California law authorizes certain governmental and private organizations to conduct criminal offender record information background checks to help determine the suitability of a person applying for a license, employment, or a volunteer position working with children, the elderly, or the disabled. Law enforcement agencies, public and private school, non-profit organizations, and in-home supportive care agencies are some of the organizations authorized to conduct these fingerprint-based background checks.

Live Scan is an inkless, electronic means of capturing fingerprints in a digitized format and then transmitting them to the Illinois State Police and/or the FBI. Previously, fingerprints were taken by applying ink to each finger, then rolling each finger on a fingerprint card. This method was inherently messy and prone to capturing poor image quality. By processing fingerprints electronically, criminal history responses can be provided within a matter of hours if received electronically or 3-5 days if received by mail.

Fingerprints are then searched against the State Of Illinois criminal history database and/or the FBI criminal database (where applicable). Live Scan provides the fingerprints technician with the opportunity to retake a print several times to ensure they are capturing the best image quality possible.