"Excuse me, sir, may I see your ID?"
"Uh ... OK."
"Do you know the penalties for using a fake ID, sir?"
"Umm ... no."
Click. The handcuffs snap into place.
Scenes like this one are not uncommon outside of liquor stores. On any given Friday night, many AU students rush to the shuttle bus, backpacks in hand, ready for a trip into Tenleytown to stock up on alcohol for the weekend. While some students may have friends who are 21 and older, many use fake IDs for their liquor purchases. It may be thrilling to pass for a 21-year-old, but D.C.'s penalties for those caught with fake IDs can easily detract from that excitement.
The Metropolitan Police Department arrested more than 1,350 people in D.C. in the last two years for using fake IDs, said MPD Lt. Patrick Burke.
Underage drinkers who "chalk," or mark up, their own IDs to misrepresent their ages and those who use completely materialized IDs face the same penalties, whether they use them in clubs, bars or liquor stores, according to Burke. A person caught using a fake ID is usually arrested and can be fined $300. Fake ID-users can also go to jail for up to 90 days, Burke said. However, jail time is usually dropped after a case is prosecuted, he added.
The arrest is the worst thing, Burke said. "It's not good if you're applying for a job or if you want to be a lawyer, to have been arrested."
Some AU students support these penalties.
"I think [the fake ID laws] are fine, and wouldn't object to them being even stricter," said junior Kenny Stein. "Faking documents is a crime and I think that if people get away with something like that they are encouraged to disregard other laws. The law is the law and people who break it should be punished to such an extent where they will be loathe to break the law again."
Other students say students are unfairly punished for using fake IDs.
"The fake ID laws are much too strict and they're not implemented enough because everyone uses fake IDs," said senior Kevin Gaughen. "If someone gets caught most of the time [he or she] just gets the ID taken away."
However, club, bar and liquor owners say students who use fake IDs should be wary. H. Singh Bakshi, general manager of Tenley Liquors on Wisconsin Avenue, takes a no-nonsense approach toward the issue.
"We would rather lose a sale than sell [alcohol] to minors," Bakshi said. "We are very tough and will continue to be tough."
Tenley Liquor employees use a book with a picture of real IDs from 50 states to catch fake ID-users. If an ID looks fake, Tenley Liquor employees turn away the purchaser. If someone does indeed manage to fool employees, the offender is out of the store's jurisdiction once he or she leaves the store. Tenley Liquor and other D.C. liquor stores are not involved in MPD's actions once a customer has exited the store, and does not receive a fine if a patron is arrested.
In the future, Bakshi said that the store may purchase a fake ID scanning machine, a useful tool in catching violators.
Fake ID scanners are a growing trend in detecting fake IDs. MPD received a $400,000 federal grant for fake ID enforcement. Part of this money is being used to buy equipment such as fake ID scanners, Burke said.
Some AU students say these scanners will be ineffective.
"That [scanner] doesn't prevent me [from] using someone else's ID, which is still common," said sophomore Steve Scharer.
However, some alcohol establishments think a scanner would be valuable.
Purchasing a fake ID scanner would be "a great thing" for Babe's Billiards on Wisconsin Avenue, according to Monica Blinkenship, a bartender at the Tenleytown hotspot.
For now, if someone tries to use a fake ID to enter Babe's Billiards Cafe in Tenleytown, a manager is notified, and the person will be turned down at the door, said Blinkenship.
Police randomly check bars for underage drinkers, but the police are only called if the offender is a threat, according to Blinkenship. If police catch someone using a fake ID to buy alcohol at the bar, Babe's receives a fine, she added.
No matter how students feel about fake IDs, getting caught using one has its consequences. With the high number of underage citizens using fake IDs, MPD is taking strong precautions.
"Pretty much three, four nights a week we have officers doing nightclub enforcement," said Burke. "We also check the bars on a regular basis to make sure they're not selling to minors and that there are no minors with alcohol in their possession."
Police monitoring does not end in nightclubs and bars. MPD does stings where they send minors, some as young as 13, to liquor stores and see if the stores will sell to the kids, Burke said. They also go to liquor stores and crack down on people over 21 who buy alcohol for minors.
