Safety is a key focus of AAMVA’s work. You can see it on display right in the mission: “Safe Drivers, Safe Vehicles, Secure Identities, Saving Lives!” While members have always emphasized the safety of their customers, drivers, and vehicles, frontline employees’ safety is now also top of mind.

Customer disturbances are a growing challenge for AAMVA members, with frontline employees facing verbal threats, abuse and, in some cases, even physical danger while serving customers.

AAMVA Vice President of Motor Vehicle Operations and Customer Experience Darcy Doty highlights the growing concern for employee safety, saying, “In conversations with administrators across jurisdictions, there’s a consistent theme that the frequency and intensity of customer disturbances have escalated significantly in the post-pandemic environment. Frontline supervisors and leadership teams are telling us this is now one of their top operational concerns.”

AAMVA’s Employee Safety and Security Working Group has been crafting new resources to help members prepare for and address situations that might put employees at risk. The working group is developing best practice guidelines for potential service disruptions that motor vehicle agencies may encounter (for in-person service environments and call center and/or central office environments), including:

• Responding to active shooters/active threats
• Office security design, including tenets of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)
• Security staffing
• Dealing with First Amendment Auditors and others who seek to disrupt in-person services
• Legal threats and challenges from Sovereign Citizens and others who engage in sometimes harassing calls and/or written communication
• Other areas where there could be significant challenges for the provision of MVA services and products

“In conversations with administrators across jurisdictions, there’s a consistent theme that the frequency and intensity of customer disturbances have escalated significantly in the post-pandemic environment. Frontline supervisors and leadership teams are telling us this is now one of their top operational concerns.”
—AAMVA Vice President of Motor Vehicle Operations and Customer Experience Darcy Doty

As part of their work, the MVA Operations and Customer Experience Committee, in collaboration with the Employee Safety and Security Working Group, surveyed jurisdictions to analyze customer disruptions leading to potential verbal threats and physical violence in service centers. Responses from 27 jurisdictions reveal significant safety concerns that require immediate attention and investment.

“This is the thing that keeps administrators up at night,” Doty says.

Key Findings

The survey revealed that instances where employees are put at risk are widespread among respondents; every responding jurisdiction reported customer disturbances in the past year, with 41% reporting more than 10 incidents. And with 37% of responding jurisdictions reporting that employees don’t receive de-escalation training and 48% reporting no physical barriers or on-site security, staff are often unprepared and unprotected when incidents occur.

Survey data reveals these incidents often arise from common regulatory compliance or documentation requirements, including confusion over required documentation (37% of jurisdictions), application rejection (15% of jurisdictions), general frustration with DMV processes (11% of jurisdictions), wait times and appointment access (7% of jurisdictions), and service refusal (7% of jurisdictions). While many of these triggers are part of day-to-day business at motor vehicle agencies, they can be mitigated through reviews of policies and written notices, increased customer education, and safety and security planning.

Based on the survey results, the MVA Operations and Customer Experience Committee, in collaboration with the Employee Safety and Security Working Group, recommends security enhancements to create safer workplaces for frontline employees. Comprehensive de-escalation training programs, including training for all customer-facing staff and specialized training for supervisors and security personnel, could reduce incident escalation by 40%-60%.

Physical security infrastructure, such as protective barriers at service counters, lockdown spaces, enhanced camera coverage inside and outside facilities, and panic buttons, could improve staff physical safety and deter potential violence while providing employees a safe place to run in the event of an emergency. Enhanced security personnel could provide faster incident response and better manage customers who are causing disruptions.

According to the findings, several jurisdictions have both interior and exterior cameras (85% and 63%, respectively). Several reported in-house training for safety disruptions (12 jurisdictions), highlighting that training is feasible and critical for preparing staff. Finally, a law enforcement partnership program and agreements with local police departments could lead to faster, more effective responses to serious incidents and better coordination during emergencies.

Comprehensive de-escalation training programs, including training for all customer-facing staff and specialized training for supervisors and security personnel, could reduce incident escalation by 40%-60%.

The survey findings likely represent conservative estimates of staff reporting security incidents, as the working group noted that staff desensitization and gaps in reporting procedures may lead to underreporting. Preparing for these incidents before they happen and addressing them quickly can make employees and customers safer.

“I’ve talked with other jurisdictions, and some of the administrators don’t even hear about a safety and security incident until weeks later, and then it’s kind of too late to go back and do an evaluation of what happened to see if they can make improvements,” says Doty. “Oftentimes they’ll stumble upon it because somebody mentions it in a casual conversation, and the administrator’s caught off guard.”

For an in-depth discussion of employee safety and security, read the full feature article in MOVE 2026 Issue 1, coming in March 2026.