Wayne DMV agency burglarized

As employees prepared to open the Wayne DMV agency at 481 Route 46 West on Tuesday morning, they discovered that cash was taken from a safe.

It appears someone used a drill to destroy the lock of the safe. In addition to cash from transactions that were made at the agency on Monday, confidential documents and checks were in the safe.

Wayne Township Police are investigating the case.

DMV Director Diane Legreide said the burglary highlights the need to improve the security at the 45 privately-run agencies.

"Security cameras, motion sensors, stronger locks and tougher safes need to be installed in our agencies to protect confidential documents," Legreide said. "We are extremely troubled by the burglary in Wayne. Thieves could have taken confidential documents that contain personal information about many New Jersey drivers and used the information to steal someone’s identity or sold the information to someone to fraudulently obtain a driver’s license."

"Until we receive the funding to improve the security at our agencies, we will continue to be vulnerable to burglaries and identity theft," she added.

Improving security at DMV agencies, preventing document fraud and improving customer service have been at the forefront of an effort to overhaul the DMV. In April Governor James McGreevey established the Fix DMV Commission to address systemic concerns of vulnerable security, weak document control and poor customer service at the DMV.

Since then, the Commission’s recommendations have resulted in more than 80 arrests involving document fraud, removal of nearly half of DMV’s private agents, the completion of background checks on more than 500 agency employees, the development of a document fraud-training unit within DMV, the addition of law enforcement personnel and customer service training for the first time in 15 years. Legislation that would fund $200 million in reforms is pending before the New Jersey Senate.