Heist Of Id-Making Equipment Worries Officials

Two burglaries in less than four days did more than just close the local driver’s license office for a couple of weeks.

Enough equipment was stolen to accurately reproduce Idaho driver’s licenses or identification cards, including authentic-looking ID for bogus law officers.

“You could do a lot of damage,” Twin Falls police Detective Dan Lewin said Friday. “The possibilities are endless.”

People with fake IDs could drive illegally, cash someone else’s checks, apply for welfare under an assumed name or get a loan or passport. Minors could use the fake ID to buy alcohol or cigarettes.

“If it’s kids, they can bypass driver’s education,” Twin Falls Police Capt. Bob Hodge said.

Blank IDs for the Twin Falls Sheriff’s Department and other police forces in the county also were stolen, raising the possibility that people could forge cards and pose as law officers, Lewin said.

Lawrence Flournoy, U.S. Bank’s vice president in Twin Falls, said “it’s spooky” that a rash of fake IDs might be used to cash stolen checks.

“This is a problem that’s going on nationally,” he said. “This is a big issue with all financial institutions.”

The driver’s license office was burglarized the weekend of July 23-24, then again last Monday night or Tuesday morning, police records show. A camera, printer, film, film cutter, camera backdrop, laminates and laminator were stolen.

Hodge said law officers will be looking closer than usual for fake IDs.

“If they’re pushing out IDs, somebody out there knows who’s doing it,” he said. “We’re going to have to hear something about it sometime.”

Lewin urged local cashiers, clerks and anyone else who encounters IDs to “take the extra two seconds” and look for suspicious-looking typesetting.

They also should check for discrepancies between the physical characteristics listed on the ID and the customer’s actual appearance, he said.

And Lewin said anyone confronted by a law officer not in uniform should study their identification card and badge closely, then call a uniformed officer for confirmation if still not convinced.