Manager of the Security Industry Fingerprinting Program, Chief Supt Peter McDonald, said the decision was made to open four new sites across the state to cut down travel time.

Previously, residents in and around Wodonga had to travel to Wangaratta police station to have their prints taken.

“This is all about increasing our coverage, cutting the distance the public need to travel and making it easier to get fingerprinting done,” Chief Supt McDonald said.

“We felt that Wangaratta was too far away for Wodonga residents and of course, there are places further afield from Wangaratta like Corryong that had to travel even further.”

Fingerprints are required when applying for security, gaming and firearms licences, and also for visas and residency purposes.

The new sites are based at Hamilton and Horsham in the western region and Seymour and Wodonga in the eastern region.

Wodonga police will take the public’s fingerprints using a Live Scan inkless electronic fingerprinting machine, which is already in use at the station for processing offenders.

Bookings for fingerprinting will still run as normal, by phoning the centralised booking system on 1300 881 596.

In Wodonga, appointments can be made at the police station on Mondays between 9am and 5pm.