Alcohol harm prevention officer Sergeant Steve Jones usually receives a trickle of altered IDs plopped onto his desk to deal with. However, as February comes along and the students stream into Dunedin, that trickle becomes a flood.
‘‘There's particularly a lot of first-year university students who arrive, who are still 17. In that respect a lot of their mates and people in their halls are 18 and they want to go out and have a good time.
‘‘Some of them try to manufacture their IDs to make them look older — I’d probably say about 80% of the fake IDs that we get have come from bars and licensed premises,’’ Sgt Jones said.
This month, about 50% of the year's fraudulent IDs would come through in the next two weeks, Sgt Jones said.
When an altered ID, or someone else's ID you have tried to flog off as your own, is confiscated by bar staff around Dunedin, they are handed to Sgt Jones who, when possible, contacts the owner of the licence — sometimes, he instead chooses to give their parents a ring.
‘‘There's a raft of fines available for altering a document or altering an identification, or even presenting an identification which isn't your own . . . generally they start at about $250 as the fine.’’
Usually, a call to mum and dad by Sgt Jones was enough to have the students smartening up their act.
Sgt Jones said there were certain social pressures that came with being underage and moving for University when a lot of their peers were over 18.
‘‘They're going out and having fun, and you might be the only 16 or 17-year-old who can't join their friends. We understand that . . . but engaging in altering a government document, no matter the pressures, you’re going to get in trouble — please don’t do it.
‘‘An evidence-of-age document like a driver's license is a government document, so you could potentially end up in court,’’ Sgt Jones said.
Security staff, bottle store staff and bar staff are rubbing their hands over ID’s week in and week out — they can ‘‘pick a fake ID usually just by the first touch’’.
He said there were many methods of faking an ID, some more sophisticated than others, but most can be picked up by a trained eye and finger straight away.
‘‘I would recommend for these young teenagers, especially the ones who are turning 18 within a couple of months of landing in Dunedin — just wait, be patient, because you're better off and your time will come.’’
