DES MOINES — Iowa drivers will begin receiving their state-issued licenses through the mail this spring because of an enhanced security process intended to thwart identity thieves, fraud and other crimes.

The new centralized process, expected to be in place by the end of March, will mean drivers will be issued a temporary paper document when they renew or apply for new licenses. They will then get the actual license through the mail in about 30 days, said Kim Snook of the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Applicants still will need to go to DOT licensing stations or county treasurer offices that issue driver’s licenses to take the necessary tests, pay the applicable fee and have their photo taken, she said.

After that, the information will be run though a national database, and the photo will be processed at a secure location before the counterfeit-resistant license is distributed by mail to a verified address. The driver’s picture also will be run through a database to make certain an applicant doesn’t have any other licenses in another name in the state, Snook said.

Iowa joins 24 other states with a similar distribution system.

“I think more and more are going to it because of the fraud that’s available for over-the-counter licenses,” Snook said. “They come in with good documents, and our staff is very well-trained in fraud and what to look for on documents, but unfortunately, it doesn’t get the INS checks, it doesn’t get the image verification.”

Paul Steier, commander of the DOT’s motor vehicle investigation unit, said state officials are on guard for people attempting to falsify identification for a range of activities that include identity theft, hiding from a bad credit history or checkered past, fugitive status, welfare or bank loan fraud schemes or attempts by minors to obtain alcohol.

“Many thieves today will use genuine documents belonging to somebody else,” he said. “They’ll break into your house and steal your birth certificate or Social Security card, and they’ll show up at one of our counters claiming to be you.”

The delayed mailing will give officials time to learn an applicant supplied false or stolen information, officials said.

Brian Zimmer, president of the nonprofit Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License in Washington, D.C., said Iowa was an early leader in license security. The new safeguards will offset the inconvenience of receiving the license by mail, he said.

In the early implementation, Zimmer said several states rejected scores of applications or required more documentation to verify identities. Officials also uncovered criminal activities involving falsified identifications.

“The only people really endangered by this are the crooks, and people are often dismayed when they find out who the crooks are,” he said, noting that professional crime rings have used information of deceased children and other illegally obtained documents to shield their activities.

“Central issuance of driver’s licenses is only one part of a complex set of security steps taken by driver’s license agencies when moving into the 21st century security environment,” Zimmer said. “Central issuance allows a state to employ state-of-the-art technology and anti-counterfeiting measures in a cost-effective manner.”

The incidence of suspected fraud is very small — one or two daily out of up to 3,000 licenses issued, Steier said. He added that the enhanced security features that have been implemented since the September 2001 terrorist attacks significantly reduced counterfeit or duplicate driver’s licenses.

County treasurers in 81 Iowa counties issue driver’s licenses and non-operator’s identification cards. The 18 other counties are served by DOT stations, according to DOT spokeswoman Dena Gray-Fisher.

During the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2009, Gray-Fisher said the department issued 806,906 cards and the county treasurer offices issued 479,429 cards. Polk County issued the most cards with 178,616, followed by Linn County at 96,448.