Peabody subcommittee backs ordinance changes to start civilian fingerprinting for select business licenses

The Peabody City Legal Affairs Subcommittee voted 5-0 to support revisions to the city’s licensing process that would begin fingerprint-based criminal background checks for selected business licenses and to update ordinance language adopted in February 2017.

Clerk Allison Danforth told the subcommittee the city’s existing civil fingerprinting ordinance (adopted 02/2017) has never been used and that licenses expire at the end of the year, prompting staff to seek council direction before renewals are mailed. "The fingerprints just confirm the information on the printouts, definitively beyond just someone's name and date of birth," said Tom Griffin, Chief of Police.

The proposal keeps several existing requirements and adds or clarifies others. Under the recommendations supported by the subcommittee: junk dealer and limousine driver licenses would require fingerprint-based checks; taxi drivers and limousine drivers would continue to be…