An article ran in yesterday's USA Today that caused quite a stir across the state.
The headline says four states adopt no-smiles policy for driver's license.
It states that Arkansas is among the states that don't allow any smiling in driver's license pictures.
When we began making phone calls, we found out that wasn't the case at all.
We spoke with the Department of Finance and Administration who says that is simply not true.
In fact, we were at the DMV and heard them actually telling people to smile.
Loretta Young at the Van Buren Revenue Office said, "People are allowed to smile. We allow them to choose if they want to smile or not."
The article that ran in USA Today states that Arkansas uses facial recognition software.
When a driver's license picture is taken it is scanned into a database.
The database checks each picture for duplicate faces by measuring the distance between facial features.
The system is supposed to stop identity theft by keeping people from creating more than one I.D.
It also keeps people from having speeding tickets and citations spread out over multiple identities. We spoke with the Fort Smith Police Department, Van Buren Police Department, and the Arkansas State Police who all said they don't use facial recognition software, because they have no use for it or the software is too expensive.
The headline says four states adopt no-smiles policy for driver's license.
It states that Arkansas is among the states that don't allow any smiling in driver's license pictures.
When we began making phone calls, we found out that wasn't the case at all.
We spoke with the Department of Finance and Administration who says that is simply not true.
In fact, we were at the DMV and heard them actually telling people to smile.
Loretta Young at the Van Buren Revenue Office said, "People are allowed to smile. We allow them to choose if they want to smile or not."
The article that ran in USA Today states that Arkansas uses facial recognition software.
When a driver's license picture is taken it is scanned into a database.
The database checks each picture for duplicate faces by measuring the distance between facial features.
The system is supposed to stop identity theft by keeping people from creating more than one I.D.
It also keeps people from having speeding tickets and citations spread out over multiple identities. We spoke with the Fort Smith Police Department, Van Buren Police Department, and the Arkansas State Police who all said they don't use facial recognition software, because they have no use for it or the software is too expensive.
