Pennsylvania: Local police chiefs worried about expanding booze sales, increasing enforcement duties

Volume 129: April 1, 2013

Pennsylvania: Local police chiefs worried about expanding booze sales, increasing enforcement duties

March 22, 2013

As the State House on Thursday approved a bill to privatize liquor sales in Pennsylvania, local law enforcement officials were warning of negative impacts the legislation could have locally.

State College Police Chief Tom King cautioned that privatization of beer, wine and spirits sales could also lead to more alcohol-fueled crime and further stretch budgets of police departments tasked with keeping alcohol abuse in check.

And those issues could be exacerbated in a college community with a youthful population, said King.

"It's a big concern," he said.

In essence, the bill would create 1,200 wine and spirit licenses that beer distributors would get the first shot at obtaining. It would also give grocery stores the opportunity to sell wines. The state stores would eventually be phased out.

Proponents of the plan said it would generate tens of millions of dollars for the state. It also figures to lead to more stores being able to sell alcohol and for longer hours during the week.

For King, that greater access goes hand-in-hand with increased risk for abuse.

He pointed to a study conducted in 2011 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control that recommended against further privatization of alcohol sales. The study found "strong evidence privatization results in increased per-capita alcohol consumption, a well-established proxy for excessive consumption."

"Based on density and increased hours of operation, you also increase alcohol-related crime," King said. "That's my experience, but that's also based on research."

And if there is an increase in alcohol-related crime, there must be an increase in enforcement. Local police chiefs are worried that responsibility will fall on their already-stretched budgets.

"I believe the enforcement will fall more to local police," said Ferguson Township Police Chief Diane Conrad. "I'm always concerned about our ability to provide sufficient services, certainly that's one concern."

Source: Centre Daily Times

Arizona: Inside the liquor department's covert underage buyer operation

March 25, 2013

We all know bars and restaurants are supposed to be checking identification cards, but we also know not all do. So there are police officers and teenagers out there doing undercover work to keep them on their toes.

The Arizona Department of Liquor has a CUB program, in which CUB stands for covert underage buyer. The Arizona Department of Liquor sends in a teenager with their real IDs to try and buy alcohol. If they're successful, the cops are there to bust the sellers.

"You never know what we're going to run into in the night," said Sgt. Wes Kuhl with the Arizona Department of Liquor. They go on CUB stings a few times a month. This time, they let us tag along.

"We get some sort of complaint that a location is selling to an underage," Kuhl said. "We can only check those places per state statute."

After they get the complaint, the undercover officers check it out, usually by sending in the CUB.

"Not every high schooler gets the opportunity to go and do undercover work," said one of the CUBs, Zack, who will soon retire because a CUB cannot be older than 19. Zack said he usually gets a buy 50 percent of the time.

"I've had friends who've gotten hurt from drinking alcohol and from other teenagers drinking alcohol in car accidents and whatnot," Zack said.

"In 2012 we had a buy rate of about 38 percent, so approximately four out of 10 places have sold alcohol to our underage buyers," Kuhl said. He said that number seems a little high, considering all restaurant, bar, and liquor store owners learn about this program when they get their license.

"It's no surprise, we're not trying to deceive anybody, we're just checking compliance," Kuhl said.

Source: CBS 5

Tennessee: On its last leg, TN wine bill adds Sunday liquor sales

March 27, 2013

Liquor stores could open on Sundays, and they would be allowed to sell items other than alcohol under a wine-in-grocery-stores bill now being weighed in the state Senate.

The Senate Finance Committee approved amendments Tuesday that would loosen restrictions on liquor stores in a bid to break the impasse over new alcohol legislation.

But the committee put off a final vote on the bill for a week amid signs that the changes still were not enough to get the measure to the Senate floor.

"People are thinking we're up here talking about putting wine in a grocery store," said Sen. Jim Kyle, D-Memphis. "This bill today changes the entire distribution system of alcoholic beverages in this state, and I think we've moved awfully quickly."

Source: The Tennessean

Pennsylvania: In hearing at beer distributor, few cheer liquor privatization

March 27, 2013

After years of working at a bank, Nancy Dillett of Meadowbrook, Montgomery County, lost her job in the late 1990s when her company was taken over by a rival. She spent the next decade raising her two children as a stay-at-home mom, then rejoined the workforce 18 months ago - as a retail clerk in a State (Liquor) Store.

On Wednesday, Dillett, 55, who works at the liquor store in Jenkintown, told a panel of Democratic legislators that the state House's recent passage of a bill to phase out the State Stores left her fearful of finding herself without work once more.

"I know what it's like to lose a job," said Dillett, whose children are headed to college soon. "I'm very happy to have this job."

Dillett was one of several union members and others who came to speak against the bill, which is backed by Gov. Corbett and most of his fellow Republicans in the GOP-controlled legislature.

Though the topic was familiar, the setting was not. House Democrats held the hearing at Big Top Beverage, a drafty Abington beer distributor with a concrete floor, where stacks of Coors Light towered near legislators sitting at folding tables, with cases of local brews like Kenzinger and Philadelphia Pale Ale piled in front of them. The few dozen politicians, union members, and others in attendance crowded around to listen, some craning around cases to hear the witnesses.

Source: Philly.com

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