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Tools help businesses spot fake IDs

BY RACHEL KONOPACKI

Posted 3/02/10

Employees at Ronnie's Beverage Warehouse in Forest Hill have a tool that is helping them to easily spot fake IDs.

Ultraviolet lights installed underneath the counters have assisted employees in spotting fake IDs that do not have the required ultraviolet features.

The technique has proved an asset to Ronnie's, where employees were able to spot two fake IDs in one weekend.

"Even the best fakes we have seen do not have any ultraviolet features," Charlie Robbins, chief inspector for the Harford County Liquor Control Board, said, adding that a few establishments in the county have installed ultraviolet lights to help employees. "It works well for places that have it. It's an easy way to spot fakes."

Employees at the Joppa Amoco have also been successful in spotting fakes, although without the help of ultraviolet lights.

Ronnie's employees confiscated a fake Maryland ID that has provided useful information for a current investigation, according to Robbins.

"The employees at Ronnie's Beverage Warehouse have been doing an excellent job of catching underage subjects with fake IDs," Robbins wrote in an e-mail to restaurants and bars in the county.

In his e-mail, Robbins also included information and pictures of the other fake ID confiscated by Ronnie's employees.

The other fake was a Pennsylvania license that was missing the ultraviolet feature and had the wrong hologram.

"They were pretty good fakes," Robbins said. "To the casual observer it looks like a Pennsylvania license."

On the fake ID, the hologram was a picture of sailboats with the phrase "The Official Seal — The Mark of Business Trust" around it.

The hologram on the fake ID is not one that would be found on any license in the United States, according to Robbins.

At the Joppa Amoco on Pulaski Highway, employees confiscated a fake Pennsylvania license.

The hologram was a pattern of wavy lines with the words "secure" and "valid."

"Both should be flags that the license is fake," Robbins wrote in the e-mail.

In addition to licensees doing their part to spot fake IDs, the Harford County Sheriff's Office has had deputies out a few evenings a week looking for people attempting to purchase alcohol with fake IDs.

The sheriff's office has received a lot of positive feedback from licensees and has made several arrests in the course of their patrols, according to Robbins.

"Thanks to all of the licensees for your efforts to prevent underage sales and especially to Ronnie's, Joppa Amoco and all the licensees who have turned over fake and confiscated IDs to the police or to the [Harford County Liquor Control] Board," Robbins wrote.