Stricter guidelines may come to a program that lets undercover police officers in Washington obtain fictitious driver licenses. The Washington House could vote soon on a measure that would require additional safeguards to ensure the false IDs are not misused.
They’re called confidential driver licenses. They’re the real deal but the information on them is made up: the name, birthdate, address. The new law would explicitly state that these IDs are only for undercover or covert law enforcement activities. Also, officers who get one of these licenses would have to surrender it back to the Department of Licensing within 30 days of the undercover assignment ending.
Republican Jason Overstreet wrote the stricter rules into a measure that authorizes the Department of Licensing to continue operating the program.
“Outside of covert or undercover law enforcement work and/or assignment these things should not be issued and should be returned immediately when those operations and/or assignments end.”
Also, an officer who retires or is fired would have to immediately turn in the fictitious license.
The Department of Licensing has been running the confidential program for years without formal authorization from the Legislature. Currently more than 1,000 of these driver’s licenses are in circulation. The agency says it has never turned down an application for one.
