Texas DPS Demanding Fingerprints Upon Renewing Driver's Licenses (Kingsville, Barrett: 2014, crimes)

[DRob4JC]

The Watchdog: Whistleblower blasts DPS for taking fingerprints

A DPS spokesman tells me that the 9-year-old law makes a clear reference to fingerprints so the new fingerprint collection system is legal.

DPS spokesman Tom Vinger says, “It is important to understand that the purpose of this process is to combat fraud, identity theft and other criminal activity, including potentially thwarting terroristic activity. Making sure that people are who they say they are in the process of issuing government identification is a critical safeguard to protect the public against a wide array of criminal threats.”

Honestly, I think if we buttoned up a bunch of unrelated border and defense issues, this probably would not be necessary.

An employee quit because it did not pass the smell test. He says...

“We shouldn’t be violating Texas citizens’ rights. There are laws in place, and we shouldn’t be breaching them.”

Barrett says he is not against catching criminals. The problem, he says, is that if someone has no criminal record, a new record is created of the innocent individual and stored in the statewide database called AFIS.

This means that every Texan who applies for a driver’s license or who comes in for the required in-person renewal every 12 years will be in the state database. In a dozen years, the fingerprints of every Texan holding a driver’s license will be stored in the state database. Many license holders and others including teachers are already in the database, but adding everyone is unprecedented.


My suggestion upon reading the article is that if you renew your license, they will tell you to put you four fingers on a glass box - request the thumb print only since that is what is required by law. There is no rule saying that they can't ask for more - but you shouldn't have to give it to them. That is explained at the bottom of the article. Too late for me... I just renewed and it caught me off guard.

[ethanw]

Effing government man, effing government. So much intrusion into our personal lives is not funny anymore.

[Glenshire]

How many years before cops are equipped with fingerprint readers that they will use to scan you when you get pulled over....?

[TVC15]

What out Big Brother is watching you!

[DRob4JC]

Just to make make the intent of the 2005 law is straight, from the article....

The 2005 law that DPS uses to justify the program allows DPS to take “an applicant’s thumbprints or fingerprints.” Taking a thumbprint has been in practice since the 1960s. The law also states that the prints are to make sure a person gets only one driver’s license and does not commit fraud when applying for a license.

...
Bill co-author Juan M. Escobar, who in 2005 was a state representative from Kingsville, said he recalled the point of his bill was to prevent immigrants living in the U.S. illegally from obtaining a driver’s license.

“I think the intent of the bill was to ensure that the individual was the right person that was applying for a driver’s license,” said Escobar, now county judge in Kleberg County. “The intent was to avoid the privacy issue violation. We’ll just do the thumbprint or the index finger. That was my intent.”

[texas7]

Originally Posted by Glenshire

How many years before cops are equipped with fingerprint readers that they will use to scan you when you get pulled over....?

Fingerprints? This kind of stuff doesn't bug me but then again, my fingerprints aren't showing up in place that the police would be interested in.

[TVC15]

Originally Posted by texas7

Fingerprints? This kind of stuff doesn't bug me but then again, my fingerprints aren't showing up in place that the police would be interested in.

I agree 100% with this!

I previously worked in the area of blood transfusion and if you had access to a blood component irradiator you had to be fully hand and finger printed by the FBI and cleared before you could work there. This all came out when Homeland Security beefed up.

I could care less since the FBI already has several files of my hand and finger prints. I have nothing to hide

[Oildog]

I think I had to provide them last time I renewed my license a few years ago. I think they have been taken for TWIC cards and other government clearances. I'm not as concerned, my prints are unlikely to show up in unsavory places.

[stop-go]

This doesn't bother me at all. Why would it bother anyone without a reason to be bothered?
Honestly - I'm all for it if it possibly helps match criminals to crimes committed.

[testmo]

My work does fingerprinting as part of the national background checks. If you work in child care, government, or a lot of state agency positions you are fingerprinted