A report of underage ID violation citations at campus bars was released by the Illinois State Police on Tuesday.

According to the report, the police checked five local bars and monitored the streets in Champaign County. Twenty-two violations were found in the bars and two violators were found during the street sweep.

Illini Inn was the only bar the police checked to have no violations found. KAM’s has eight citations, Red Lion has seven, Brother’s Bar & Grill has four and Joe’s Brewery has three. 

The Illinois State Police worked with the Champaign Police Department to issue underage drinking citations. 

“We’ve always had a history of cooperating with local agencies as our number one goal is to keep people safe and we do that through cooperation with other agencies,” said Louis Kink, district commander for Illinois State Police. “That’s what our job is — to keep people safe. Every police agency has that goal.”

The “Alcohol Countermeasure Enforcement” bar ID check exists to reduce or deter underage drinking and prevent violations of laws related to alcohol.

“I think anytime you (let) people that are less than 21 into a bar, you have a greater potential for there to be underage drinking,” Kink said.

He said if bars followed the 21 and up rule, police would not be doing these details as regularly as they do.

“But when you allow 19-year-olds in bars, the potential is there for them to drink underage and that’s why we usually issue 20 to 30 citations every bar check,” Kink said. “And I’m sure we don’t catch all of them.”

Kink said he would like to encourage underage bar patrons to stay away from alcohol, because that will not only be violating the law but it is also putting themselves in a position where you become dependent on alcohol further down the road.

“I understand people want to go out and have a good time, but you can have a good time without alcohol when you’re not old enough to have it,” he said. 

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