ATLANTA — A top manager has been fired and another demoted at Georgia’s Department of Driver Services following an integral investigation into the way U.S. citizens from Puerto Rico were being treated when they tried to get a Georgia driver’s license.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray obtained a copy of the internal investigation’s findings Tuesday through an open records request.
Gov. Brian Kemp ordered the investigation into DDS in July after a lawsuit alleged the agency quizzed applicants on Puerto Rican politics, geography and culture.
The investigation shows not only was a Puerto Rican interview guide used for more than a decade, but it was using wrong information.
For the question “Who is the current governor of Puerto Rico?” the answer listed as correct was the governor from back in 2000.
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“When they are a U.S. territory and they are part of the United States, I think it’s a little discriminatory to be asking those types of questions,” Georgia resident Ethan Witting said.
Following the investigation, the commissioner of driver services fired deputy director of investigations Lance Taylor and demoted DDS director Richard Miller to a non-law enforcement role.
In a statement regarding the disciplinary action, DDS also said the Puerto Rican questions are gone for good.
“The Puerto Rican Interview Guide, originally provided prior to 2003 by the Diplomatic Security Service, should never be used by DDS staff, under any circumstances," the statement said.
The disciplinary action focuses on the case of two men charged with trying to obtain Georgia licenses using fraudulent Puerto Rican documents that turned out to be real.
Gray’s open records request found it still took 15 months to dismiss the charges for one man and 19 months for the other.
Both men are American citizens simply trying to get a Georgia ID.
The internal investigation found there is a legitimate reason for extra attention to Puerto Rican birth certificates, saying they have often been stolen and used for fraud.
But the commissioner is ordering a series of six changes in department procedures to make sure customers are served with “dignity and respect.”