Hampshire Constabulary: Police working with licensed premises and door staff in Portsmouth to stamp out fake ID use

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Police working with licensed premises and door staff in Portsmouth to stamp out fake ID use

Press Releases

Published: 16/12/2009

With Christmas getting closer, the police in Portsmouth are carrying out various operations within the night time economy areas to help people enjoy their nights out safely.

One of the recurring problems encountered by clubs and bars is caused by young people using fake or borrowed ID when trying to enter licensed premises, and police are regularly handed large numbers of false ID cards.

Door staff are extremely vigilant in spotting falsified documents, or those that do not belong to the person presenting them as proof of age, and will hand them over to police at the first available opportunity, however being refused entry is usually the end of the matter.

As the festive season approaches and the numbers of people celebrating with a night out increases, officers, licensed premises and door supervisors have adopted the following plan of action to help combat this problem:

1. Offenders will have the false document seized
2. Details of the offender will be recorded and verified by police
3. Offender may be street bailed for the offence
4. The offender will be given a verbal warning
5. The parent/guardian of the young person will be notified

Sergeant Wendie Douglas, from the Alcohol Related Violent Crime and Licensing team, said, “Using fake ID or ID borrowed from a friend or a relative is a criminal offence. We are not looking to criminalise young people but being deceptive in this way puts them and the premises in danger, and we want to raise awareness of the issue.

“We will be dealing with offences of this nature in a robust manner, and for many young people having contact with the police is enough to make them realise the seriousness of their actions. Licensed venues do not want to have underage young people in their premises and I am sure most parents would disapprove of their children drinking in bars and clubs and support police action.”

Notes to editors: It is an offence under S25 (5) of the Identity Cards Act 2006 for a person to use fake/false/borrowed ID to try and access licensed premises and to try and obtain alcohol if they are under the age of 18.

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