The Daly City Police Department has just been awarded an $18,000 grant from the California Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to battle alcohol-related crime.
“This is important to the City of Daly City in order to increase protection for youth and to shut down problem locations that have contributed to an increase in crime,” Chief Manuel Martinez Jr. said.
The grant combines the efforts of local police officers and ABC agents to address alcohol-related issues. ABC agents have expertise in alcoholic beverage laws and can help communities reduce alcohol-related problems.
“The program improves the quality of life in neighborhoods,” said ABC Director Timothy Gorsuch. “We’ve seen a real difference in the communities where the grant program resources have been invested.”
The grant will fund a variety of programs such as Informed Merchants Preventing Alcohol-Related Crime Tendencies (IMPACT) inspections, responsible beverage service classes, minor decoy operations, and shoulder tap operations.
• IMPACT inspections are educational in nature. Inspections involve a representative from the Daly City Police Department visiting an ABC licensed establishment; they fill out a check box form, and provide the business with an informational booklet about their responsibility as an alcohol outlet.
• Responsible Beverage Service classes are provided free of charge to licensees and their employees and teaches them a variety of things about selling and serving alcohol. The class touches on the dangers of over-serving patrons, selling to minors, checking identification cards, narcotic activity, and how to deal with problem customers.
• The Minor Decoy operation involves the department sending a minor decoy into a location to attempt to purchase alcohol. Undercover police officers are always present during the operation.
• The Shoulder Tap operation is where a minor decoy stands outside of a location and asks adults to purchase alcohol for him or her. For each of the decoy operations, law enforcement must follow ABC Rule 141, which makes the operation not considered entrapment.
The funds will be used to reduce the number of alcoholic beverage sales to minors, obviously intoxicated patrons, illegal solicitations of alcohol, and other criminal activities such as the sale and possession of illegal drugs.
ABC is a Department of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency. This project is part of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control’s Education and Teen Alcohol Enforcement Program Grant, funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
