FOCUS: "Sure, I'm 21"

Students would do almostStudents would do almostanything for the perfect ID,Students would do almostanything for the perfect ID,but the costs could beStudents would do almostanything for the perfect ID,but the costs could behigher than they think. Six blocks from campus, a small store on the first floor of a quiet townhouse will sell students a new identity for $35. Name, age, Social Security number -- you supply the details and the store will make you a student, employee, medical, personal or notarized ID, no questions asked. And while the store's owner initially claims the IDs are for novelty purposes only, the store's customers seem to think otherwise. "It looks real enough," a College sophomore said after purchasing a card -- complete with an "authentic" seal -- identifying her as a 22-year old student at Carleton College in Minnesota. "It'll pass." As the store began to fill up on an early Tuesday afternoon, the owner could be heard trying to convince a hesitant prospective customer to purchase an ID. "We sell a lot to students from around here and they've never come back with problems," she insisted. But in the end, the customer -- a Drexel University junior who only identified herself as Carla -- decided against it. "The IDs didn't really look all that good," she says. "I can make a better one myself." n Do-it-yourself IDs Philadelphia, according to many Penn students, is unique among large college towns in its notable absence of readily available fake IDs. "I tried all of last year to find a place here that sells them," said a male Wharton sophomore who asked to remain anonymous. "But the only place that I had heard was selling them closed down." The problem, he says, was solved by a two-hour trip to New York City. "Every 10 feet there's someone in Times Square offering fake IDs," he said. " I went into the back of a little T-shirt store and bought a decent-looking Florida driver's license for $50." Florida and Louisiana driver's licenses, the student recalled the owner explaining, are the IDs of choice because they can be easily forged. "They're two of the only states that don't put a hologram onto the licenses or laminate them," he said. "He did mine in 15 minutes and it's worked fine." Despite the availability of such licenses in places like New York City, however, many students say they have decided to look closer to home. Many claim to have purchased their IDs at the now-defunct American ID store in Center City. A College freshman said he bought an ID while visiting the University as a pre-freshman. "This slimy-looking guy at the store had me fill out a form with all the information that would go on the card," he said. "For $20, I got two Utah IDs that looked just like driver's licenses." The College freshman said that the experience was one he has never forgotten. "It was cool -- I remember thinking that getting an ID was a pretty bad-assed collegiate thing to be doing," he said. "I found out later that a lot of people had bought Utah IDs from that place, and for a while bars weren't taking them. I personally have never had problems using it." A College sophomore said she bought her fake driver's license last year while living in Hill College House. "There were two college-age guys who were traveling around, stopping for a few days at several different schools," she said. "They worked out of a hotel room where they had their computer equipment and laminator, and then delivered the IDs to those who ordered them." The pair had offered a choice between licenses from two states, she said, and sold the IDs for $60. "They had used their computers to scan the actual licenses, so the IDs were pretty good," she said. She added that her fake ID is one of the most important things in her life. "Besides people, my ID is the only irreplaceable thing I have," she explained. "I spend a lot of time in bars so I use the ID all the time." An Engineering sophomore explained that he made his ID on a computer. "All it took was Microsoft Word and a laser printer," he explained. "I copied a New Jersey license, printed it on good paper, and had it laminated. It's not a hard thing to do if you have the time." He added that although his ID fails to gain him entry to some bars, most accept it without much scrutiny. Another College sophomore simply got her fake ID from a friend. "He cut the lamination off the ID with a razor blade, typed over the date, and had it relaminated," she explained. While some students claim to have had their licenses laminated at Kinko's Copy Center, a manager in the store at 39th and Walnut streets said employees verify all IDs before laminating them. "We check any type of ID before we laminate it," he said. "If it looks like a license or fake ID, we call the cops." The manager explained that police have been summoned between 15 and 20 times this year to investigate possible fake IDs. But University Police Capt. John Richardson said he doesn't remember such instances. "I don't recall them calling us that many times," he said. "Even if it is a fake license, all the manager can do is refuse to laminate it. He can't really confiscate it as evidence or hold the guy until the police arrive." n Even possession is a crime While many University students view fake IDs as a benign part of college life, few are aware of the potentially severe risks they incur by possessing them. "You don't even have to use an ID to get punished," said a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Police's Bureau of Liquor Control and Enforcement. "You just need to possess one." He explained that the laws against fake IDs carry mandatory punishments that judges have no discretion to reduce. For a first offense, a person's real driver's license is suspended for 90 days, and there is a fine of approximately $300. Second offenses carry a fine of $500 and a year's suspension of driving priviliges. For every subsequent offense, the fine remains the same while the offender's license is suspended for two years. "The same provisions apply to underage drinking, so if we arrest a person who is drinking in a bar and possesses a fake ID, for example, it would be considered as both a first and second offense," the spokesperson said. He added that the strict sentences were justified by the number of juvenile crimes involving alcohol. "If we could keep crime out of the hands of minors, juvenile crime would largely disappear," he said. "Alcohol is the drug of choice for teenagers because it's less frowned upon and does the same thing." While the state police consider fake IDs to be a serious problem, many University Police officers said privately they feel the attention is misplaced. University Police Sgt. Tim Trucksess noted that "there are more important issues to worry about." "When I deal with Penn students, I see my own son. Should his life be ruined for doing something college kids have been doing for the last 100 years?" he asked. "I don't think so." If a Penn student is found with a fake ID, the police have the power to refer the case to the University's Student Dispute Resolution Center for additional penalties. Many in the SDRC feel that such a discretionary policy is the best way to handle issues such as fake IDs. Typically, the SDRC will fine the students and issue warning or reprimand letters which don't appear on a transcript. For more serious offenses, students can be placed on probation, a measure which does appear on their transcripts. "Our primary goal is to educate the students," Assistant Director Lyn Davis said. "If we can do that without punishment, great. But we have a responsibility to take these things seriously, and sometimes that means punishment." Another staffer admitted that while the SDRC is largely powerless to prevent the use of fake IDs for underage drinking, they still view it as a serious problem. "When so many students really want to drink, its very hard to stop," she said. "It's a crime that wants to happen, but it's still a crime." According to Richardson, the ultimate decision of whether or not to use a fake ID comes down to students. "Which is more important -- getting into that bar, or paying a huge fine and not being able to drive?" he asked. "After looking at enough IDs, you can tell which ones are fake. These kids are putting themselves at risk." It is a risk, however, that many students say they are willing to take. "I've never even heard of anyone I know being busted for a fake ID," one student said. "So why should I worry about it happening to me?"