New Florida driver's licenses gain security, new look for the young 


By Susan Jacobson
Orlando Sentinel

March 17, 2004, 11:04 AM EST

The dreaded drivers-license photo, never known for 
flattering its subject, is about to appear three times -- once 
invisibly to the unaided eye -- on every Florida license as 
part of a new system aimed at foiling counterfeiters and 
identity thieves.

The state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles 
is scheduled to begin distributing the licenses in May, 
starting in Osceola County, Miami and Tallahassee, officials 
said Tuesday. The rollout will continue across the state 
through September.

A major modification is a vertical drivers license for 
those younger than 21. It's designed to quickly identify people 
who try to drink while underage and to aid law officers in 
spotting inexperienced drivers.

"I think it's smart," said Rafael Garcia, 17, of Kissimmee. 
"This way it makes it easy to know who's under 21."

The changes are designed partly to cut down on identity 
theft, which cost consumers more than $25 million last year 
statewide, according to the Florida Department of Law 
Enforcement. Increased homeland security also is a goal.

"They just want to have a good handle on everybody who's 
applying for a license," said Osceola County Tax Collector 
Patsy Heffner, whose office is the first in Central Florida 
scheduled to dispense the new license. Drivers don't need to 
replace their current Florida licenses until they expire.

The new document will include a beach scene, the state seal 
with hidden letters and a portrait repeated in a lighter 
"ghost image" on the front, and two bar codes, some tiny 
print and a magnetic stripe on the back, all to make copying 
tougher. The effort is similar to the 2003 revamping of the 
$20 bill that was gussied up to thwart counterfeiters.

Three layers of security are designed to protect the 
integrity of the drivers license much as a lock on the door, an 
alarm system and a fence combine to protect a house. A third 
portrait of the driver and some text will be visible only 
under ultraviolet light. Other words and markings will be 
discernible under a microscope or using a special reader -- 
kind of a decoder ring for law enforcement.

"It should complicate things for counterfeiters," said Jose 
Figueroa, 31, who was on his way to trade his New York 
drivers license for a Florida version.

Prototypes are designed for durability and were tested by 
running them through a washer and dryer several times much 
as might happen by accident at home, Florida Highway Patrol 
Lt. Julio Pajon said.

Fake licenses good enough to fool the average person fetch 
up to $1,500 on the black market, said FHP Trooper Kelly 
Carrick, who investigates fraud cases in Miami. Illegal 
immigrants, people with convictions for driving while 
intoxicated, those with a lot of traffic tickets and identity thieves 
are most likely to buy a phony license, she said.

The state designed the license with input from retailers, 
bankers and law-enforcement officers. Identity theft is the 
fastest-growing crime in the country and of special concern 
for financial institutions, which often get stuck with 
credit-card bills that identity thieves run up, said Thomas 
Kerr, senior vice president of the Florida Bankers 
Association.

"If identification can be copied, it opens the door to all 
other types of issues, such as check fraud, loan fraud," 
Kerr said. A U.S. General Accounting Office study in 
September concluded that obtaining a valid drivers license with 
bogus documentation remained far too easy in spite of 
post-Sept. 11 security measures. Florida issued drivers licenses to 
13 of the 19 suspected Sept. 11 hijackers, some of whom 
used false identities.

Enhanced training for state employees and more careful 
scrutiny of paperwork are key, said Robert Sanchez, spokesman 
for the motor-vehicle department. Under the new system, 
workers will scan identification such as birth certificates, 
Social Security cards and passports of everyone who applies 
for a license, not just non-U.S. citizens, Heffner, the 
Osceola tax collector, said.

Kentucky has had good luck with its more-secure drivers 
license, which was introduced in December 2001, said Gary 
Brunker, director of the Kentucky Division of Driver Licensing. 
The card is similar to Florida's but substitutes a pasture 
scene for the beach. Brunker said he wasn't aware of any 
successful attempts at forgery.

"So far, it seems to be working well," he said.

From 1973 until late 1995, Florida used drivers licenses 
with color photos, holograms in the overlay and a blue 
background for adults and yellow for those younger than 21. 
Afterward, the state began including a magnetic stripe encoded 
with driver information, more holograms, a digitized 
signature and an organ-donor designation.

Florida's new vertical drivers license for the under-21 
crowd is similar to one being used in more than a dozen other 
states. Virginia was among the first to issue that shape 
nearly five years ago, and states from Rhode Island to Utah 
have followed suit.

Digimarc Corp., the Oregon-based company providing the 
camera equipment, software and printers, will tweak the current 
upgrades again in five years.

"From our perspective, we're looking at Florida on the 
cutting edge of new technologies," said Leslie Constans, a 
Digimarc spokeswoman.

Susan Jacobson can be reached at 
sjacobson@orlandosentinel.com or 407-931-5946.



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