Beach Haven On The Lookout For Bogus Identifications

Young people looking to use fake identifications to buy liquor in Beach Haven should consider yourselves warned – local police and businesses have a new technology that will catch even the best “fakes.”

Municipal Manager Richard S. Crane reported at the town's regular Council meeting last night that last weekend marked this technology's second week in use, and in that second week, police detected four bogus licenses being used at the Ketch.

“With the new technology that is out, it is becoming tougher to detect fake licenses, and this software helps with detection,” Crane said at the meeting.

The department purchased the system for $5,000 after Troy Sarro, who is the security manager at the Sea Shell, demonstrated the equipment to Beach Haven Sgt. James Markoski. The system uses hardware to scan the license itself and then software to double check that all of the information on the identification is correct and in the right format.

Beach Haven is the first New Jersey police department to use the technology to combat the problem of bogus identifications.

In a telephone interview last night, Sarro told a Patch reporter that the Sea Shell decided to purchase this particular brand of technology, which he identified as Advanced ID, after a long search.

"We had been looking for years for a system that was this good," he said. "One demonstration and it kind of sold itself." He said the Sea Shell purchased it toward the end of last summer.

Crane noted that individuals who are caught using improper licenses face fines as high as $1250 and a possible loss of license.