Mankato bar showcased for fighting underage drinking
MANKATO, Minn. (AP) - An age-old headache for bar owners and police - minors trying to fake their way into drinking establishments - is becoming more and more complicated by new technology and online counterfeit ID makers from around the globe.
But state and local law enforcement agencies, pointing to Rounders Bar and Grill in downtown Mankato, told the Mankato Free Press (http://bit.ly/2jyRaLt ) that underage drinkers can still be stopped if bouncers and servers are diligent.
The evidence of that sat on the bar of the downtown Mankato business - a half-dozen confiscated passports and hundreds upon hundreds of driver’s licenses and other identification cards taken from would-be patrons of Rounders in the past year or so.
“These are IDs that are altered, faked or just hand-offs,” said Ryan Tucker, general manager of Rounders.
While the hand-offs - when someone age 21 or older shares their ID with an underage friend - are the most common, manufactured IDs frequently show up and are increasingly sophisticated. And they can be ordered on the web, often from overseas sources.