Citizens seeking concealed pistol licenses (CPLs) or fingerprinting services at the public counter will soon experience significant improvements in service and wait times. Implementing the improvements will require temporary closure of the public counter and lobby, Jan. 21-23. Normal counter hours will resume on Thursday, Jan. 24.
Online services and services provided to law enforcement and criminal justice will not be impacted.
The primary improvements are the addition of a fingerprint scanner and the upgrading of the existing scanner. South Sound 911 staff will also be trained to provide fingerprinting services directly, whereas before a single fingerprint technician was provided under contract. These measures are expected to provide more efficient service delivery, particularly for the counter’s more time-consuming services such as CPL applications, fingerprinting and criminal history inspections.
“We are very excited about the tremendous improvements to this service, and the reduction in wait times for our customers,” said Interim Executive Director Mike Carson. “A temporary closure will allow us to take this huge step.”
The public counter is located at 945 Tacoma Avenue South in downtown Tacoma, and normal business hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.