Allston liquor store tries out ID device to deter underage drinking
Meghan Field was among dozens of customers who breezed into Blanchard's Liquor Store in Allston last night to stock up for the evening's parties. At 26, with a perfectly valid Massachusetts driver's license, she had nothing to worry about as she went to buy a keg of Bud Light and some ice.
But that didn't stop her from nervously eyeing a black, cubed-shaped device that viewed her ID, scanned it, and then displayed her picture on a video monitor.
"Does it track you?" wondered Field, a Simmons College student, on her way out. "To buy booze, you don't need to be tracked."
The inventors of the device insisted last night that it was not tracking Field or recording her personal information, but was just making sure that she is of legal drinking age. Blanchard's, in one of Boston's most heavily student-populated neighborhoods, is the first and only liquor store in Boston using the new tool to protect them from unintentionally selling alcohol to underage buyers.
The device, called i-Dentify ID-300, is manufactured by AssureTec Systems Inc. of Manchester, N.H., and is designed to verify licenses and passports by detecting holograms and other marks of authenticity.
"There's no real information about an individual in the database," said Richard Search, a vice president of engineering at AssureTec who demonstrated the system for reporters inside Blanchard's last night. "It's just each characteristic of the document: what should be where, what should be ultraviolet, what should be infrared."
Search said AssureTec brought the system to Blanchard's for a test in February after one of the company's chief scientists, who lives in Newton, was shopping there and decided it would be an ideal place to test the device's effectiveness.
The system is used to enhance airport security in Houston, Los Angeles, and at the Santiago Airport in Chile, Search said. The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, which also aims to prevent the use of false IDs, is testing the device as part of a pilot program, Search said.
The system, which costs about $6,500, has deterred many minors trying to procure alcohol from Blanchard's using fake IDs, said Joe Gomes, store manager.
"They see that machine, and they turn and walk out," Gomes said. "It's that threat of the technology. I've seen it, and I smile, because I know it's happening."
The device also helps to deflect scrutiny from city officials, who have become increasingly active in cracking down on raucous college parties in the city's neighborhoods. City Councilor at Large Stephen J. Murphy has proposed that the city track sales of beer kegs and alert Boston police where the alcohol sales are concentrated so the department can focus on party spots. The ordinance would focus in part on the Allston-Brighton neighborhoods, where Blanchard's is situated.
While no one appeared to have been caught carrying fake identification at Blanchard's yesterday, Gomes estimated that from two to eight people a night are caught with fake IDs, thanks to the system. The record for one night is eight customers caught with fake IDs, Gomes said. The busiest time of year for fake identification is September, when the new semester starts and new freshmen try to fool Blanchard's, he said.
When someone is caught with a fake ID, Gomes said, he confiscates it and sends a copy to the state Registry of Motor Vehicles, Boston police, and city and state alcohol control commissions. If the violator is a student, Gomes also sends a notice to the student's college or university.
Customers have their identification scanned at the store entrance on weekends to prevent delays in checkout lines caused by patrons who protest when the machine says their ID is fake.
"I feel bad, but I get paid to be the person that says, 'No, you can't do this,' " said Jessica Bacon, 25, a Suffolk University graduate, who checks identification at the entrance of Blanchard's and turns away customers if the system senses problems. "I get called all sorts of names, but it's a big deal. It's our liquor license that we're dealing with."
