California DMV crackdown on fraudulent handicapped placards

Fraudulent Disabled Person Placards (DPP) are on the rise in California and the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is cracking down those people applying for and using them.

Over the weekend the DMV announced the arrest of three suspects in the San Francisco area in connection with illegal activity associated with the DPP application process. The San Francisco District Attorney’s office charged the suspects with four felonies including filing false information with a state agency, perjury, commercial burglary, and forgery. A fourth suspect was arrested and charged with 24 felony counts.

“The DMV is stepping up Disabled Placard enforcement in a different, more aggressive way by catching the perpetrators at the beginning stages,” said DMV Director Jean Shiomoto. “Operation Blue Zone has been very successful in catching fraud placard applications in the Bay Area.”

"We are looking at different avenues to address the issues of fraudulent Disabled Person Placards (DPP)," according to Jessica Gonzalez fo the DMV. "We have had complaints in the past with allegations of doctors’ involvement or falsification of the doctors’ certification. In this case, we were able to have DMV field offices identify the fraudulent applications in a timely manner and after a more involved investigation were able to secure the evidence necessary to prove the applications were false. We understand that doctors have to protect the patients’ confidentially and can be hesitate to provide information in these investigations. Field office staff works together with DMV Investigations to identity and investigate fraud activity in their offices – including applications for DPP. DMV field offices and DMV Investigations are working together to attempt to stop DPP Fraud at the beginning stages."

The DMV urges that if you believe that someone has been issued a Disabled Person Placard in error or suspect placard misuse to contact your local DMV Investigations office and submit a written complaint. The complaint can be anonymous. Please be aware that some qualifying disabilities are not visually apparent and allegations of misuse may be unfounded.

The department considers crimes relating to disabled placards very serious and every complaint of this nature will be reviewed. Complaint forms can be found on the DMV public website www.dmv.ca.gov under the search key words “Record of Complaint,” or under form INV172A – Record of Complaint form. You may also obtain a complaint form from your local DMV field office.