FAKE ID ARRESTS/ OPERATION STRAIGHT ID By SECRETARY OF STATE GEORGE H. RYAN

The dangers associated with underage drinking are all too familiar. Teenagers are consistently overrepresented in the number of alcohol-related automobile crashes. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 1992 more than 43 percent of all deaths for those age 16 to 20 resulted from motor vehicle crashes. Approximately 43 percent of those (2,314) were alcohol-related. In many of the cases, fraudulent identification was used to procure alcoholic beverages.

Because of the proliferation of minors possessing fake IDs, my office launched the Operation Straight ID program last December. I am proud to announce that as a result of this program and heightened awareness about fictitious licenses, several individuals have been arrested for altering and/or possessing fake driver's licenses and state identification cards.

On May 10,1994, a joint effort between my office and police departments in Douglas and Coles counties netted the arrest of 17 teenagers. Five of those charged were students at Arcola High School, and nine were students from Eastern Illinois University (EIU) in Charleston. Three of the teenagers were charged with knowingly altering driver's licenses and possession of the licenses. Fourteen teenagers were charged with possession of an altered driver's license.

All the students charged with altering driver's licenses face stiff penalties, including a possible five-year prison term, fines of up to $10,000 and the loss of driving privileges for a minimum of 12 months. Under a new law proposed by my office, which took effect January 1, those convicted of possessing a fake ID face a minimum penalty of a $500 fine or 50 hours of community service, preferably within a drug or alcohol treatment center.

The arrests were clearly the result of local police working harder and smarter to trace altered driver's licenses to their sources. This case grew out of a single arrest by Mattoon police. Mattoon authorities contacted the Arcola police after discovering a fraudulent ID manufacturer operating in Arcola. The Arcola police then called on Secretary of State Police to take part in an undercover operation that led police to others who had bought fake IDs and to several EIU students who had either altered or purchased altered licenses. The investigation coincided with a crackdown on underage drinking in Charleston, which recently increased its minimum age for entry into college bars from 19 to 21.

The message we are trying to send with these arrests is that underage drinking and using fake IDs are not silly pranks. They violate the laws of this state and carry serious consequences.

The recent arrests in Arcola and Charleston took place just two months following a similar, yet unrelated, fake ID ring bust on March 8, at Eastern Illinois University. The arrests of 11 EIU students were the result of a joint operation between my office, the Coles county sheriff's office, the Coles county state's attorney's office and the EIU campus police.

Operation Straight ID, which is funded by federal grants through the Illinois Department of Transportation, was implemented to educate and train local law enforcement agencies, liquor establishment owners and employees, and others on how to identify fictitious driver's licenses and ID cards being used by minors to purchase alcohol. Employees from my Driver Services Department and the Secretary of State Police to date have conducted 53 Operation Straight ID training seminars statewide.

Operation Straight ID was designed to complement the new Illinois driver's license and state ID card, which my office began issuing on January 1, 1994. The new driver's licenses and ID cards are more difficult to alter due to their unique hologram design. Anyone getting a driver's license for the first time or renewing their current license or state ID card will be issued the new license.

By continuing to work together, we can lower the number of fake IDs being used by teenagers to illegally purchase alcohol, while decreasing the number of teenage DUIs and related traffic fatalities. To request a training session, write to the Office of the Secretary of State, Department of Police, 324 W. Monroe Street, Springfield, IL 62756, or call 217/785-1691.

June 1994 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 9