Fake IDs are a riskier bet than they used to be.

Before Operation Prevent, the biggest worry was that a bouncer would confiscate the fake and send the would-be patron away. Now, the stakes can be much higher.

Over the course of eight bar raids on Marshall Street and near Armory Square, Operation Prevent has doled out 194 charges of possession of a forged or fictitious ID almost exclusively to underage Syracuse University students, as well as accumulating enough evidence to prompt the closing of Konrad’s Sports Bar by the New York State Liquor Authority.

‘It’s not just that we’re trying to catch students with fake IDs,’ said Lt. Shannon Trice, from the Syracuse Police Department, after a raid last year. ‘We’re trying to cut down the number of DWIs, and someone who is underage is more likely to get behind the wheel.’

Trice said that the program would continue this semester after being renewed for $4,000. The original grant afforded was $18,500.

The Syracuse Area College Community Coalition organized Operation Prevent two years ago to stem underage drinking.

‘(Bar owners) knew well in advance that we were coming, and they were aware we were going to enforce the underage drinking initiative,’ said Trooper Jack Keller, co-chair of the Coalition. ‘It’s not so much about trying to get as many arrests as possible, but more about education.’

The Coalition was formed in 1997, but really began to focus on ways to attack underage drinking after Livingstock – a 1999 riot that resulted in a number of suspensions and delayed graduations, as well as strained relationships with neighborhood families and the police.

The initial raids caused shock and outrage among students, who argued that the program was a waste of money and manpower. Nevertheless, police continued the raids through last spring, hitting almost every bar on Marshall Street.

With four visits from the authorities, Konrad’s racked up 108 of the 194 fake or fictitious ID charges.

‘Students are tired of getting trapped in a bar when they’re over 21,’ said John Cadorette, co-owner and former manager of Konrad’s. ‘You can only push people around for so long.’

Cadorette said the raids deliberately targeted Konrad’s, leading him to doubt a month earlier whether or not the bar would last.

Trice said that Konrad’s was not targeted specifically but that its reputation and consistently high numbers of underage patrons during previous raids made it an obvious choice.

‘I would say that it wasn’t necessarily targeted, but that’s where all the underage drinkers are,’ Trice said. ‘We’re not going to raid there once and have a gold mine, and come back and have another gold mine. We’re going to keep going back until the problem’s gone.’

No plans have been made public about the future of 113 Marshall St., but it seems that the property lends itself to the bar scene.

‘I definitely think you can run a bar business there,’ Trice said. ‘As long as you’re following the law, you’re not going to be bothered.’

Published on August 29, 2004 at 12:00 pm