New York State DMV shows off new equipment
The storm over Governor Elliot Spitzer’s plan to offer driver licenses to illegal aliens notwithstanding, New York state is moving forward on making the process of getting a driver license more secure
New York governor Elliot Spitzer may be going back and forth on the issue of whether to offer driver licenses to illegal immigrants in his states, and Senator Hillary Clinton may be grilled over the issue in a Democratic Party presidential candidates debate, but all this has not stopped the state’s DMV to move forward on upgrading DMV equipment and making it more secure. The other day DMV and state homeland security officials showed off the photo comparison and document scanning equipment they will use as part of the state’s new driver’s licensing system. State officials demonstrated how they will make driver’s licenses more secure, even as opponents say it does nothing to change their minds about the controversial plan to give licenses to illegal immigrants. DMV said the new technology will make sure that the right people get access to a license — and only one license.
The equipment would allow DMV employees to go through photos in the DMV database and make sure documents like passports have the required safety features before anyone applying for a license actually gets one. If anything questionable shows up, DMV investigators will look into it further. David Swarts, NYS DMV commissioner said, “The technology is a tool. It helps our investigators determine whether or not there’s some fraud involved. There could be human error. There could be typos and different kinds of things.” Deputy state homeland security secretary Michael Balboni says the DMV database is an important law enforcement tool and would become even more so with this plan. “It’s the best maintained. It has the most data into it so it’s crucial that we populate this database with that,” Balboni said.
