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With Fake IDs on the Rise,
New York State takes a Stand
With fake IDs easier to get than ever, authorities in New York are determined to take a stand against counterfeit or borrowed driver's licenses. The New York State DMV has announced 81 arrests since March 31 of this year a
s part of its latest round of "Operation Prevent". Fake IDs present a serious risk to public safety and national security and we are proud of New York for taking actions against their widespread use.
Investigators from the New York DMV's Division of Field Investigation teamed up with the State Liquor Authority (SLA) and local law enforcement agencies to conduct sweeps across many communities, including Cortland, Niagara Falls, Oswego, and Saratoga Springs. This direct intervention resulted in many arrests and dozens of confiscated fake IDs. By demonstrating zero tolerance, there seems to be a clear message from New York law enforcement, and, in the words of the New York DMV Executive Deputy Commissioner
Terri Egan
, "our investigators will be out in force to prevent needless tragedies from happening and keep our youth out of harm's way."
These preventative operations are conducted year-round at bars, but are also carried out at concerts or other events generally sought after by underage patrons. While sweeps in numerous communities were successful, the sheer numbers of fake IDs confiscated and the confidence displayed by fraudulent ID owners indicates a serious problem within New York and across the United States.
The "Operation Prevent" sweep in Niagara Falls consisted of DMV and SLA investigators, in cooperation with the Niagara Falls Police Department, who checked all patrons for identification, and made 14 arrests for possession of fraudulent licenses. Of these licenses, three were from Pennsylvania and Connecticut, two were from Delaware and New Jersey, and one each was from New York, Illinois, Maine, and Colorado. When someone buys a fake ID, he or she generally gets to pick between many different states, depending on the vendor.
In Saratoga, DMV investigators, in cooperation with SLA and the Saratoga Springs Police Department, arrested ten individuals attempting to use fraudulent driver licenses to purchase alcohol at Putnam Den, Tin and Lint Company, The Reserve, and Saratoga City Tavern. Authorities confiscated a number of counterfeit licenses, including four from Pennsylvania, two from Maryland, and one each from Delaware, New York (older style), and Rhode Island. In addition, four people were arrested: two for felony possession of a forged instrument and two for false impersonation, a misdemeanor. In Oswego, Investigators arrested 23 individuals for attempting to use fraudulent driver's licenses to purchase alcohol. Of these, Ten counterfeit driver's licenses were seized from Connecticut, six from Pennsylvania, and one each from New Jersey, South Carolina, Illinois, and Maryland. Finally, in Cortland, the combined efforts of law enforcement led to the arrests of 30 individuals and resulted in the confiscation of 30 false driver's licenses. These included 12 from Connecticut, seven from Pennsylvania, six from New Jersey, two from New York, and one from Rhode Island.
All individuals arrested during Operation Prevent are criminally charged with violations of section 509 of the NYS Vehicle and Traffic Law and are also subject to administrative violations that can result in the revocation of their license privilege.
The repercussions of using a Fake ID don't seem to be deterring young adults because too few states are taking the crime as seriously as New York.
In addition to underage drinking, fraudulent IDs contribute to identity theft, identity fraud, benefits fraud, credit card fraud, and terrorism. Hopefully these efforts will have a positive result and other states will look at New York's example of cracking down on fake IDs.
We're a tiny organization with a lean budget, but thanks to contributions, we had another extremely effective year protecting your identity documents!
No other charitable organization works on the issues we do,
from combating counterfeit identity documents flooding in from China, to protecting child identities, to educating college kids on the risks of using fake IDs, to making sure state DMVs are up to par with federal standards, and to keeping your driver's licenses and ID cards out of the hands of criminals and terrorists.
Your support allowed us to work on all of that and we need your help again to be effective in 2016. But, w
e really need your support to continue our daily operations.
Our work with legislators, policymakers, and in public forums throughout the United States to protect public safety through reliable and secure identity documents depends on it. We need your tax deductible contribution to keep our proactive efforts underway.
We're in the media, at Congress, at state legislatures, at DMVs, on college campuses, and at fairs and tradeshows all over the country educating hundreds of thousands of people on why secure identification matters to us, to our donors, and why it should matter to them.
This year, our opinions have been published in newspapers in Connecticut, Montana, Massachussets, Minnesota, Illinois, New Mexico, Arizona, North Dakota, and more. We have placed on op-eds in The Hill, Roll Call, and USA Today. We were featured on Fox News, Fox affiliates, and Newsmax. Our newsletters go to over a thousand important decision makers and our press releases have reached hundreds of thousands.
If you can't make a donation but plan on doing some shopping on Amazon, please consider using our Amazon Smile account. It doesn't cost you any extra money and a percentage of your purchases go right to Keeping IDentities Safe! Click the link on the right -
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| Keeping IDentities Safe in the News: |
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Time for a National Strategy on Fake IDs
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TSA, China and fake IDs
Over the last several years, a new Chinese export has found a thriving market in the United States: high quality, machine readable, counterfeit driver's licenses. For prices between $50 and $300, under-aged youngsters have been purchasing counterfeit driver's licenses from vendors based in China via the web.
Read our op-ed in The Hill
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How do we keep driver's licenses out of the hands of terrorists and criminals?
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By raising awareness
By working with law enforcement
By helping states comply with REAL ID
By working with state legislators all over the country
By providing research
By working every day to protect your identity documents!
We can only continue to do this with your support
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HELP US KEEP FIGHTING FOR YOUR IDENTITY SECURITY
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With your donation, we will continue to move this country towards securing our driver's licenses, keeping them out of the hands of criminals, identity thieves, terrorists, drunk drivers, and public benefits freeloaders who are draining our nation's health and welfare system.
If you can afford to make the donation now, you're getting the money to a cause you care about, and we need it.
Sincerely,
Keeping IDentities Safe
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