For some types of criminal background checks, a fingerprint is needed to verify your identity and ensure that only the person that the background check is regarding has the power to request their criminal history.  This is most often seen when a person requests their criminal history file from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which can only be requested by the individual that the file is pertaining to and the identity of the person requesting the information must be confirmed before the Federal Bureau of Investigation will release the records.

A criminal background check fingerprint must be taken by an authorized agency, such as the police department located in the city of residence.  A police officer that is certified to take fingerprints will do all of the criminal background check fingerprinting that is needed to satisfy the requirements for obtaining the information.  The police officer will also sign documentation stating that the fingerprints are authentic and have not been tampered with or altered.

Once the criminal background check fingerprint has been obtained, the person that is requesting the background check will need to send the information to the agency that they are requesting the information from.  After the documentation has been reviewed for accuracy, the agency will send the results of their search to the requestor by mail.  It will usually take several weeks for the results to be returned to the person that requested them.