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Posted February 18
Colorado DMV Still Doesn’t Get It: Restricting Access to Records Hurts Coloradans
Colorado department of motor vehicles officials are proposing – yet again - to tighten the rules on access to the department’s records, even though they don’t have to, and even though doing so wouldn’t protect anyone and would hurt a lot of people. Operations Director Stephen Hooper proposed earlier this month to make it harder for private investigators to get DMV records. When private investigators go to the DMV, it’s almost always to help locate a defendant who causes a car accident or someone who witnessed one. In either case, someone was hurt and their chances of getting reimbursed for their medical bills and obtaining other compensation for their injuries and losses are reduced if their lawyers and investigators can’t find the people responsible, or the people who witnessed the accident and can testify to who is to blame.
DMV officials know that. But they care more about keeping their records secret than they do about making public records available to those who need them for legitimate purposes.
The DMV’s Hooper proposes to require that investigators seeking access to DMV records obtain a $10,000 bond or a license from a state that licenses investigators (Colorado doesn’t), or join the Professional Private Investigators Association of Colorado (PPIAC).
Here’s what’s wrong with the DMV proposal:
1). It falsely asserts that federal law requires that private investigators be licensed in order to obtain DMV records. The law provides for 14 exemptions from the prohibition on releasing such records, one of which covers licensed private investigative agencies. Another exemption covers instances in which the records are sought by anyone in connection with any civil proceeding or investigation in anticipation of litigation. Anyone whose purpose in seeking the records meets that exemption can obtain DMV records under both federal and CO law, even if they are not a private investigator. That exemption mirrors a provision in the “Requestor Release” form that the department currently requires those seeking records to complete and sign.
2). The federal law cited in support of the proposed policy was enacted in 1994 and has not been amended. The state has complied with the law since then, and its current policies governing access to DMV records meets the requirements of the federal law. There is, therefore, no need for the proposed new policy.
3). The PPIAC is a private organization whose members include only a small fraction of PIs in the state. It’s not even the organization with the most PIs in the state. For the state to require membership in a private organization to obtain access to public records is an inappropriate and unconstitutional partnership and collaboration between government and a private association.
4). Although presented as a bid to comply with federal law, the motive of those recommending the proposed policy is to reduce the workload on the DMV staff by reducing the number of those eligible to access DMV records. That is an inappropriate and unlawful motive.
5). The effect of the proposed policy, if adopted, would be to make it harder for Coloradans injured by the negligence of others to obtain compensation for their injuries, because DMV records are important tools in locating negligent drivers, the owners of the vehicles they drive, and witnesses to accidents. By adopting the proposed policy, the department would be siding with DUI drivers and the other careless and reckless drivers who kill and maim others, and the firms that insure them. Coloradans – whether injured or not – deserve better from their government.
