The state designed the license with input from retailers, bankers and law-enforcement officers. Illegal immigrants, people with convictions for driving while intoxicated, those with a lot of traffic tickets and identity thieves are most likely to buy a phony license, she said. Julio Pajon said.įake licenses good enough to fool the average person fetch up to $1,500 on the black market, said FHP Trooper Kelly Carrick, who investigates fraud cases in Miami. Prototypes are designed for durability and were tested by running them through a washer and dryer several times much as might happen by accident at home, Florida Highway Patrol Lt. 'It should complicate things for counterfeiters,' said Jose Figueroa, 31, who was on his way to trade his New York drivers license for a Florida version.

Other words and markings will be discernible under a microscope or using a special reader - kind of a decoder ring for law enforcement. A third portrait of the driver and some text will be visible only under ultraviolet light. Three layers of security are designed to protect the integrity of the drivers license much as a lock on the door, an alarm system and a fence combine to protect a house. The effort is similar to the 2003 revamping of the $20 bill that was gussied up to thwart counterfeiters. The new document will include a beach scene, the state seal with hidden letters and a portrait repeated in a lighter 'ghost image' on the front, and two bar codes, some tiny print and a magnetic stripe on the back, all to make copying tougher. Drivers don't need to replace their current Florida licenses until they expire.

'They just want to have a good handle on everybody who's applying for a license,' said Osceola County Tax Collector Patsy Heffner, whose office is the first in Central Florida scheduled to dispense the new license. Increased homeland security also is a goal. The changes are designed partly to cut down on identity theft, which cost consumers more than $25 million last year statewide, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Florida driver license new look