Mark of Verity

Sep 1, 2004 12:00 PM

ID card upgrade boosts professionalism at Indiana DNR

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Law Enforcement Division, headquartered in Indianapolis, covers 10 districts throughout the state. At more than 100 years of age, it is the oldest state law enforcement agency in Indiana.

In addition to enforcing state laws, the DNR Law Enforcement Division is involved in outdoor education programs, river rescue and underwater search and recovery efforts. Officers also help during emergencies and natural disasters.

The Indiana DNR Law Enforcement team consists of 215 conservation officers whose job is to preserve and protect the state's natural resources. While the officers are faced with a myriad of responsibilities, safety and security are always their top priorities. To maintain their credibility, officers sought to upgrade their identification badges.

“We wanted our identification badges to reflect the professionalism of our officers,” says Major Samuel Purvis of the Law Enforcement Division of the Indiana DNR. “Ever since Sept. 11, it has become more important for our officers to carry a secure ID badge, whether they are in uniform or not.”

Given the size of his staff, Purvis sought a solution to provide officers with a professional image without exceeding his resources. For this, Purvis chose the VeriMark photo ID cards from Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Fargo Electronics, for officers across the state.

VeriMark is a visual security feature that embeds an organization's personalized logo, text or graphics in gold type onto a silver metallic foil, thus making the card easier to verify and nearly impossible to counterfeit.

The Law Enforcement division decided on two kinds of ID cards, both with embedded VeriMark images. One is a horizontal card, which officers carry in an ID wallet accompanied by a badge and which officers use when taking official police action. The other is a two-sided vertical card, with a larger photo, that is clipped to an outer uniform pocket and that is used for easy visual identification in federal and state installations. “It's one more level of verification,” Purvis says. “We wanted to provide our officers with something more than their badge and a uniform.”

“The DNR was not looking for a large volume of cards,” adds Nathan Ahlberg of IdentiSys, the systems integrator working with Purvis. “They only needed a few hundred of each format. VeriMark cards were perfect because they added to the professionalism and security of the cards, and they have low minimum quantity requirements.”

VeriMark cards are suitable for organizations wanting to add low-cost, personalized visual security. “The VeriMark symbol makes this card more official and more secure,” Purvis says. “It's awfully hard to duplicate. Deciding to use VeriMark cards was easy — most of our work focused on the logo design.”

Currently, the Indiana DNR cards do not contain any special technology for access control because most institutions, such as city jails, have their own requirements, Purvis says. Technology additions may be made in the future, he adds.

FOR THE RECORD…

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