(Compton) - Investigators of the California Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) and deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (Compton & Century Stations) cited ten persons for selling alcohol to a minor on July 1, 2009. The action was the result of a Minor Decoy Operation conducted in Compton.
The Minor Decoy Operation involved minors who worked under the direct supervision of department investigators. The minors attempted to purchase alcohol from 46 retail licensees in the City of Compton.
Those who sell to a minor face a minimum fine of $250, and/or 24 to 32 hours of community service for a first violation. In addition, ABC will take administrative action against the alcoholic beverage license of the business where the sale occurred. The penalty may include a fine, a suspension of the license, or the permanent revocation of the license.
ABC is conducting the compliance checks state-wide to reduce the availability of alcohol to minors. Statistics have shown that young people under the age of 21 have a higher rate of drunken driving fatalities than the general adult population.
http://www.abc.ca.gov/press/PR2009/PR09-40.pdf
We Checked ID can also be used to record video of Credit Card usage along with valid ID.
No more denials and charge backs!
Don’t let this happen to you!
California Alcoholic Beverage Control Suspends License for 35 Days
ABC Suspends the License of restaurant on South Azusa Avenue in the city of Industry
Rowland Heights/Industry -The California Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) posted a suspension notice today at the restaurant located at 1420 South Azusa Avenue in the city of Industry. The suspension is the result of a violation that occurred back in March, 2008, when alcohol was served to minors who were later involved in a fatal crash involving alcohol.
The suspension means the restaurant cannot sell alcohol for the next 35 days. In addition, the alcoholic beverage license could face a possible revocation anytime in the next two years if a similar violation occurs.
Read all about it:
What are age identification policies and how do they work?
Age identification policies are written guidelines at stores, bars and restaurants that provide employees instructions on checking age identification of customers attempting to buy alcohol. These guidelines may reduce illegal sales of alcohol to underage youth by:
- Encouraging employees to refuse to sell alcohol to any customer who does not have a valid ID showing he/she is 21 or old
- Increasing employees’ detection of fake IDs
The ID-checking policy of an alcohol establishment may include the following guidelines:
- Follow the same procedure when checking each ID; don’t be distracted by conversation with the customer
- Check the ID of anyone who looks under the age of 30
- Check the birth date to see that the person is over 21. Check to see if the birth date has been altered
- Check the ID photo and the recorded height for resemblance with the attempted buyer. Compare the hairline, eyebrows and chin shape on the photo-these are the most difficult features to change
- Check the expiration date. If it is expired, it is not a valid ID
- Check the date the ID was issued. The issue date is usually in 4-year increments from the age of 16
- Check the IDs of all people at the counter or table if they all look of questionable age. For example, if a 21-year-old buys a pitcher of beer, check the ID of everyone at the table who appears younger than age 30
- If a customer is using a license from another state, compare the license to a representative license from that state. You can usually obtain a copy of “United States Driver’s Licenses” from your state’s liquor control board
- Always hold the ID in your hand and feel for any unusual raised surfaces
- Look at the ID under a bright light for glue lines or pin-holes where bleach may have been injected. See if the format of the card looks correct
- Check the size, thickness and edges of the ID; ragged edges may indicate tampering
- If the word “duplicate” is stamped on the license, someone else may have the original. Ask for another form of identification
- Check the back of the ID. On some state licenses, if the numbers have been changed on the front, the true numbers will be shown on the back
- If you are unsure, ask for another form of identification or for personal information, such as an address, birth date, age, middle initial, or zodiac sign. If the customer doesn’t provide another ID, politely refuse to sell the alcohol
Why age identification policies are important for your community
Selling alcohol to people under the age of 21 is illegal. Yet underage youth can easily purchase alcohol with either no age identification or with poor quality fake IDs.
- In a study conducted in 28 northern Minnesota communities, youthful-looking buyers were able to purchase beer without age identification in 47% of 336 purchase attempts.
- A study conducted in several New York counties and Washington, D.C. reported that underage buyers were able to purchase alcohol without age identification in 44% to 95% of the purchase attempts.
Although studies show that less than 15% of youth use fake IDs, there are several sources of fake IDs, including:
- Alteration of one’s own ID
- Use of someone else’s ID, either stolen or borrowed
- Applying for another person’s ID using that person’s birth certificate
- Creating one’s own fake ID
- Purchasing an ID from professional counterfeiters
Servers, clerks, and managers of alcohol establishments face the risk of criminal and civil liability if they serve or sell alcohol to an underage person. Checking IDs decreases the potential liability a server or seller could face for selling alcohol to an underage person. An ID-checking policy also reduces the potential liability of the owners of establishments, who could be sued for illegal alcohol sales that result in an injury to a third party.
Read more: http://www.epi.umn.edu/alcohol/policy/checkid.shtm
Pass Life Saving Laws
States should adopt laws that will prevent alcohol-related deaths and injuries among young people. Graduated drivers’ license laws,” happy hour” restrictions and similar policies change the context in which young people drink.
These laws have been shown to reduce underage drinking and fatal accidents among 15-20 year olds.
Graduated Driver’s Licenses. Laws that govern the age and terms under which adolescents can get a license to drive also affect the alcohol-related death and collision rates.
There are many variations of these laws around the country. In some states, 15 year olds can get a full license. In others, teens have to wait until they are 16 ½ and then settle for a license that restricts the hours they can drive and prohibits them from having their friends in the car.
The states with the most restrictive graduated driver’s license laws have significantly lower rates of alcohol-related crashes than the states with the least restrictive laws.
Happy Hour Regulations. States and communities that ban “happy hour” drink price promotions or require registration and identification of beer keg purchases have lower rates of teen binge drinking than states and communities with no regulatory restrictions.
Keg registration laws. Keg registration laws require kegs of beer to be tagged with an identification number and information to be recorded about the purchaser. Sometimes a deposit is required as an incentive to return the keg properly tagged.
These laws make it easier to track the whereabouts of kegs and the individuals using them, including underage youth and the adults who may have provided the keg for them. The specific requirements stipulated by these policies vary widely in the information collected from the purchaser, amount of deposit, penalties for loss of tags or failure to return kegs, and method of tagging.
Social host laws. Social host laws hold noncommercial servers of alcohol (such as homeowners or parents) liable in the event that they provide alcohol to a minor or an obviously inebriated individual who later becomes involved in an accident that causes injury or death to a third party.
PENALTY POLICY GUIDELINES
The California Constitution authorizes the Department, in its discretion, to suspend or revoke any license to sell alcoholic beverages if it shall determine for good cause that the continuance of such license would be contrary to the public welfare or morals. The Department may use a range of progressive and proportional penalties. This range will typically extend from Letters of Warning to Revocation. These guidelines contain a schedule of penalties that the Department usually imposes for the first offense of the law listed (except as otherwise indicated). These guidelines are not intended to be an exhaustive, comprehensive or complete list of all bases upon which disciplinary action may be taken against a license or licensee; nor are these guidelines intended to preclude, prevent, or impede the seeking, recommendation, or imposition of discipline greater than or less than those listed herein, in the proper exercise of the Department’s discretion. Higher or lower penalties from this schedule may be recommended based on the facts of individual cases where generally supported by aggravating or mitigating circumstances.
Aggravating factors may include, but are not limited to:
1. Prior disciplinary history
2. Prior warning letters
3. Licensee involvement
4. Premises located in high crime area
5. Lack of cooperation by licensee in investigation
6. Appearance and actual age of minor
7. Continuing course or pattern of conduct
Mitigating factors may include, but are not limited to:
1. Length of licensure at subject premises without prior discipline or problems
2. Positive action by licensee to correct problem
3. Documented training of licensee and employees
4. Cooperation by licensee in investigation
PENALTY SCHEDULE
Note: For purposes of this schedule of penalties, “revocation” includes any period of
stayed revocation as well as outright revocation of the license.
Sales to minors - § 25658 B&P:
Sales of alcoholic beverages to person(s) under 21 15 day suspension
Permitting person(s) under 21 to consume 15 day suspension
Furnishing or causing to be furnished alcoholic beverages to person(s) under 21 15 day suspension
2nd violation of Section 25658 within 36 months 25 day suspension
3rd violation of Section 25658 within 36 months Revocation
source: http://www.abc.ca.gov/
According to the CAMY report 2005:
Alcohol use among young people under 21 is the leading drug problem in the United States.
- More youth in the United States drink alcohol than smoke tobacco or marijuana, making it the drug most used by American young people.
- Every day, 5,400 young people under 16 take their first drink of alcohol.
- In 2005, one out of six eighth-graders, one in three tenth - graders, and nearly one out of two twelfth -graders were current drinkers.
- More than 7 million underage youth, ages 12 to 20, reported binge drinking - having five or more drinks on at least one occasion in the past 30 days - in 2004, according to data released in September 2005.
- Girls are binge drinking more, according to all three federal surveys, while boys are bingeing less or increasing their bingeing at a slower rate than their female peers.
- At the same time, twelfth-grade female drinkers and binge drinkers are now more likely to drink distilled spirits than beer.
- The new “alcopops” are particularly attractive to girls, and most popular with the youngest drinkers.
Underage drinking has serious consequences.
- Every day, three teens die from drinking and driving.
- At least six more youth under 21 die each day of non-driving alcohol-related causes, such as homicide, suicide, and drowning.
- More than 70,000 college students are victims of alcohol- related sexual assault or date rape each year.
- Recent studies have found that heavy exposure of the adolescent brain to alcohol may interfere with brain development, causing loss of memory and other skills.
Underage youth continue to find alcohol easily accessible.
- According to a national study released in 2005, more than 60% of eighth graders and over 80% of tenth graders said it was fairly easy or very easy to obtain alcohol.
- A 2005 study conducted for the American Medical Association found that nearly half of all teens surveyed said they in fact had obtained alcohol.
https://www.faceproject.org/Resources/PDF/CAMYAnnualRpt04FINAL.pdf
Underage Drinking
Alcohol is the No. 1 youth drug problem in America and more young people die from alcohol-related causes than from all other illicit drugs combined. National Research Council, Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective ResponsibilityUnderage drinking is a serious problem. The total cost attributable to the consequences of underage drinking was almost $62 billion per year in 2001 dollars. (Miller, et al, 2006)
Drinking before the age of 21 is associated with:
Damage to growing brains (White, 2001; Kuhn et al, 1998; Giedd, 1999)
Alcohol dependence (Grant and Dawson, 1997; Grant, 1998; Hingson et al, 2003)
Violence (Hingson, et al, Fall 2001; Hingson and Kenkel, 2003)
Dropping out of school (NIDA, 1998)
Drinking and driving (Hingson, et al, Jan. 2001; Hingson et al, 2003)
Riding with drinking drivers (Hingson, et al, Jan. 2001)
Unplanned and unsafe sex (Cooper, 2002)
Fatalities and injuries from drownings, burns, falls, (Levy, July 1999) homicides, suicides, (Institute of Medicine, 2003) and crashes (Levy, July 1999; Hingson and Kenkel, 2003; Hingson et al, 2003).
The 21 minimum drinking age law alone has helped reduce the incidence and harms of underage drinking. NHTSA estimates that these laws have saved an estimated 25,000 lives since 1975 (through 2006). In 2006, an estimated 890 lives were saved by minimum drinking age laws.
http://www.madd.org/Parents/Parents/Research/View-Research.aspx?research=13
