Consumer Considerations—

How Some Towns Are Reducing Sales Of Alcohol To Minors

By Jerry Farrell, Jr

Commissioner of

Consumer Protection

The store is nearly empty; the after-work rush is over. Two young men enter the tiny shop. They are cheerfully arguing while one uses his cellphone to send a text message. His companion grabs a suitcase of beer from the cooler and together they approach the checkout, still deep in conversation. The clerk behind the counter puts down the book she’s reading for her college course, glances at the faces of the customers, and promptly rings up their order.

As they leave the store, still debating the outcome of tonight’s football game, they ignore the police cruiser parked across the street at the gas station. They hop into the backseat of a car where friends are waiting, and drive off to their next stop.

Nearly every week, scenes like this are repeated time and again across the state. The endings are different. Sometimes the young men go watch football and the clerk goes back to her book. Sometimes someone has too much to drink and lands himself in trouble. And sometimes the police enter the store and inform the store clerk that she’s just made an illegal sale of alcohol to a minor, and issue her and the store owner a summons to appear in court and/or before the Liquor Control Commission in Hartford.

Department of Consumer Protection liquor agents work with local police departments statewide to conduct random undercover compliance checks of local stores, restaurants, and bars to make sure that laws relating to the sale of alcohol to minors are being observed. Our goal is to keep alcoholic beverages away from persons under the legal age of 21, to help reduce the number of tragedies that too often befall young people under the influence of liquor.

This state and local effort is made possible through a grant from the State of Connecticut Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee, which also provides funds for the training and coordinating the youth volunteers (all under the age of 21) who visit the establishments and make the illegal purchases. The ongoing compliance checks are bringing about improvements in liquor law compliance within the municipalities that choose to participate.

The purpose of the compliance check is to determine which establishments that sell or serve liquor are making the required effort to determine a customer’s age before making the sale, and which aren’t.

In a typical compliance check, the volunteer youth enters the store and attempts to purchase alcoholic liquor. If asked for proof of age, the volunteer provides his or her true age and valid Connecticut driver’s license or photo ID. In those instances, the clerks usually refuse to sell to the customer — surprisingly, however, sometimes they miscalculate the date on the license, and make the sale anyway. That’s troubling. Worse yet are the occasions where they just don’t ask to see ID at all.

These establishments have a responsibility to apply the law that prohibits sale of alcohol to minors. Sometimes a strong reminder from the local police and the Liquor Control Commission is an adequate wake-up call. In other cases, we work with local police to provide training for all permittees in a town in order to raise awareness, answer questions, and address issues of noncompliance.

In 2007, our Liquor Control Division partnered with local and state police and youth volunteers on 553 compliance checks in communities statewide. Roughly 31 percent of the establishments failed, by selling alcoholic liquor to a minor. Violators are required to appear before the Liquor Control Commission where they face fines and possible suspensions of their permits. In the case of serious repeat offenders, the commission is not averse to completely revoking the establishment’s liquor permit.

We understand that each compliance check is a life-saving activity, and it is an activity we will continue. To learn more about our compliance check operation, please feel free to email: liquor.control@ct.gov or call our Liquor Control Division at 860-713-6210.

Jerry Farrell, Jr, appointed in 2006 by Governor Rell as Connecticut’s Commissioner of Consumer Protection, is an attorney with 15 years experience. Helpful information about consumer issues can be found on the department’s website, www.ct.gov/dcp.