Illinois touts high-tech driver's licenses

BETHALTO, Ill. — College students thinking about getting a fake ID to get into bars will need to think again in Illinois.

In the past, a phony driver's license may simply have been confiscated by bar owners and police, but now authorities are steering toward steeper penalties.

“If you're caught with a fake license, you could be fined up to $500, have to serve 50 hours of community service, plus have your driver's license suspended for a year,” Illinois Secretary of State Inspector General Jim Burns said.

Burns, who leads the Secretary of State's Safe ID Task Force, visited the Bethalto Driver Services Facility recently to discuss the state's latest efforts to prevent the use of fraudulent drivers' licenses and identification.

“The goals of the task force are to identify, target and eradicate fraud associated with the illegal production, procurement or misuse of DLs and ID cards, and to develop and implement preventative safeguards to assist these enforcement,” Burns said.

The need for the Secretary of State's Task Force came after the office was alerted by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency from Chicago's O'Hare Airport about packages containing fake drivers' licenses that had been ordered by college students from an Internet company based in China. The Secretary of State Police conducted a joint sting operation with the U.S. Postal Service and caught more than a dozen college students for possessing fake IDs.

A second successful sting operation between the office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security resulted in uncovering a package from China containing holograms used in state licenses

Burns said his office and the task force work closely with local, state and federal agencies to identify, arrest and prosecute anyone involved in the purchase or possession of fraudulent drivers' licenses or IDs.

“There will always be a criminal element looking to beat the system,” Burns said. “It is our job to try and stay one step ahead of their illegal efforts.”

A key change recommended by the task force is that residency requirements for obtaining a driver's license or ID card for the first time, as well as renewing or making a change to an existing one, includes showing documentation with the resident's address.

“You are now required to show two pieces of documentation with your address,” Burns said.

Another change recommended is that an individual who is believed to have been issued a license or ID based on invalid, fictitious or fraudulent documents must visit a facility within 30 days or less or have their credentials to drive canceled.

Illinois' modern licenses and ID cards contain more than a dozen enhanced security features that help make them among the nation's most secure. A few of the embedded measures, such as holograms, can be seen with the naked eye, but others require the use of black lights or laser lights to be revealed.

A red “I” refracts from the license if a laser is held in just the right spot.

Burns said improvements to these security features always are being considered.

“The technology, we'll keep working on it,” he said. “We want to stay ahead of or least even with the bad guys.”