UCCS criminal justice majors infiltrated a covert physical ID market during supervised fieldwork hours.
Last Friday evening, criminal justice majors stationed throughout campus located multiple hooded figures entering the Heller Center carrying sets of cardboard boxes full of physical IDs.
After the reintroduction of physical IDs to campus, multiple bootlegging operations have been caught attempting to sell fake IDs. According to lead investigator Detective Mike Swipe, the bootlegging is a response to the high cost of IDs distributed by the university.
One student, who asked to remain anonymous, spoke with The Scribe.
“They didn’t give us any choice to transition from digital to physical IDs! And there’s such a big barrier behind it, some $80 figure,” they said, “It’s outlandish, but, if the school just had better prices to get physical IDs, the illicit activity wouldn’t exist.”
Onhe Khard, fourth-year criminal justice and social work dual-major, described the physical ID industry: “I’ve been keeping tabs on this group for a while. They’re no better than Temu. These scumbags manipulate students into believing they want the convenience of a physical ID. Truly diabolical.”
The students all began with digital IDs, but upon contact with ID forgers, “they were indoctrinated into the physical ID cult,” according to Khard.
Fourth-year criminal justice major and mother of five, Ana Banana, was asked to comment on the situation.
“We’re seeing a large uptick in the amount of illegal ID physical-ization activity on campus, and there’s a lot of uncertainty floating around about its effects. So far, I’ve witnessed instances of phone-withdrawal sweats, Wi-Fi outage freakouts and mass ID lost-and-founds,” Banana said.
Police presence on campus has increased since the incident and UCCS administrators are still pushing forward with their initiative to transition back to a solely physical ID model after a supportive opinion from The Scribe. “We will continue to manufacture the $80 physical IDs. All of these kids and their dang phones must be stopped,” Chancellor Sennifer Jobanet said.
Photo courtesy of the UCCS Photography Database.