Next was the easy part. He entered his name, his information, sent a picture. The final step: payment.

More than a hundred dollars.

Then he waited for an envelope to come, sent from a business with a nondescript name.

Inside was what he had been waiting for — a simple piece of plastic with a thousand little details — watermarks, holographs, seals that showed up under black light, a working barcode on the back that would fool a police scanner.

But the most important detail wasn’t underneath the laminated plastic. Finally, Trever Smith could hang out with his friends wherever he wanted, even a bar.

Smith, who asked for his name to be withheld for legal purposes, is one of many underage MSU students who use an ID that has not been issued to them by the state government.

Whether purchased and produced overseas, found on the ground or loaned from a friend, local bars catch hundreds of fake IDs annually. And despite enhanced security features on the new license announced by the Michigan Secretary of State on March 28, it might not be enough to keep underage students from being served alcohol.

Gaining access
It’s another weekend night at Rick’s American Cafe, 224 Abbot Road.

Economics senior Art Nowakowski asks the next person in line for their identification. The second the card hits his hand, he already can judge if the size and weight is correct. His eyes move to the birth date, the expiration date and of course the picture — which always is a little tricky, especially for girls, who will often change their hair color, hair length and even skin tone.

“The picture’s a big thing,” Nowakowski said. “But you can get a gauge for it after you’ve done it a while.”

Red flags are the cards that claim the owner is a 27- or 28-year-old in a group of 21- or 22-year-olds. Nowakowski will ask a question only the ID’s owner likely would know off the top of his head — “What’s your zodiac sign?” — or Nowakowski might ask for another form of identification.

It’s at that point, he said, that most people just walk away. If the ID’s holder insists the ID is his, Nowakowski will call the manager.

The manager might, in turn, call the police, who can swipe the card to verify the information.

Sometimes the ID is real, sometimes not. Last year, Rick’s turned over six fake IDs to the East Lansing Police Department.

After seven months of working as bouncer, Nowakowski has developed a pattern to help him rake through the 200-250 IDs he sees a night. He usually finds about five IDs each night questionable and rarely has had to call his manager or the police.

Nowakowski initially was trained by another person with his job and attended a two-and-a-half hour meeting hosted by the Responsible Hospitality Council, about an hour of which focused on identifying fake IDs, although not every bouncer or door attendant goes through this training.

But, like in any job, mistakes will happen.

He let her in. It wasn’t until later in the night that the girl’s underage status was revealed by a friend to the management.

A similar story played out at Harper’s Restaurant and Brewpub, 131 Albert Ave.

Although the restaurant is equipped with $1,500 handheld computer ID checkers, two minors who were part of the East Lansing Police Department’s sting operation were sold alcohol.

Harper’s owner, Pat Riley, declined to comment on the incident but said the bar had passed another sting operation on March 28 of this year.

Neither the incident at Harper’s nor Rick’s were reported to the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. Andrea Miller, public information officer for the Michigan Liquor Control Commission, said bars caught serving a minor receive a violation.

Three violations and their liquor license is subject to suspension and revocation.

The establishments aren’t the only one in danger.

An East Lansing city ordinance holds servers, bartenders and those manning the door accountable for a fine of $500 if they have been found serving a minor or allowing a minor into a bar. But even more of a concern to Nowakowski is the possibility of losing his job.

“You don’t want to ruin someone else’s job because you messed up,” he said. “When you’re in the cold and checking a couple hundred IDs … accidents and mistakes do happen.”

Student prerogative
The backup plan was to deny it.

Even then, Zooey Jones was prepared. She had dressed up more than usual – her makeup, her hair, her clothes all were calculated to make her look older.

She memorized the information on the ID. At the entrance, she made casual small talk with her friends, who also were using fakes.

“I was really nervous the first time,” Jones said. “Me and my friends, we were walking there and discussing it … don’t make eye contact with them and have a normal conversation and just act old.”

But when Jones, who asked for her name to be withheld for legal purposes, reached the front of the line, the bouncer didn’t even look up.

He simply looked at the ID and then wrote on her hand.

“I was surprised,” Jones said. “But I was very excited.”

A friend gave Jones the ID, and although Jones does look similar to the girl in the ID picture, she has been cautious about using the ID, still preferring to have others buy alcohol for her.

When frequenting bars, she still gets nervous waiting in line but said when she goes with her friends who are 21, she feels more at ease. Sometimes, if her friends know the person at the door, she won’t even be carded.

Despite the repercussions of letting a minor into a bar or serving them alcohol, kinesiology junior Kyle Poli, another bouncer at Rick’s, said he has seen minors being let into other bars without having their IDs checked.

“The most likely scenario is someone comes up (who is) a friend of the bouncers and has some other friend with them. The bouncer knows the person, so they let their friend in,” Poli said.

Poli said when his friends come to Rick’s, he makes sure to check the IDs of anyone they’re with. He said the importance of checking IDs lies in making sure everyone is safe.

“Underage people at the bar, if they’re like, ‘Whoo! I’m really excited to get into a bar,’ they’re more likely to do something stupid like get too drunk,” Poli said.

But Smith said having a fake ID doesn’t mean he’s any different from a 21-year-old.

“A lot of people think the kids with fake IDs are just partygoers and crazy,” Smith said. “Yeah, I party, and I party a lot. But I’m a dual major with a minor. It’s funny because I think people think, ‘He has a fake ID — he’s a bad person.’ I’m just an average person who studies on the week and parties on the weekends.”

ID me
Both Smith and Jones said East Lansing’s regulation is far tighter than in other cities, such as Chicago.

“Around here, the cops are intense about who drinks,” Smith said. “They’re more conservative.”

East Lansing Police Department has taken various steps to ensure only individuals aged 21 or older are served or can buy alcohol.

There is a specific officer assigned to alcohol enforcement and education. The police department provides training to local bars and liquor stores on how to detect a fake ID.

Books are distributed to bars to help doormen and managers recognize fake IDs from states other than Michigan.

Several of the bars have come together to form a Responsible Hospitality Council to work together in ensuring patrons are not overserved and are of legal age. And East Lansing Police Chief Juli Liebler believes the new IDs will help even more.

New features include Michigan’s Great Seal under black light, a tricolor image of a bridge on the front, a two-dimensional bar code and the word “MICH” laser-perforated in the ID.

“The state has done their part to make it difficult,” Liebler said. “There’s a new ID that’s coming out that is even more difficult to duplicate. It’s an ongoing thing that we will continue to work on, but I think that the bars are doing a very good job of keeping the underage drinkers out of their bars, especially with fake IDs.”

But between advanced technology and the common practice of borrowing IDs, Smith questions just how effective the new safety features will be.

“It seems silly in any industry just because one technology is only open to the government here, it’s not open to another one somewhere else,” Smith said.

“There’s always a time lapse between the counterfeiters. So maybe for a year you don’t find any good fakes, but even so
you can just borrow your friend’s and walk into anywhere.”