Underage Northeastern students help force changes at Fenway Target

A pair of 19-year-old Northeastern students nabbed buying two 30-packs of Natty Light and a bottle of vodka at the Boylston Street Target last month have spurred the chain to begin looking at updated scanner software for picking out fake IDs, a chain attorney and security manager told the Boston Licensing Board today.

But actually installing the software is no easy task at a large company, especially one that now has five separate security and privacy teams to review any software that deals with personal information - because of a 2013 data breach that involved 41 million people - attorney Joseph Devlin said.

Devlin said that the Dec. 8 incident, and a similar one just six days later, convinced him and regional Target managers that something was wrong with the store's systems for keeping minors from walking out with alcohol.

Two BPD detectives on an unannounced inspection around 10:35 p.m. on Dec. 8, watched as two young-looking guys approached a register, each with a 30-pack of Natural Light, one with a bottle of vodka. The cashier ran their licenses - one from Connecticut, one from Maine - and let them through.

The less trusting detectives then asked them for their IDs and proof of age, and quickly determined the licenses were fake and the men were both just 19. Both will be summoned into court to face criminal charges related to the incident, Det. Daniel MacDonald said.

Devlin said that even before the store installs new scanning software, it has taken several steps to block the under-21 crowd from alcohol sales, including requiring a second form of ID, having cashiers ask the sort of question the cops often do to try to trip them up, such as asking the ID holders for their home Zip codes and trying to hire detail cops to menacingly stand at the registers and convince the kids the risk isn't worth it, at least on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

He added that the new software could be installed in the Fenway store within 30 days, where it will be beta tested before being installed at the other Target stores in Massachusetts - none of them in student-heavy areas such as the Fenway.

The store decided against one suggestion by Boston Police - only allow sales to people with Massachusetts IDs - because the store has so many customers who are out-of-state students who are actually over 21.