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Hazelwood Police Awarded Grant for Enforcement of Underage Drinking Laws
The Hazelwood Police Department has received a grant for $11,812 from the Enforcing the Underage Drinking Laws Block Grants Program, which is administered by the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP) and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). These funds will be used by the department to enforce underage drinking laws that pertain to liquor license establishments and special events, announced Hazelwood Police Chief Carl Wolf.
In accordance with guidelines outlined in the Revised Statutes of Missouri and the State Division of Alcohol and Tobacco, the HPD will conduct compliance checks at establishments that sell packaged liquor and at those that sell liquor by the drink such as bars and restaurants. Trained undercover youth buyers, ages 18 or 19, will assist Hazelwood police officers with these investigations.
“The youth we use for the compliance checks will only be allowed to enter the establishment with his/her Missouri state identification and the money given to them by our police officers,” said Chief Wolf. “The youth go in and select a pre-determined alcoholic beverage, bring it to the counter and attempt to make a purchase. This incident is witnessed by an undercover officer and an audio recording is made. If a sales transaction takes place, our undercover officer immediately initiates an investigation and issues a municipal court summons to the sales clerk.”
Chief Wolf further explains that the HPD gives business owners and their staff a “pat on the back” if they refuse to make the sales transaction. “Stores that do not sell beer to the undercover youth are notified about their compliance by the Officer in charge of the investigation. I also like to send them a follow-up letter congratulating them on their good work,” added Chief Wolf.
The HPD started receiving this funding in 2008. Since then, the department’s compliance failure rate has steadily declined which proves its effectiveness. In 2008, the compliance failure rate was 26%, a year later it was 15% and it dropped to 10% in 2010. This was impressive considering the fact that the compliance failure rate for the entire state EUDL program was 14% for 2010.
