Colo. agency gets nearly $50K grant to fight underage drinking

By Ryan Morgan
The Colorado Daily Camera

BOULDER, Colo. — They may not have realized it, but for many underage people who used fake IDs to buy alcohol in Boulder over the last 12 months, 2008 was the year the shoulder-tap didn't come.

Through Dec. 17, Boulder police ticketed only 35 people for using fake IDs this year, compared to 80 over the same time period last year -- a 56 percent decrease.

But would-be booze buyers can expect their odds of getting busted to increase again in 2009, said Sarah Huntley, spokeswoman for the Boulder Police Department.

That's because the police department and the University of Colorado recently received a $45,200 grant to crack down on underage drinkers, Huntley said. The grant money will pay for different types of enforcement, including surveillance outside of liquor stores.

"It's been successful in the past, so it is likely to continue," she said.

Huntley credited a previous grant of $43,300, issued October 2006, for the higher number of tickets issued in 2007. The grant paid for 30 such "surveillance events," in which officers watched the traffic at local liquor stores, looking for baby-faces.

"If we see people going in who appear to be underage, we'll tap them on the shoulder and ask to see their IDs," Huntley said. "A lot of our sting operations were conducted in 2007, which probably explains why those numbers are higher."

The grant period ended in March of this year, by which time the shoulder-taps had largely stopped, Huntley said.

Chris Emma, the store manager for Liquor Mart in Boulder, said the "Cops in Shops" surveillance program depends on the cooperation of participating stores.

At Liquor Mart, for example, plainsclothes police "stake out" an area within sight of the booth at the front of the store where every customer's ID gets checked, he said.

"Our guy sees a fake ID, lets them in, and alerts the police that we've let them in," he said. "They show their badges... They make a big deal about it, bring (the suspect) out front where everybody can see -- it really helps spread awareness... it also helps people to know that we're responsible and we take this seriously."

Emma said improved printing technology and the anonymity of the Internet means fake IDs are a growing challenge to stores like his.

"With the technology, the fake IDs are getting much better," he said. "It's hard to say whether some of those are getting past us more than they used to."

Dozens of Web sites offer to make "novelty" driver's licenses.

One site, I-D-K.net, shows a sample of a fake Colorado driver's license that looks real -- and, its purveyors promise, will past a bouncer's "bend test."

"Each card has an authentic-looking design for each state and looks the same as a real one," the site's owners boast.

They also claim that their $65 cards are designed by "highly skilled artists and masters of our trade -- we use only the best and latest equipment, with constantly updated and nothing-short-of-perfect ID templates."

Copyright 2008 Daily Camera and Boulder Publishing, LLC