DMV serious about new 'no smile' policy

LEESBURG, Va. - Braces-clad Katie Stevenson, 15, of Purcellville, posed in front of the camera, lips clamped over her teeth, to get her learner's permit photo taken at the Leesburg Department of Motor Vehicles branch June 6.

Even though no smile peeked through, Katie was reminded to maintain a neutral expression. “No smiling,” prompted the woman behind the counter.

Under a new state policy targeting ID fraud, you can mimic the Mona Lisa, but you'll have to stow your high-watt smile.

“If it's for security purposes, it doesn't bother me too much,” said Katie's mother, Shanadee Stevenson. "But it's going to be hard for her not to smile on her first license."

Virginia DMV spokeswoman Melanie Stokes said the reason behind the neutral-expression request is new technology that will allow comparison of facial features over time, which are easier to track when the same expression is used.

“A non-smile requirement is misleading,” Stokes said. She said the department prefers the term “neutral expression.”

Arkansas, Indiana and Nevada have similar policies.

The format change, about four years in the making, was a joint decision by the DMV and General Assembly, Stokes said. The DMV began issuing the new license format this spring. About 50 percent of the state's DMV branches are currently issuing the new IDs, Stokes said.

Ashburn resident Adrian Caldwell, 26, also got his photo taken June 6 at the DMV in Leesburg.

“I don't have a problem with it,” he said of the policy. “Definitely there are more people with identity theft issues. So if this helps … ”

Rather than being issued his laminated ID, Caldwell was given a sheet of white paper as a temporary license and was told that his real license would be mailed to him within seven to 10 business days.

Mailing state-issued IDs rather than allowing counter pickup is also part of the DMV's new policy, Stokes said.

The new licenses, which will show black-and-white rather than color photos, will be harder to counterfeit and harder to tamper with, she said.

Separating the layers of plastic to slip in an alternative photo is the kind of tampering that will be history with the new IDs, she said.

In Virginia, driver's licenses expire every eight years. The Virginia DMV issues about 225,000 new licenses each year.

“We're not requiring that you get this new license,” Stokes said. "But within eight years, everyone will have this new form."

Contact the reporter at hhobbs@timespapers.com

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