MALONE — New technology used to weed out people trying to obtain multiple drivers' licenses may not go far enough to find the people it targets.
Facial-recognition technology scans a person's face when they are photographed at a New York State Department of Motor Vehicles office and uses dozens of measurements to create a numerical value that is assigned to that image.
The database is supposed to trigger a red flag when a match is found with another of the 15 million photos already on file at the central office in Albany, not the local DMV offices.
Gov. David Paterson praised the data collected so far, saying it has "bolstered national security, neighborhood security and highway safety."
He said in a news release that, since the technology began a six-month pilot program, more than 1,000 cases of possible fraud were identified.
But more importantly, 100 felony arrests have been made, including that of an Egyptian with four licenses under different names who was on the federal "no-fly" list; a person wanted for a 1990s bank robbery; and a former hit man who tried to create a second ID after his release from prison.
FEWER NEW PHOTOS
Still, the officials who sort out the DMV information and vouch for its authenticity aren't so sure it does what it could do.
Driver's licenses are issued for eight years, and not everyone opts for a new photo when they have to renew it, said Franklin County Clerk Wanda Murtagh, who oversees the DMV offices here.
And since the state DMV began accepting license renewals on the Internet rather than requiring face-to-face transactions with customers, no DMV personnel ever see who is actually applying for a renewal online.
DMV offices collect a 12.7-percent fee for each in-person transaction performed, so in-person renewals would also help the local economy, Murtagh said.
But as it is, renewals can be issued online using a file photo that could be at least eight years old.
"If the state really wants to have driver identification, there should be a mandate to have them come to the office and have a new picture taken," Murtagh said. "Coming full circle is what needs to be done here."
She said people's looks change over time, but that fact is not reflected on licenses using older DMV photos.
SYSTEM WORKABLE
But County District Attorney Derek Champagne said the technology takes as many as 80 digital measurements, including depth of eye sockets, width of the nose, cheekbone shape, jaw-line length and distance between their eyes.
"There is a lot of difference between a 2-year-old and a 15-year-old, but you don't change that much between 20 and 26 or 30 to 45," he said, adding that the person's bone structure determines the algorithm number used for identification.
"Their algorithm number doesn't change unless they are disfigured in some way," said Champagne, who is also president of the State Association of District Attorneys.
"I welcome this technology," he said, because it makes "what was previously science fiction a reality.
"And if it identifies someone who was part of a terrorist network, I'm all for it."
GAP REMAINS
Murtagh said she appreciates the added security the system can bring but questions the state stopping its efforts to close the information gap.
"If they are going to do this, they should eliminate taking renewals online," she said, adding that her staff thoroughly documents a person's identity in person but cannot do the same for computerized transactions.
"It's actually quite hypocritical. If you're enforcing something like this, they should require a new picture be taken at our office with each renewal."
E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com
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