5 ms·

From Stolen Wallet to ID Theft, Wrongful Arrest

73 points by cgtyoder 11y ago

Someone1234 11y ago
Real question: In the US is it possible to get your driver's license cancelled and re-issued when it is stolen? That may have helped here, since when the cop ran the license it would have turned up stolen. Assuming cops are entering license #IDs into the system rather than just recording the name. As an aside I thought driving licenses were all picture IDs now? How did the cop not spot that the person handing them the ID wasn't the person ON the ID?
- JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  It varies by state. In Iowa, used to have your SSN as the license id, so it was not easy to change. Now its just a serial number, so it should be possible.
- mikeash 11y ago
  I imagine they look similar enough he could pass. The pictures on IDs are often old and of poor quality, and then you're trying to compare with a person in a different situation, often with bad lighting. I've long thought this was a problem with photo IDs. It's tough to match people up with their photo in a reliable fashion. You can easily catch obvious stuff (I'm not going to be able to borrow my wife's ID) but the discriminatory power is way less than one in seven billion.
- tallanvor 11y ago
  Depending on the state, the photo could be 10+ years old, and people can change quite a bit.
- chatmasta 11y ago
  I lost my license recently and was able to order a replacement online. Interestingly, all I gave as input were my SSN and DOB. I pressed submit, and the next screen showed me my drivers license number (unchanged), full address, height, weight, and all other information on my license. Definitely an insecure system.
- epc 11y ago
  Not in NY State. My partners's identity was stolen in 2012, the thief was somehow able to get a NY State DL issued with my partner’s information but the thief’s photo. NY State DMV refused to issue a new driver’s license number, instead there’s a fraud flag on her license information. Now she (my partner) must present two forms of photo id when she wants to rent a car or do anything else where a driver’s license would normally suffice.
  - mentat 11y ago
    That's amazingly bad. We allow these agencies to issue permanent IDs without any sort of management system...
- aidenn0 11y ago
  When my DL was lost, they reissued it with an identical ID#.
- cafard 11y ago
  Back before 2001, I left my driver's license on a bookshelf 100 miles from home, the day before I was too leave the country for vacation. I took my passport to the DMV, and within about 20 minutes had my new driver's license. I imagine that it would be a vastly greater pain these days.
pavel_lishin 11y ago
I wonder how many of the cars parked in the driveway weren't in the garage because it was filled with stuff.
Johnny555 11y ago
It's interesting that law enforcement claims that they need to surveil all of our private data to keep us safe, yet they can't even figure out a way to share amongst themselves crime-related information that citizens give them willingly. If the police departments had just shared the information about his stolen wallet (his local police department had just warned him about unauthorized use of his credit card 24 hours before the arrest), then the arrest could have been avoided.
throwaway_xx9 11y ago
The title says "wrongful arrest" which is not accurate, since the police computer says to pick up that person - it's just the arrest of the wrong person. A wrongful arrest is more like an arrest with no warrant and no evidence - like walking down the street and refusing to answer questions or show ID to a police officer who is attempting to infringe your civil liberties.
- adekok 11y ago
  > A wrongful arrest is more like an arrest with no warrant and no evidence Like arresting someone when they have evidence the person they're arresting didn't do the crime?

73 points by cgtyoder 11y ago

Real question: In the US is it possible to get your driver's license cancelled and re-issued when it is stolen? That may have helped here, since when the cop ran the license it would have turned up stolen. Assuming cops are entering license #IDs into the system rather than just recording the name. As an aside I thought driving licenses were all picture IDs now? How did the cop not spot that the person handing them the ID wasn't the person ON the ID?

JoeAltmaier 11y ago
It varies by state. In Iowa, used to have your SSN as the license id, so it was not easy to change. Now its just a serial number, so it should be possible.
mikeash 11y ago
I imagine they look similar enough he could pass. The pictures on IDs are often old and of poor quality, and then you're trying to compare with a person in a different situation, often with bad lighting. I've long thought this was a problem with photo IDs. It's tough to match people up with their photo in a reliable fashion. You can easily catch obvious stuff (I'm not going to be able to borrow my wife's ID) but the discriminatory power is way less than one in seven billion.
tallanvor 11y ago
Depending on the state, the photo could be 10+ years old, and people can change quite a bit.
chatmasta 11y ago
I lost my license recently and was able to order a replacement online. Interestingly, all I gave as input were my SSN and DOB. I pressed submit, and the next screen showed me my drivers license number (unchanged), full address, height, weight, and all other information on my license. Definitely an insecure system.
epc 11y ago
Not in NY State. My partners's identity was stolen in 2012, the thief was somehow able to get a NY State DL issued with my partner’s information but the thief’s photo. NY State DMV refused to issue a new driver’s license number, instead there’s a fraud flag on her license information. Now she (my partner) must present two forms of photo id when she wants to rent a car or do anything else where a driver’s license would normally suffice.
- mentat 11y ago
  That's amazingly bad. We allow these agencies to issue permanent IDs without any sort of management system...
aidenn0 11y ago
When my DL was lost, they reissued it with an identical ID#.
cafard 11y ago
Back before 2001, I left my driver's license on a bookshelf 100 miles from home, the day before I was too leave the country for vacation. I took my passport to the DMV, and within about 20 minutes had my new driver's license. I imagine that it would be a vastly greater pain these days.

pavel_lishin 11y ago

I wonder how many of the cars parked in the driveway weren't in the garage because it was filled with stuff.

Johnny555 11y ago

It's interesting that law enforcement claims that they need to surveil all of our private data to keep us safe, yet they can't even figure out a way to share amongst themselves crime-related information that citizens give them willingly. If the police departments had just shared the information about his stolen wallet (his local police department had just warned him about unauthorized use of his credit card 24 hours before the arrest), then the arrest could have been avoided.

throwaway_xx9 11y ago

The title says "wrongful arrest" which is not accurate, since the police computer says to pick up that person - it's just the arrest of the wrong person. A wrongful arrest is more like an arrest with no warrant and no evidence - like walking down the street and refusing to answer questions or show ID to a police officer who is attempting to infringe your civil liberties.

adekok 11y ago
> A wrongful arrest is more like an arrest with no warrant and no evidence Like arresting someone when they have evidence the person they're arresting didn't do the crime?