Fake permits easy to make, easy to spot

Fake permits easy to make, easy to spot

By Tom Collins
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 17, 1996

Charles C. Labenz
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Shown above is a comparison of a real UA lot 4055 parking pass (left) and a counterfeited pass (right). The counterfeited pass was discovered by a Parking and Transportation employee Oct. 7 because of its pink shade rather than the original red color. Along with a color difference, many design errors are also visible on the pass.

On Oct. 7, a UA student was cited for theft after an allegedly counterfeit parking permit was discovered in his vehicle.
The incident is a rare one, but nothing new, said Marlis Davis, director of Parking and Transportation Services. She said between two and three counterfeit permits are found a year.
"Our officers are good at picking them out," Davis said.
Parking and Transportation can cite users of fake permits, and in some cases, prevent the users from purchasing parking permits "for a while," Davis said.
Counterfeiting cases are also referred to the University of Arizona Police Department, Davis said.
UAPD Acting Lt. Brian Seastone also said incidents involving false permits are rare, but are pursued.
"It's theft, plain and simple," Seastone said.
According to Parking and Transportation Service's 1996-97 Motor Vehicle Parking and Traffic Regulations, the penalty for an "altered, counterfeit, lost or stolen permit/gate card, or one obtained on the basis of false information" is impoundment of the vehicle and a $50 fine.
The counterfeit permit in the Oct. 7 incident was easy for Parking and Transportation officers to spot, Davis said. She said the permit was the wrong color and had the wrong wording on it.
Also, the numbers on the permit were in the wrong order, according to UAPD reports.
Some fake permits have been so well made that it was just the thickness of the permit that tipped off Parking and Transportation officers, Davis said.
"There are a lot of things we do to prevent duplication," Davis said of permits, which are ordered from the largest parking permit manufacturer in the United States.
Davis would not comment on specific measures that prevent counterfeiting.
"Do you really think I'm going to tell you that?" Davis said.
The permit discovered Oct. 7 was produced using a computer and a scanner.
A scanner functions much like a photocopy machine, said Limell' Lawson, a support systems analyst for the Center for Computing and Information Technology.
"You stick anything into a scanner, especially anything flat," Lawson said.
Unlike a photocopy machine, a scanner can digitally reproduce a photograph without any loss of quality.
"The simpler the picture, the better the scan," said Robert Kimmel, a specialist technician at the UA Computer and Technology Store and a management information systems junior. He said a parking permit is a simple image.
Once the image is inside a computer, a number of programs, like Adobe Photoshop, can be used to change the image, Kimmel said. He said those kinds of programs are available for about $100.
Scanners range in price and quality. For example, an Apple color scanner can be bought for $565, according to a price list at CATS.
"The crime is not worth it," Davis said. She said that eventually a permit counterfeiter will be caught and face the consequences.
"It's just a matter of time," Davis said.