If you are under 21 and thinking about purchasing a fake ID or currently have a fake ID, consequences for posessing a fake ID in New Hanover county will be a lot higher starting October 1. This new enforcement will require taking away the driver’s legal license for 60 days and enrolling in the deferred prosecution program. If the program is not completed or the offender is found driving before the 60-day period ends, the license will be taken away for a year.
“On your first court appearance, you have to apply to go into the [deferred prosecution] program. You have to attend a four-hour class, go to an emergency room to see the trauma cases that are coming in due to drunk driving, attend DWI court, and write a paper,” UNCW Campus Police’s Major Assistant Chief Chris Bertram said. “As long as you do everything you’re supposed to do and you come back with no other charges, they will dismiss your charge.”
District Attorney Ben David speaks about the new change during a press conference at UNCW on September 12. Photo courtesy of The Seahawk.
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In Wilmington last year, out of 550 people who were found with a fake ID, only seven actually lost their license according to Bertram. “New Hanover county accounts for 24 percent of all underage drinking violations in the entire state,” Bertram said. “New Hanover leads the state every year in car crashes, a large percent of it alcohol-related.”Â
The county’s new decision will give the offender more restrictions, but Bertram explains that will have a positive outcome.
“This is a big deal because if you do everything you’re supposed to do, the charge goes away,” Bertram said. “So when you’re forty-three-years old and you’re trying to get a job, you won’t have to explain an underage drinking ticket you got when you were eighteen.”