by Mandi Kane
Daily Lobo
With the semester ending in less than a week, local liquor establishments face the inevitable challenge of combating underage drinkers who use false identification.
"Fake I.D.s are a dime a dozen," said Mikey Numbers, a manager at Maloney's Tavern, 325 Central Ave. "You can get them anywhere, but they are getting a lot harder to make."
One technique that minors use is peeling back the plastic film on a driver's license and scraping away numbers in the birth date to make the individual older, Numbers said.
"It never looks the same, and they are getting a lot easier to spot," said Numbers, who trains his doormen to detect the fake I.D.s.
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Another common method that the under-21 crowd relies on is the use of an I.D. that has a photo with similar physical characteristics of the minor.
"You can try using your older brother's I.D., but no matter how close you look like someone, you're not exactly the same," said Todd Griffen, an agent with the Special Investigations Department of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety.
Kerry Rayner, owner of the Monte Vista Fire Station restaurant, 3201 Central Ave., said she tells her employees to be careful when confronting possible fake I.D. users. Some fake I.D.s are harder to spot than others, she said.
"I mean I don't look like my driver's license picture," Rayner said.
For that reason, nine times out of 10 the Monte Vista Fire Station will not take away an I.D., but instead will ask for a second form of identification if the first looks suspicious, Rayner said.
Maloney's, however, is one of many Albuquerque nightspots that will confiscate fake I.D.s.
"That is pretty much the buzz around town," Numbers said. He said he has turned countless I.D.s over to law enforcement authorities this semester.
"We have to take them," he said. "It puts us between a rock and a hard place because of the huge liability."
"We try not to be jerks because we do want your business when you are older,
but for the most part it is the underage kids who cause the fights and pass out in the bathroom. They have two shots and can't handle their liquor."
There are five categories of violations with fake I.D.s that range from petty misdemeanors to felony charges and federal offenses. Depending on the category that the violation falls into, a person could face fines, community service and even jail time.
"The consequences outweigh the fun that they will have," Griffen said.
Special Investigation Department agents wear plain clothes and inspect local liquor establishments to monitor underage drinking and to catch those who use fake I.D.s. Last year, the department caught 520 people who used a fake I.D. to obtain alcohol and 219 who used their I.D.s to gain access into a bar, Griffen said.
"This is a prevalent problem in college towns," he said. "You have a high concentration of intelligent young people who use that intelligence to alter or forge licenses. It may work for a while, but sooner or later, we are going to track you down. But in all honesty, your chances of getting caught aren't what they should be."
