’t get my cell phone or tablet to accept Touch ID which also reads fingertip imprints. Being a person who quickly cues into cause and effect I know the quick fix. I wet my fingertips long enough to plump up the ridges.

So quit despairing and instead do the preparation work. Go in the restroom immediately before you do a fingerprint exam and plump up the skin so the ridges make a good, clear, print impression. Or take along a washcloth in a zip lock bag to take along to pre-soak your fingertip with moisture just before you use them for the print testing.

If they are not showing up in any database you need to retake the prints at places such as the driver’s license facility.

 

[Sky King]

Here's some tips I found


mn.gov
https://mn.gov › boards › assets
PDF

 

[Morgana]

Well that looks like there are several things that I can try, thanks! IIRC we tried something to bring them out last time, whether it was water or lotion I can't remember. I'll have to "train" for this LOL before I go back. I'm still going to start by calling the FBI lady ... I should make sure I've jumped through all their hoops in just the right way. Just in case I end up in the .1%, I don't want them saying "go back, you shoulda done xyz." It's a 3-hour round trip and a good chunk o' change to make another try.

 

[maki2]

Forecast ahead for Quartzsite, very windy afternoon and a freeze predicted in the hours just before and after sunrise. Clear skies though and the days are gaining a little more daylight time! Enough gain for sunset to actually seem later!

 

[Morgana]

Well I got through on the fourth attempt! (two, today, at the same place). My poor fingerprints barely limped over the finish line, but they got there. Here's a detail dump just in case anyone else has to figure out someday how to get usable results from faded fingerprints.

>>>If you have good, readable fingerprints, there's no reason to bother with this -- it's only a plan B for if you do have problems. Apparently that's not all that rare, especially for us olds.

SkyKing's link had a lot of helpful ideas in it
https://mn.gov/boards/assets/Tips for Improving Fingerprint Quality v2_tcm21-397431.pdf ... I looked at some other sites too once SK gave me the idea, but that link was really the best.

The main tips, confirmed by the fingerprint techs I saw today + the FBI phone guy, are to drink lots of water and moisturize a lot, repeatedly -- like, max out on this for at least a couple days, some sites say a week, before you go in.

Other tips are to try not to stress them -- hahaha almost anything can stress a fingertip apparently, whether you're a lumberjack or a secretary. Maybe you can avoid some tasks while you're "training" to get fingerprinted, and wear gloves for others. It's really a question of reducing the stress, not eliminating it altogether. Unless you can find someone else to pop chocolates and grapes in your mouth while you lounge around on a couch!

Make sure your fingers are warm; supposedly, doing little finger movements to get the blood flow up can help too. You definitely do not want them to be waterlogged as that can blur the ridges, so don't go swimming or wash dishes right before your session.

Both the FBI guy and the techs today said Corn Husker's Lotion is the best; the techs had a whole shelf of full it.

The FBI guy disagreed that digital prints are necessarily better but said that for paper prints you should get somebody really skilled, and law enforcement officers are the most experienced. So apparently there is quite an art and science to doing this right!

If you work with one of the FBI "channelers" (to do the electronic fingerprints), I would definitely pick one that does this full time, rather than eg a UPS store where they do it on the side. And I would call first and ask questions and make sure they sound like they know what they're doing.

The service I used today was ridiculously expensive, but it was worth it -- being able to get this done, including the re-do, in one trip made a huge difference. In the FBI background-check system, digital always goes much faster than print. It's not just the speed, it's the cat-herding of all the things that can go wrong. I think this is one place where splurging on the more expensive option is worth it.

FWIW!