﻿Holding her 2 1/2-year-old daughter with one hand, Chelsea Kemp pushes the index finger of her other hand into a scanner and is electronically admitted to the Kids Playland USA Drop-In Childcare Center.

The new drop-in center at 2011 Grand Ave. claims to be the first local daycare center to use fingerprint security to let parents, relatives or trusted friends drop off a child or pick one up.

“I want to know she’s being picked up by someone I know,” Kemp said.

For years now, anyone wanting to work with children has had to get fingerprinted. Now, the technology is being used for moms and dads.

While statistics are scarce about how widespread the demand for fingerprints is, technicians who do the work say their use is expanding.

U.S. law enforcement has fingerprinted suspected criminals since the 1880s and now routinely uses fingerprints to do background checks on job applicants. Fingerprints now are used to obtain licenses for professionals, including nurses and teachers, child care workers, people getting bonded, casino or liquor license owners or folks wanting to work in financial institutions.

And guns provide plenty of ammo for fingerprinting.