Edhat StaffSource: Santa Maria Police Department
On Wednesday, May 23, 2018, the Santa Maria Police Department conducted an ABC “Shoulder Tap” and a “Minor Decoy” operation throughout the City of Santa Maria. These programs are designed to reduce youth access to alcoholic beverages. These type of operations are conducted by local law enforcement throughout the state.
During the “Shoulder Tap” operation, a minor decoy under the direct supervision of officers, attempts to get persons from the community to purchase alcoholic beverages from the ABC licensed establishments within our city. This operation was attempted at three different locations of “off-sale establishments” in the City of Santa Maria. An “Off-sale alcoholic beverage establishment” is an establishment that conducts retail sales of alcoholic beverages for consumption off the premises where it was sold. A total of nine individuals were contacted and none of them purchased alcohol for the minor. This operation is considered to be a success because our community members did not purchase an alcoholic beverage for the underage decoy.
During the “Minor Decoy” operation a minor decoy, under the age of 21, attempted to purchase an alcoholic beverages, under the direct supervision of SMPD undercover officers. The decoy entered two “on-sale establishments” both restaurants. An “On-sale alcoholic beverage establishment” is an establishment that conducts retail sales of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises where it was sold. One of the establishments, Taqueria Salsa Brava, served an alcoholic beverage to the minor decoy. The server was contacted and cited at the scene for serving/furnishing an alcoholic beverage to a minor. The server will face criminal charges and the business will be evaluated by our local ABC office for possible administrative actions.
These type of programs are intended to reduce the availability of alcoholic beverages to minors; statistics show that teens have a greater rate of drunken driving crashes than adults.
Funding for these programs are provided by the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety administration through an ABC Grant which was awarded to the Santa Maria Police Department for these types of operations.
