RileyMC asked;
So if I get pulled over in Alma Illinois, and hand over my California Driver's License, what information can the dispatcher retrieve?
If you get pulled over in Alma, it won't be by me, I don't work there..
However when I check a license, I give dispatch, last name, first name, middle initial, sex/race and date of birth. In the case of an out of state check, I will specify what state (California in your example). When the dispatcher keys the information into the computer, it goes first through LEADS which is a local database that will give warrants, officer safety information etc. specific to Illinois. Next it goes through NCIC (National Crime Information Center the federal data base) which will give any warrants entered into NCIC by federal agencies, officer safety information (most states enter orders of protection into NCIC, as an aside to this an order of protection notification on NCIC has a line on it that reminds the officer that any CCW is not valid under federal law, I have to assume that this is nationwide as we don't have CCW in Illinois and I see it on every OOP alert. Must be part of the boilerplate alert.) Finally (this all happens in seconds) the inquiry goes to California and they return your DL record. Some states send the complete file which may include information on recent traffic convictions etc. and some only send the basic information like the current address, classification and if the license is valid, suspended, revoked or surrendered.
I can get a person's criminal history through NCIC (if they have none I simply get a response that the subject has no criminal history)
I can also find out what vehicles a person may have registered to them. My point in the earlier post was that the actual card means nothing. The database information is what counts. A national ID card would give us nothing. It would only be a way for the government to invade privacy and take more civil rights away. I find it ironic that in many cases the same moronic legislators who support a national ID card, often support laws to ease up on the identification requirements for states to issue drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. We already have a national ID by default. Most states issue a photo ID to those people who don't qualify for drivers licenses. It's hard to live in our society without some type of ID, however those who choose to still have that option.
A terrorist would be able to forge whatever identity papers he or she needed to get a
valid ID card just like they do now. I see a big cost in tax dollars, no increase in security and loss of freedom and privacy. A national ID is a bad idea and simply not needed.
Jeff