Quantcast

City Wants to Crack Down on Fake IDs

2006_10_fake1.jpg
2006_10_fake2.jpg

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn may propose "hefty fines and possible jail time" for those who use fake IDS, according to the NY Post. The City Council has made nightlife safety an issue after many nightlife incidents, most notably the case of 18 year old NJ resident Jennifer Moore being kidnapped, raped and murdered after a night of drinking in West Chelsea.

Currently, there is no mandatory license suspension or fine for using a fake ID in New York, though a judge can choose to suspend the user's driver's license.

A source told The Post that while imposition of a mandatory suspension is not cited in her report, Quinn favors such a measure and may bring the proposal before the full council. The council would then make a formal request to state lawmakers in Albany that they approve beefing up the law.

Quinn's report also says that people who make and sell fake IDs, which can be easily purchased over the Internet, should be targeted as well.

What about those enterprising students at colleges who make them? And nightclub owners support a move to stricter measures, since they have the problem of trying to determine whether an ID is real or fake. What hasn't been mentioned: What happens to people who lend their IDs to relatives or underage friends.

Speaker Quinn's report on nightlife reforms will also include a recommendation that the city create it own liquor authority.

Photographs from traffic re-routing display signs

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

Comments [rss]

  • James Monroe

    What "Tory" said. No sh1t, huh? How about the laws in CA that provide for more penalties a-gaynst residents who fail to produce current licenses as compared to illegals who possess no such documentation in the first place, all under the umbrella of, what, non-discriminatory regulation? What bullshit. Here in NYC, at age sixty-five my old man catches his first ever (marginal) moving violation, for running a red light. FWIW I was in the car, it was marginal, so here's a pre-emptive, Donald Rumsfeld-style, don't-even-start-with-me "Back Off". Suddenly his insurance jumps to three grand a year for a ten-year old, four-cylinder, soft-top Wrangler. Mebbe he should have just said, "no mas, no mas" until the fuzz gave up.

  • please write to your councilmember and tell them to back off nightlife, seriously. and repeal the cabaret law.



    new york is supposed to be fun! how does LA consistently have the best dance music talent coming through their "city" every single weekend, while all we have is little pubs and Crobar?

  • latb

    Absolutely bizarre.



    Who cares if an 18 or 19 or 20 year old is drinking? I mean, really?



    The best part is the spin that this is being done to "protect them."



    If they need that much "protection" why are they allowed to be tried in the adult justice system? Or allowed to vote? Obviously they can't handle themselves as adults by this reasoning...



    I know I'm mostly repeating comments from above but they do bear repeating.



    Well, at least we can all take comfort in some trans-fat donuts... oh... wait...

  • dk

    what's interesting to me about all this is that the same people who were presumably allowed to drink when they were 18 are the politicians now supporting this crap



    what if we went back in time and they were effected by the higher drinking age. doubt they'd be as happy

  • Tom

    I came in to say what Reg said... so... seconded.



    It's the perfect example of "once something's gone, you can never get it back." No one wants to be the politician that "supports teenage drinking" so the age will stay 21 instead of being rolled back to 18 where it should be.

  • tory

    I guess illegal aliens who commit identity theft using fake or stolen ID cards and SSN are protected from this.

  • Reg!

    Maybe in a cynical bastard, but who really cares. I mean, first of all, our legal age being the highest in the western world ir pretty retarded. Considering you can vote, be seen as adult in the legal system, and join the army, to arbitrarily add three more years is a little insulting. It's my understanding the age was raised due to drunk driving issues,



    And, finally, if I remember back to my college years, finding ways around underage drinking wasn't exactly too difficult in the first place. Id just like to see resources being put too...well I don't know, stopping crime, quality of life issues, etc...Like the police state with floodlights they have on 27th St would be more effective in...well East New York then making the big bad city safe for rich bridge and tunnel spawn.

blog comments powered by Disqus

send a tip

tips@gothamist.com