A smaller, less intense version of last spring’s bar raids made its way to the Marshall Street area this weekend.

At about 11 p.m. Friday, four Syracuse police officers raided Konrad’s Bar on Marshall Street. The raid was a follow-up to last year’s larger raids on the bar, said Syracuse police Lt. Shannon Trice. Officers determined that Konrad’s showed no improvement in curbing underage drinking, Trice said.

When the four officers entered Konrad’s, 90 percent of the occupants emptied out the back door.

‘We’re assuming they were all underage,’ said Trice, who estimated between 50 and 60 people escaped.

Overall, officers documented three people who didn’t have IDs on them and arrested one person who had a fake ID. Konrad’s has a machine that checks an ID’s validity, but it was not in use Friday night, Trice said.

The police officers’ next action is to refer the establishment to Alcohol and Beverage Control for sanctions. The bar’s most severe punishment would be losing its liquor license, Trice said.

The manager of Konrad’s would not comment on Friday’s raid.

Friday night’s raid was the first event of the season as part of Operation Prevent, a program funded by the New York State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee. Operation Prevent is an effort by Syracuse Police to curb underage drinking, focusing partly on the confiscation of fake IDs.

‘It’s not just that we’re trying to catch students with fake IDs,’ Trice said. ‘We’re trying to cut down the number of DWIs, and someone who is underage is more likely get behind the wheel.’

While the raid that took place was a part of Operation Prevent, it wasn’t a full-caliber raid.

‘It was more of a scouting mission,’ Trice said. ‘In a full-fledged raid, we would have had all the entrances covered, undercover people at the bar and everyone would have been checked for a valid ID.’

Syracuse University’s Department of Public Safety would have also been involved, but this was not the case Friday, Trice said.

Underage drinkers who are caught through Operation Prevent might be punished in several ways. A first-time offender may have to attend a $100 class called Project Responsibility through the District Attorney’s office. SU Judicial Affairs may also have decisions to make about the matter, Trice said.

Operation Prevent has two main parts: an enforcement component and an education component. The raids primarily make up the enforcement part of the operation, while the other half involves publicizing the raids, Trice said.

‘We talk with the media to get the message out: Don’t be caught with a fake ID,’ Trice said.

The message seemed to be clear for some students on Sunday night.

‘Last night, [Konrad’s] was definitely empty,’ said Sierra Gendelman, a sophomore broadcast major. ‘Normally on a Sunday night when we don’t have school the next day, there’d be tons of people.’

Amanda Goldblatt, a sophomore art history major, believed the decreased turnout was definitely linked to the raid.

‘[Students] are obviously going to be hesitant to go back after it’s been raided,’ she said.

Published on September 1, 2003 at 12:00 pm