Local businesses are strongly enforcing ID checks on alcohol purchases following a recent crackdown by Starkville Police Department.
As businesses begin to pay stricter attention to identification, police and businesses are becoming more concerned with an increase in false forms of identification.
SPD Sgt. Shawn Word said some fake cards are poorly made with the person’s mugshot taped over the original or the person tries to pose as the actual cardholder.
He said while it may have been easy differentiating from fakes in the past, officers are having a harder time picking out false ones today.
“They [the cards] are getting harder to identify with today’s technology,” Word said. “If we are ever in doubt and they look underage, all we have to do is call in their license number.”
Kimberly Mayfield, attendant at the Mobile service station on Highway 12, said she had to deal with a fake ID card Friday night.
“I had a kid who was trying to purchase two 24-packs of beer, and he showed me this old Camp Shelby military ID card that looked [like it was] from the 1970s,” she said. “The guy on the card looked to be in his twenties or thirties, but the boy looked only in his teens to me.”
Mayfield said she told the boy she did not recognize him and he would have to leave the beer on the counter. She said after he was rejected, his friend came in to try to purchase the beer.
“His friend walked in and asked why there was beer on the counter,” she said. “I told him that it was his friends, and then his friend said he would just take it since his friend forgot it. Both boys left empty-handed.”
Willie McClendon has checked IDs at the State Theatre for over a year. McClendon said a minor trying to get in with someone else’s card is not unusual.
“On a busy weekend, it is not rare to have numerous people trying to get in the doors with someone else’s ID” he said. “We tell them to bring in another form of ID and [we] hand the ID they [gave] us to management.”
Robin Davis, a Brewski’s employee, said the gas station/liquor store has increased its efforts to check for identification following the recent crackdown. Davis said knowing whether IDs are real or fake can be difficult.
“They really should make one standard card for everyone, regardless of state,” she said. “Each card looks so different, and it’s tough to tell if a card from another state is fake since you are not familiar with it.”
While businesses may be willing to discuss their ID regulations openly, students appear to keep mum on the issue.
A student who wished to not be identified said she does not have a fake ID but knows a person who makes them from his job at the Department of Motor Vehicles. She said the cards look authentic with the states emblem and holographic image.
“He charges around $100 for them, and they are the real deal,” she said.
Although getting caught with a fake ID can result in hundreds of dollars in fines, students are still willing to take chances. Type in “how to make a fake ID” in a search engine and over 2 million sites pop up with tips on how to produce a fake card.
Junior computer science major Alex Thompson said although he has never attempted to make fake IDs, it is not impossible to do.
“Making a drivers license or any ID card without a magnetic stripe is not too hard to produce,” Thompson said. “If you are under the legal age, all you have to do is have some good Photoshop skills and nice laminating equipment. Spoofing cards can be difficult, but it’s not as hard as you would think.”
Word said charging anyone with ID replication brings a more severe punishment.
“I have charged people who make IDs with felonies,” he said. “The making of IDs is by no means a good pastime.”
Representatives from each gas station visited for this story said they only refuse to sell alcohol to minors and do not have a protocol for what to do with the fake IDs.
Word said anyone caught with a false ID would be fined at least $500 and have over $700 in assessment fees.