NCJ Number
203020
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 51 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2003 Pages: 192-194
Date Published
October 2003
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes the Tampa Police Department's (Florida) use of a special hand-held scanner to determine the authenticity of a driver's license ID presented to confirm the age of persons attempting to purchase alcoholic beverages.
Abstract
The scanner reads the magnetic strip on the back of the driver's license and other sanctioned ID's. If the license or ID card is a fake, nothing is displayed on the lighted screen. Even if it is an authentic license with an altered birth date, the true birth date and age show up back-lit, bright, and large on the scanner screen, along with other vital statistics from the license. The scanner the police are using is a Lavinna L100 with IDLogix software from the Logix Company. The scanner has been useful in locations where there are numerous bars and a younger clientele. Because the scanner does not just repeat the date of birth of the person presenting the driver's license, but also instantaneously calculates the person's age and displays it on the screen, it is quick and easy for officers to use. As part of the procedure for ensuring that drinks are not transferred from persons over the age of 21 to youth under this age, plastic wrist bands are attached to adults who are over 21. They can only be removed by cutting them off. Any person drinking an alcoholic beverage without a wrist band is thus assumed to be underage. The scanner can be used in most States, since driver's licenses, INS cards, military ID cards, and other government-issued ID's have either magnetic strips or 2-D barcodes. The scanner has an additional module available to read barcodes.