'Don't get caught - Fake IDs'
Interview with Ray Agostino
General Manager for the Asquith Leagues ClubLiquor accord: Hornsby & Ku-ring-gai
Position in accord: Chairperson
Strategy: Community awareness
Name of project: 'Don’t get caught - Fake IDs'
OLGR: Ray, how did the fake identification project come about?
Ray: The Hornsby & Ku-ring-gai Liquor Accord has been running for many years and was formally known as the Liquor Consultative Meetings which commenced approximately in 1988 in our area. At one of our meetings, we were given a presentation from the Schools Liaison Officer from the Hornsby Local Area Command on minors and false identification. It was identified that parents were assisting minors to acquire false ID to gain entry to licensed venues. Apparently the parents’ logic was that they did not wish for their underage teenager to be left out of their group when going out with their peers who were over 18. The accord members had been detecting an increase in the number of fake IDs; however we were still shocked to hear that parents would be assisting with the problem. So we set about to make adults and minors aware of the serious repercussions and fines associated with the use of altered or fake identification.
OLGR: Given that you have two distinct groups contributing to the problem, did you target young people, parents or both groups to address the problem?
Ray: Both. We developed a campaign that targeted those parents who were assisting their teenagers with false IDs, and another in-venue campaign targeting young people in licensed venues.
OLGR: How did you raise awareness of the issue with false IDs with the parents and the broader community?
Ray: Prior to the school holidays in November 2007, we ran an advertising campaign in the two local newspapers – the North Shore Times and Hornsby Advocate. The advertisement, ’Don’t get caught. Fake IDs’ featured information about the fines associated with altering or lending out IDs. Asquith Leagues Club produced a coloured flyer with the message saying ’Don’t get caught. Fake IDs’ and acceptable forms of proof of age displayed overleaf. This was then emailed out to all accord members for them to print off as required. Special acknowledgment must also be made to the Hornsby Chamber of Commerce who printed a number of colour flyers free of charge for those accord members that did not have access to a printer.
OLGR: Once the campaign was up and running, who do you think benefited from the information?
Ray: The campaign not only addressed the issue with the target group through the advertisements and flyers, but also benefited licensed venue staff, security in particular because it made them aware of the issue with false IDs and of the acceptable forms of identification.
OLGR: Who was involved and what were their roles?
Ray: There were a few people all working together to achieve results. Steve Worrall from the Liquor Accord Delivery Unit helped us identify the problem in the area with false IDs. He highlighted the offences not only for minors who attempt to gain entry, but for licensees who supply liquor or allow minors to enter or remain on licensed premises. We informed the police of our concerns of fake IDs in our community, and Hornsby Local Area Command assisted by sending their School Liaison Officer to give the initial presentation at our meeting. The accord members then came up with an idea of distributing information in the flyer. My staff at the Asquith Leagues Club created the flyer on behalf of the Accord.
OLGR: As we all know, advertising can be an expensive proposition, particularly during the peak season, how did you fund the campaign?
Ray: Certainly the majority of the expenses were taken up by the advertising costs in our local newspapers as we had decided to fund the strategy as a group. The accord members donated up to $100 per venue. As I mentioned, the Hornsby Chamber of Commerce gave us great support by providing the additional colour printing for us.
OLGR: Obviously a strategy like this requires that licensees, security and bar staff all work together. How did you promote and market this strategy to your key stakeholders?
Ray: We emailed the A5 size flyers to our licensees who were encouraged to print and place them on their bar counters, and distribute them amongst their staff, security personnel and patrons. That way we were maintaining our vigilance with ID checking at the same time as raising awareness with our target group.
OLGR: Having said that, there must have been some challenges working with such a large group?
Ray: The biggest challenge was the time I had to allocate to chasing up all of the licensees for their financial contribution to the initiative. Like many accords, our accord chooses not to charge an annual member’s fee to pay for its initiatives, as the burden of keeping accounts can be equally time consuming. Therefore, all of the money was raised by a one off financial contribution from licensees. However, annual members’ fees may be looked at for future campaigns.
OLGR: What was the benefit of running a strategy like this?
Ray: I guess it was just a great opportunity for the accord to raise awareness of an issue as a whole. We know that it was a very worthwhile exercise, particularly with the venue staff who are our first line of defence. We are hoping parents and minors will also benefit from the information. Also, it is a relatively simple campaign to conduct.
OLGR: Apart from having the opportunity to showcase your time-management, graphic design and accountancy skills, were there any unexpected benefits?
Ray: As the number of false IDs being detected increased, a formal procedure to deal with false IDs was put in place by Hornsby Local Area Command. Licensees are to inform their staff and security that if they identify a false ID, they are to ask the minor to wait, and the police are called. If the minor does not wait, then the staff and security hand the ID over to venue staff and it is taken with a written report to the police station the following day.
OLGR: Would you run the same campaign again in the future?
Ray: Yes, we would definitely conduct the same campaign again. We are aiming for November 2009.
OLGR: Thank you Ray for participating in this interview and congratulations to your accord for implementing this awareness campaign.
For more information contact Ray Agostino on 02 9487 1066 or at 
ray@asquithleagues.com.au.
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