The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
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Police continue to pursue businesses that sell alcohol to minors
By Sean Dalton, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 22, 2008
Police authorities throughout Washtenaw County say that the last Countywide Youth Alcohol Sting was a success on several fronts.
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The results, released this month, show a number of businesses with liquor licenses throughout the county passing tests conducted by undercover teens attempting to make the purchases.
A total of 57 locations were visited in Ann Arbor, Milan, Dexter, Manchester, Saline, Ypsilanti and surrounding townships.
The stings are typically funded by grants. The most recent sting was made possible by a Community Safety Grant from the state's Office of Highway Safety and Planning.
On the other hand, according to some law enforcement officials, the businesses that sold to undercover buyers aren't necessarily exercising gross negligence in a bid for sales at any cost.
Saline Police Chief Paul Bunten said that the businesses in his neck of the woods are pretty mindful of the law.
Saline had two establishments hit in the sting, although only three in the city overall were visited by undercover investigators.
"I think we have a group of license holders in the city of Saline that truly do care and want to do it right," Bunten said. "They occasional make a mistake."
Bunten said that he sees a cultural shift throughout the county, away from easy retail access to alcohol by minors.
"It was much easier ... people didn't care as much as they do now."
Other police departments that participated in the sting were Pittsfield and Milan, as well as the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department.
According to Commander Dave Egeler, Sheriff's Department Public Information Officer, things have worsened within his organization's jurisdiction.
Pittsfield Township in particular was singled out heavily, with 28 liquor license holders visited by investigators. Of those, five locations made alcohol sales without properly verifying the age of the undercover minor making the purchase.
"It seems like we're starting to see an increase in the number of sales," he said. "We're (also) starting to see an increase in the number of underage persons who are possessing alcohol and tobacco."
Egeler said the correlation he sees is that there must be an increased number sales taking place across the county.
"That's why we put these stings together," he added, pointing out that more than a dozen businesses made the sales without properly checking ID. One business in Manchester was even caught twice by the same agents.
The problem doesn't just exist at the counters of liquor-selling businesses, according to Egeler.
Local authorities have had to break up house parties, which typically leads the responding officers to stashes of alcohol possessed by minors and minors testing positive for illegal alcohol use.
"It's across the board, really ... we've actually done some sweeps of the local schools (and) we're catching kids just sitting along Parker Road on possessing (alcohol)," Egeler said. "It's any number of places where we're catching them with substances."
Bunten said the sting is a good way to keep businesses honest, but liquor license holders are only one channel available.
"Kids always seem to be able to get beer when they want it," he said. "I think there are some parents out there supplying (and) I think there are still people out there that, for a price, will still buy alcohol for kids."
Bunten referred to a party that the Saline Police Department broke up last week. The bust brought in 28 minors that were found to have illegally consumed alcohol.
The penalty is pretty stiff for simply purchasing alcohol on a minor's behalf,
"It is a 93-day misdemeanor," Bunten said.
The penalty that a business found in violation will face varies across a broad spectrum of potential consequences that are decided on a case-by-case basis by the state Liquor Control Commission.
"First a citation is issued to the clerk that sold product wrongly and we send a notice to the (commission) about the establishment and they take administrative action," Egeler said.
"The law is pretty specific and at any point it is illegal to sell to a minor ... it's good policy to get good verification on age and if they can't produce identification, don't make the sale.
"No sale is worth the fine that a business owner could be facing for making it."
County studies show that one in 20 eighth-graders in Livingston and Washtenaw County report being drunk at least once in the past month. The survey was published in January.
Nearly 1 out of every 5 10th-graders, or 18.1 percent, reported being drunk in the last month. Three out of 10 of those surveyed who were old enough to be a senior in high school, or 28.7 percent, told surveyors that they had been drunk the month prior to the survey being taken.
Police officials said they are going to keep at it until everyone is complying with the law.
"We go to everybody's store, we keep track and no one gets past us," Bunten said.
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