TOM BELL, Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- A police officer will soon be stationed in every Motor Vehicle Commission office statewide as part of an ongoing crackdown on document fraud.
The agency will spend about $3 million to put municipal police officers in its 41 local offices and state troopers in its four regional offices, officials said Wednesday.
The officers will be able to act quickly and make arrests when someone tries to use phony documents to apply for the state’s new digital driver’s licenses, officials said. Suspects are now often able to flee by the time MVC clerks spot a problem, consult a supervisor and contact police.
Officers will also be on the lookout for fraud committed by MVC employees, according to Carmelo Huertas, the agency’s director of security. Huertas said the officers could be in place by December.
The effort is also intended to bring uniformity to enforcement of New Jersey’s document fraud laws by involving the state Attorney General’s Office, Huertas said. Charges are now handled differently depending on the county where someone is charged, he said.
The money from the MVC could lead to some local police departments hiring an additional officer, Huertas said. MVC offices are open 45 hours a week, including some nights.
Officers attending an MVC training session Wednesday said decisions on additional hiring versus paying overtime for the extra work are still being made.
About a dozen people have been arrested on document fraud charges since the MVC instituted a stricter identification policy at its agencies last week, officials said.