Smartphone app lets police quickly scan IDs

NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - Ordering a fake ID card on the internet is easy. But sometimes those fakes are hard to spot. That is why law enforcement officials are turning to technology.

LawID is an app developed by Long Island-based company Intellicheck solely for law enforcement. CEO Bryan Lewis says investigators can use the smartphone app to scan a driver's license or state-issued ID  to authenticate the barcode. Officers can also check federal, state, and DMV databases for any wants or warrants.

"All the officer needs to do is scan the ID—and that quickly came back and says this is an unknown format and so this is, in all likelihood, a fake ID," Lewis said. "The product is used in bars, in patrol cars, people on bike patrols."

He added that authorities in some oceanfront communities are testing the app for use on boardwalks.

Since the LawID app launched two weeks ago in New York, Intellicheck has received calls from police departments from L.A. to Maine interested in the technology.

"We have pilots underway or about to start in New York, Massachusetts, Delaware, Virginia, South Carolina, and Mississippi," Lewis said.

In New York, 211 people have been arrested for fake IDs or underage drinking in June and July.