if you're not a criminal, it doesn't matter if the police have your fingerprints, right?

[legal] When was the last time you were fingerprinted for jay walking or littering? It doesn't happen because the police know these are charges that they usually don't fingerprint for. It appears thought, that this is known by just about every force in the US except the NYPD. While keeping track of the Pier 57 story, I came across a post at Static Ephemera talking about this story on New York Newsday.

The reason that was given for the arrestees being held for more than the standard 24 hours? Fingerprinting. That's right, the NYPD fingerprinted arrestees who would not typically GET fingerprinted. Either every officer involved forgot how the system worked for a few days, or there was an order from above. I wonder how many OTHER standard procedures were set aside that week?