Local offices start new procedures for driver’s licenses

CARSON CITY -- Drivers in Clark County are being issued new Nevada drivers licenses that contain built-in security and facial recognition features designed to prevent counterfeiting and identity theft.

The Department of Motor Vehicles began issuing the new "Central Issuance" licenses Wednesday on the Donovan Way office in North Las Vegas and on the Decatur Boulevard and West Flamingo Road offices Thursday. They will be available at the Sahara Avenue and Henderson offices today.

The new licenses have at least 10 built-in safety features, including ghost images and micro-printing, that make them difficult to counterfeit. Some safety features are easy to detect, but others will be made known only to law enforcement officers.

Drivers will not be immediately given a new license. Their old licenses will be hole-punched and handed back with a paper document valid for 30 days.

In the meantime, their photographs will be examined by facial recognition equipment, and new licenses will be issued from a license printing plant in California.

Workers will determine whether the new photo and information match what the DMV has in its records for each driver.

Three people were arrested in Northern Nevada in December after facial recognition software showed they were using false identities.

"The Central Issuance system is in use in 14 states," DMV Director Edgar J. Roberts said. "It is proven technology. Beyond that, in Nevada we also have sworn officers posted in each major DMV office who will arrest ... suspects when fraud is discovered."

Drivers do not have to visit a DMV office and acquire the new licenses until their existing licenses are about to expire.

Because of the increased security features, the cost of a license or identification card has increased by 75 cents, from $21.25 to $22 and from $16.25 to $17 for residents 65 or older.

Details, including an interactive presentation and samples of the new license, are available on the DMV's Web site at www.dmvnv.com/ci.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.