BMV fights long waits at branches

The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles is fighting crime -- and long wait lines.\nLast Thursday Indiana BMV Commissioner Joel Silverman, along with Gov. Mitch Daniels and State Police Col. Larry Rollins announced a new customer service feature on the BMV Web site, as well as a campaign to fight fraud.\nThe new customer service feature is designed to help save customers' time by publicizing which BMV branches are the busiest and how long the average wait is at a given branch each day of the week. According to the site, the Bloomington branch, located at 1612 S. Liberty Drive, has the sixth highest average wait time of 39 minutes. The BMV began collecting data in April, which is the data now posted online, and will update the data each month. The site also lists three nearby branches where area customers can go to potentially save time. The Bloomington branch is listed in a group with the Martinsville, Spencer and Indianapolis-Ameriplex branches.\n"We wanted to be as transparent as we could be with visit times at branches and offer alternatives to customers," said Indiana BMV Communications Representative Greg Cook.\nCook said the BMV has been trying to track average visit lengths for a while and has just upgraded to computers that can document a customer's arrival time and the time of the transaction. Thus the two times can be lumped together to estimate the amount of time the customer spent at the branch. An additional 10-minute waiting period was factored in to calculations to account for any time the customer had to spend waiting in line to check in.\nTuesdays are the busiest days for all branches, Cook said, primarily because branches aren't open on Mondays and that makes Tuesdays their first day of business. He said the BMV wanted people to be aware of this when planning visits, and encouraged people to try visiting alternative branches if their schedule allows it.\n"Some customers may not have that flexibility and we understand that, but customers who do might experience a shorter wait," Cook said.\nThe updates to the Web site, which appeared last Thursday, also remind customers that not all tasks require a trip to a BMV branch. Patrons can renew their vehicle registration by phone, Internet, mail or self-service terminals located at BMV branches. Watercraft registrations can also be renewed online. Instructions for all of these processes are posted on the Indiana BMV Web site. \nDavid Martin, manager of the Bloomington BMV branch, supports having the data on the BMV Web site and thinks his branch will be able to improve.\n"I think it's an excellent idea," he said. "(Lowering wait times) is a statewide goal and it's something we're shooting for and we're going meet it. (The site) will help service and help the community." \nSo far, Cook has received nothing but positive comments regarding the Web site updates.\n"We've received overwhelming positive responses from the public," Cook said. "They're happy that we're offering them information and alternatives. (The site is) a very powerful tool that gives people choice."\nAnother way the BMV is now empowering people is through a new campaign that cracks down on fraud. A 24-hour hotline, 1-877-599-TIPS, was established last week so that anyone who suspects someone has provided them with false BMV-related documents can call and report the incident. \nCook said that so far in 2006 the BMV has investigated almost 2,600 fraud cases, which shows a significant increase from 2,400 cases in 2005 and 170 in 2004. Within the last few months the state BMV planned the campaign in an attempt to curb the problem and raise awareness about fraud. The BMV also wanted to let people know that starting July 1, knowingly presenting a fraudulent document to a BMV branch in order to obtain an identification card or a driver's license will be considered Class D felony.\n"Commissioner Silverman is determined to focus on identifying fraud because we're trying to protect customer security," Cook said. "We're trying to be more active in identifying fraud and doing what we can to prevent it."\nCook said people can use the hotline to report any transactions using fraudulent BMV-related documents, including fake IDs. Since the hotline is open to the public, restaurants and bars can use it to report fake IDs if they want. He said that after a case is reported on the hotline, an investigation will follow. The BMV is partnering with local police, state police and state prosecutors to pursue legal action if necessary and "stamp out fraud," Cook said.\nFor more information on the fraud campaign or branch statistics, visit the Indiana BMV Web site at www.in.gov/bmv.