If you're applying for a job that requires a fingerprint, it's going to take you a long time to get it processed. Maybe even 3 hours.
That's how long many have been waiting at Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department headquarters ever since they closed down their other fingerprinting center on Cameron Street.
Since Thursday, all of it is being done at a single location the LVMPD's Records Department.
"Nobody should be waiting this long," said Alexis Wilkins outside of LVMPD headquarters Friday. "The DMV doesn't even take this long. So, I think it's ridiculous."
Like many, Alexis Wilkins waited outside for nearly two hours. One woman told us she waited for three.
"There are no seats inside," said Wilkins. "There's people lined up against the walls. All the seats are taken."
For years, anyone who needed fingerprinting services could come to Metro Headquarters or a second office near Cameron Street and Russell Road, but a spokesman for the department says they shut down the Cameron street office to make processing more efficient and fluid.
"Why," Wilkins questions. "You shouldn't have one fingerprint place. You need more than one, there's a lot of people that need fingerprints."
They include bartenders, casino workers, or anyone applying for a concealed weapons permit.
"The other spot was convenient on that side of town. Putting a burden on a lot of people coming from different directions and everything."
Eric Albert says the wait time on Cameron street was much shorter.
"Probably for about a half an hour," Albert said
Wilkins says the long wait Friday allowed her to make new friends.
"I met some new people over there," she shared.
LVMPD spokesman Jesse Roybal says they closed the Cameron office as part of an effort to build a new Area Command.
"The fingerprint location for Cameron is going to be transitioned to a new facility for our traffic bureau, so our traffic bureau will be stationed out of there and hopefully we'll be bringing on our new Area Command in the west part of town," said Roybal.
LVMPD also wants to remind everyone that they can file police reports at their local Area Command, keeping Metro's Records Department a little less crowded.
