Arizona’s MVD to help fight identity theft, make E-Verify more thorough

PHOENIX — A new program will help fight identity theft, and a big aide in the effort is thanks to the Motor Vehicle Division.

MVD spokesman Doug Nick said the MVD is “always looking for ways to make things more efficient and improve our customer service,” and one way they’re going to do that is to partner with the Department of Homeland Security in a new program.

The Records and Information from DMVs for E-Verify (RIDE) initiative is an enhancement to the E-Verify program that verifies the validity of driver’s license and ID card information by matching the data entered by employers against participating state motor vehicle department records.

Arizona is one of just three states rolling out the RIDE program.

“We want to be on the cutting edge of innovation, be ahead of the curve on that,” he said.

Nick described the RIDE program that prospective employers can use when screening job applicants.

“The information the prospective employee has provided can be matched with the information in the Motor Vehicle database,” Nick said. “It helps add a layer of identification and verification to ensure that the person’s using proper identification and is who he or she says they are.”

He’s confident RIDE will do a complete job in ensuring worker identity as mandated by E-Verify.

“Ride enables a two-part verification by validating information on those documents. Anytime you can bolster that effort, I think it’s a good thing for people’s identity and identity security,” Nick said. “As we all know, identity theft is an issue that just continues to vex a lot of people. And as an agency that is very concerned about protecting sensitive information, we’re doing everything that we can to help other agencies that have to verify identifiable information. So we’re working as a team with the Federal Government in this process because it is a big problem.”

According to Nick, Wyoming and Maryland are also involved in the RIDE program.

“This is all very brand new. If it serves customers better and protects their identity than it’s a win-win for Arizonans,” he said.

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