A new policy that allows D.C. drivers to wait nearly two decades before updating their license photograph is spurring some to wonder how a criminal might use graying, balding, wrinkling and other inevitabilities of age to steal someone’s identity.
The D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles, under a rule change implemented Friday, requires that District residents obtain a new license photograph after 17 years, nearly triple the former policy of six years. Get one photo at age 21 and there’s no need to get another until 38. Get one at 38 — don’t return until you’re five years past eligible for an AARP membership.
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D.C. driver’s licenses expire after eight years, but licensees now have the option of renewing by mail or online every other cycle. The law also allows persons a full year to have a photograph taken after the second expiration — a total of 17 years.
“I know it was probably meant to save a little money,” Ward 1 D.C. Councilman Jim Graham, who has oversight of the DMV, said of the policy. “But with all of our concerns about homeland security and all the proposals circulating about improving our identification, this is a step back. Just from my own experience, I know how much I’ve changed in 17 years. Seventeen years ago, I had a beard.”
The new rule “is designed to save taxpayers money, increase government efficiency and provide better service to the public,” said Jack Pfeiffer, a spokesman for Mayor Adrian Fenty.
A similar budget-cutting maneuver was implemented last July in Virginia, where a new photo is now required every 16 years.
Melanie Stokes, Virginia DMV spokeswoman, said the commonwealth has just started issuing redesigned driver’s licenses with grayscale, instead of color, photos: Black-and-white photos train a person’s eyes on permanent facial features rather than changing ones, she said, like hair color.
D.C. and Virginia appear to be on the outside of current state standards, except New York, which doesn’t require a person to have a photograph retaken ever. In Maryland, a new snapshot is required every 10 years.
The District’s new policy “will lead to a whole raft of unintended consequences,” warned John Townsend, AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman. Cashiers may struggle to confirm the identity of a check writer, he said, or underage drinkers may find it easier to use fake identification.
“It’s shortsightedness on the part of government,” Townsend said.
