Police say
isle IDs are
too easy to fake
The next generation of driver's
licenses are to resist counterfeiting
Honolulu police say they hope that plans to revamp Hawaii driver's licenses will cut down on the high number of fake licenses used in forgery and identity theft cases.
Police officials said the technology used to duplicate licenses has improved, but the security features of state licenses have not kept up. As a result, forged Hawaii licenses are harder to spot.
"Technology is catching up more and more. ... A few years ago you never saw anything close to a real driver's license," said Lt. John McCarthy, who works Windward Oahu's burglary/theft detail.
"I've got three licenses upstairs; one of them is real and the others are duplicates. ... I can spot the differences, but some of them are making it past bank tellers."
The state and counties are trying to address the problem. Two weeks ago a request for proposals went out seeking a new vendor to provide a "complete electronic imaging capture and printing system" for the State of Hawaii driver's license system in all four counties.
In the request is a provision for "anti-counterfeiting features." However, it does not specify what those features should be.
"We left it in general terms because we want the vendor to tell us what kind of new security technology is out there," said David Mau, assistant administrator of the city Motor Vehicle and Licensing Division.
He added that the call for vendors is just "business as usual," and was not prompted by any problems police are having.
"The old contract is about to run out," Mau said. "There are no politics involved."
Mau said the look of the license itself will likely not change, though more security features will be added.
That's good news, according to police.
"You always want to see more security features," said McCarthy. "California used to be the easy one to copy, but they've changed quite a bit."
Financial fraud Detective Jon Nakashima said that for the past six months, investigators have seen more counterfeit driver's licenses "popping up."
"They're starting to look real good," Nakashima said. "Even a policeman couldn't tell if he saw it side by side.
"Hawaii's driver license has the least security features (of any state) -- it's just a white plastic with laminated tape, which is very easy to duplicate."
Police are looking for a forgery and theft suspect who allegedly used a fake driver's license to steal $24,000 from a kindergarten teacher's checking account in June.
Deborah Nunes, 36, who is wanted for questioning in the case, has since been spotted in Waianae, according to CrimeStoppers tipsters.
The fake license used was good enough to "make it around the block a couple of times," according to CrimeStoppers Detective Letha DeCaires.
"The photo was placed well, the typeset was good," DeCaires said. "In the end she got her fake ID taken away from her because a bank employee really took the time to check it out.
"The quality of the fake ID depends on the sophistication of the crook. ... The more sophisticated the criminals and their equipment, the better the quality of the ID."
The last upgrade to the Hawaii state driver's license was in 2001, when Social Security numbers were left off of all newly issued licenses.
