Local bars are on the look-out for out-of-state IDs, especially after receiving information listing the number of MSU students that are actually from outside of Michigan.
The Responsible Hospitality Council has created a list of the top ten out-of-state pieces of identification bar employees have noticed and passed it around to all the council's members.
"We want to make all the establishments aware that if you see an out-of-state ID, there's a good chance it's fake," said Joe Goodsir, president of Rick's American Cafe, 224 Abbott Road, and director of the executive committee on the council.
Goodsir said that there are 1,094 MSU students from other states that could be 21, and he said he also knows the breakdown of how many students are from each state.
"If you're working and you see eight IDs from Arizona, there's only seven that are possibly from MSU," Goodsir said. "The majority of them are probably fake."
Goodsir said doormen at Rick's have a book that shows every states' ID, and they check it every time someone presents one.
"If there are any discrepancies, they call the manager," Goodsir said. "If the manager's not comfortable with it, they ask for a second piece of ID, if there's none we'll refuse entry."
The police will be called if someone persists that their ID is authentic, Goodsir said.
"We'll call the cops and let the cops make the decision," Goodsir said. "They usually go to jail."
Chris Fata, who owns Spartan Sports Den Bar & Grill, 1227 E. Grand River Ave., said the bar confiscates IDs, but doesn't normally call the police.
"Usually, if you tell them you'll call the police, they just leave because you definitely don't want to get caught," Fata said.
Fata said he's also noticed an increase in IDs from out of state.
"We're getting like 100 people with a Florida ID, so it makes you wonder," Fata said. "If you come in with an out-of-state ID, you really get scrutinized."
Fake IDs bought online are also getting more sophisticated, Fata said.
"To someone who's not used to looking at them, they'd say you can't see a difference," Fata said. "But if you see a real and fake, there's a couple of key differences."
While many bars destroy the confiscated phonies, Spartan Spirits, 221 Ann St., a liquor store, puts them up for all to see on a wall six years in the making.
"We just post it up there," said André Mansour, manager of Spartan Spirits. "If a person comes in and sees the wall, its like a scare tactic."
Police officers train the store's employees on how to check IDs, Mansour said.
"We thoroughly go through the way we're checking IDs," he said. "We go through face features like eyebrows and the nose. The identification issue is one of the most important."
East Lansing Police Lt. Kim Johnson said fake ID use is at its highest during the fall,.
"Historically, those are reduced as the school year goes on because bartenders know what to look for and students realize they're not going to work," Johnson said.
