And though Winget is open to scaling back the scope of the program, his vision of the future suggests that it might just be a temporary setback. In 50 or even 15 years from now, they'll be using this in a much wider and broader way than we do today. Let's just force work cards on everybody. It's whatever city or county officials think is a good idea. There's good reason for the police to be so proprietary over the work card machinery.
Crime prevention is the official rationale.
Better, faster computers with which to check your criminal backgrounds, explains Winget. That's the heart of it. But not all police departments in Nevada handle work cards the way Las Vegas does. Earlier this year, the Reno Police Department scaled back its work card program, freeing an estimated 3,000 out of 12,000 jobs from police oversight. That included adult entertainers, peddlers, solicitors, massage therapists, security guards, street vendors and street performers.