The Michigan Liquor Control Code asks businesses to make a “diligent inquiry” - this is further defined as a “diligent good faith effort” using an official photo ID - to verify the person’s identity and age. Though the penalty is severe, many bars accept that they can’t catch every fake - and when it comes to the law they don’t have to. Employees at Ann Arbor bars can be cited with a misdemeanor punishable by 60 days in jail, a $1,000 fine or both for the first offense for knowingly allowing the use of false identification.Īdditionally, three citations at a single location within one year can result in a suspension of the bar’s liquor license, said Pfannes.
Bob Pfannes of the Ann Arbor Police Department Professional Standards Section. Using false or another person’s identification to purchase alcohol is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail, a fine no more than $100 or both, according to Sgt. “You don’t have to be buying alcohol, simply possessing (a fake ID) is illegal.”
When they fumble for it, the fake is visible inside of their wallet or purse,” Lewis said. “A person will be asked for their identification. for anyone under the age of 21 is illegal - though some legally allow minors in the bar or restaurant if accompanied by a parent or guardian.Īccording to Douglas Lewis, the director of Student Legal Services, many students in Ann Arbor caught with fake identification are not turned over to police by the bars. However, none of these have been at the more popular downtown bars, in which bar entry after 9 p.m. Since May 2008, a handful of Ann Arbor restaurants and stores with liquor licenses have been charged with “sale to minor” by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. Now here I am, sitting down for my first interview, hoping that when I make it to the end I have enough courage to spread my contraband on the table, look each of the gatekeepers to my social life in the eye and tell them: You served alcohol to a minor. And months before that I was here drinking illegally, handing one of my four IDs to the servers and bouncers at the door after 9 p.m.
Two weeks ago I was here celebrating my 21st birthday. Kyle Froelich, the manager at Charley’s known simply as “Fro,” towers over me, and even when we’re seated at a table, it’s hard not to feel intimidated - scared even.īut it’s not his height that’s getting to me. Almost all the tables outside are filled, seated for dinner, but inside the tables are mostly empty.
“Like you said, you can buy some of these IDs from China that look 100 percent authentic, and they’re hard to catch.”įive minutes earlier on the Thursday of Welcome Week, I walked into Good Time Charley’s and handed Dobson, a bouncer at the popular campus bar on South University Avenue, one of my fake IDs - a driver’s license from Maine that shows I’m 22 and living at an address I never bothered to memorize. We’re not supposed to be experts at spotting every little detail in a fake ID,” said Russell Dobson, picking up from where he left off. I don’t notice the volume of the other noise in the bar. The lights are dimmed, but it doesn’t seem particularly dark. The air is hot and sticky just inside the door.Ī few tables are open, and the crowd at the bar is only one person deep. | The seat of the chair is worn, and I can feel the frayed edges of the leather as my feet hang above the ground.