Your drivers license is in the mail

DES MOINES - Iowa drivers will receive their licenses through the mail as part of an enhanced security process to thwart identity thieves, fraud and other crimes.

Kim Snook of the Department of Transportation's Office of Driver Services said the centralized process - expected to be in place by the end of March - will mean drivers will be issued a temporary paper document when they renew or apply for a license, and the actual license will come in the mail in about 30 days.

Applicants still will need to go to DOT licensing stations or county Treasurer Offices that issue licenses to take the necessary tests, pay fees and have photos taken, she said.

After that, the information will be run though a national database, and the photo will be processed at a secure location before the counterfeit-resistant license is distributed by mail to a verified address. The driver's picture will be run through a state database to make certain an applicant doesn't have any other licenses in another name in the state, Snook said.

Once implemented statewide, Iowa will join 24 states that have already gone to some form of centralized licensing.

“I think more and more are going to it because of the fraud that's available for over-the-counter licenses,” Snook said.

“(Applicants) come in with good documents, and our staff is very well-trained in fraud and what to look for on documents, but unfortunately, it doesn't get the INS checks, it doesn't get the image verification.”

Paul Steier, commander of the DOT's motor vehicle investigation unit, said state officials are on guard for people attempting identity theft, hiding from bad credit or checkered past, hiding fugitive status, attempting welfare or bank fraud schemes, or minors attempting to obtain alcohol.

“Many thieves today will use genuine documents belonging to somebody else. They'll break into your house and steal your birth certificate or Social Security card, and they'll show up at one of our counters claiming to be you,” he said. “That's where our image verification software has certainly helped people that have multiple credentials.”

An immediate advantage of centralized licensing is avoiding situations where authorities find out after the fact that an applicant supplied false or stolen information. Verification of information can be done before a license is mailed.

Brian Zimmer, president of the non-profit Coalition for a Secure Driver's License in Washington, said Iowa was an early leader in license security, and the new safeguards will offset any inconvenience of mailed licenses.

Zimmer said other states doing this have rejected scores of applications or required more documentation, as well as uncovered criminal activities.

“The only people really endangered by this are the crooks, and people are often dismayed when they find out who the crooks are,” he said, noting that professional crime rings have used information of deceased children.

The Iowa DOT's Steier said the incidence of suspected fraud is small - one or two daily out of up to 3,000 licenses issued.

Currently, 81 county treasurers issue driver's licenses and non-operator's identification cards. The other 18 counties are served by license stations, said DOT spokeswoman Dena Gray-Fisher.

In the fiscal year that ended June 30, Gray-Fisher said, the department issued 806,906 cards and the county Treasurer Offices issued 479,429. Polk County issued the most, 178,616, followed by Linn County, 96,448.