In an effort to limit their liability when underage drinkers purchase alcohol with a fake identification card, two Tempe CVS stores recently began keeping a record of those who purchase alcohol.
The two stores are relatively new, and the forms were implemented after several underage buyers attempted to purchase alcohol at these locations, said Sgt. Wes Kuhl, special investigator for the Arizona Department of Liquor Licensing and Control.
CVS Caremark Director of Public Relations Mike DeAngelis said Tempe Police encouraged the use of these forms at the two CVS stores, but this could not be confirmed with Tempe Police.
“(The form) is in place in order to verify that the IDs being presented are valid IDs,” DeAngelis said.
Kuhl said businesses use the forms as legal protection.
“If they can show there is evidence of them checking somebody, it shows they are doing their job,” Kuhl said. “We are not going to hold them in violation of selling to a minor.”
According to Tempe Municipal Court, six instances of alcohol purchase using a fake ID were known for 2011. In that same year, court records indicated 122 instances of fake IDs being used to enter a bar or nightclub.
Music theater performance senior Bethany Lorentzen buys alcohol at CVS and now has to sign the form each time.
“It makes it slower, and that’s kind of annoying, but I get it, so I guess I don’t mind,” Lorentzen said.
In 2010, more than 2,000 fake IDs were seized by the Tempe Police Department and Downtown establishments licensed to sell alcohol, according to the City of Tempe website.
The Arizona Department of Liquor Licensing and Control does random bar checks to make sure establishments are checking IDs and sometimes organizes undercover operations in which they send covert underage buyers, or CUBs, who are 19 years old or younger, to purchase alcohol from an establishment suspected of failing to check IDs.
In 2011, the Arizona Department of Liquor Licensing and Control checked 232 locations — 62 of which sold to underage buyers, Kuhl said.
Reach the reporter at Michelle.peirano@asu.edu
