Underage
Drinking: Success Stories
Arkansas – September 1, 2003
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With support from the OJJDP
Enforcing the Underage Drinking Laws Initiative, community organizations, enforcement agencies, youth, and other concerned citizens are working collaboratively to
change local ordinances and enforcement practices.
Arkansas Enforcement Gets Rolling
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The Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Enforcement
Division has used grant funds to breathe new life into underage drinking
enforcement, and as a result has seen significant reductions in sales to
minors.
In Arkansas, as in many States, underage drinking enforcement has been
overlooked in the face of other drug problems. In particular, the flood of
methamphetamine production and sales in Arkansas has sapped enforcement
resources that might otherwise be directed towards enforcing underage
drinking laws.
According to Kenny Heroman, Assistant Director of the Enforcement
Division, underage drinking is still a big problem in Arkansas. It was not
until 1999 that efforts to address the problem ?really got rolling,? says
Heroman. With the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) grant, the
division was able to purchase video equipment, vehicles, and pay minor
operatives in compliance checks.
The division began its first round of compliance checks in late 1999,
completing 356 checks. Agents completed 1,046 checks in 2000, 1,286 in
2001, and 1,242 in 2002. With 5,500 licensees in the State, agents are
checking approximately 20% of their outlets every year. Many of the checks
are random, but some are in response to complaints about problem outlets.
Says Heroman, ?If we receive a complaint, we do a compliance check.? In
addition, local law enforcement has now joined forces with ABC through
local EUDL mini-grants to conduct additional checks in 2003. From January
through June 2003, 842 checks have been conducted resulting in a 25.7%
noncompliance rate.
As a result of the checks, the division has seen a significant drop in
noncompliance rates. In the first round of checks conducted in 1999, 46.6%
of outlets sold to minor decoys. The noncompliance rate dropped slightly
to 41.3% in 2000, 35.6% in 2001, and 29.5% in 2002. So far in 2003,
noncompliance rates are running close to half the initial rate in 1999.
The increase in compliance checks can also be
attributed to an institutional policy change on how compliance checks are
tracked. In 2002, the ABC implemented a state- of-the-art database that
allows enforcement agents to enter data onto laptop computers while out in
the field. This has streamlined the tracking process of compliance check
investigations, thus reducing time and resources that were previously
spent on these duties.
In just a few years, the Alcoholic
Beverage Control Board and its Enforcement Division has made great strides
in enforcing Arkansas?s underage drinking laws. None of this would have
been possible without the EUDL grant. Says Heroman,??bringing awareness to
the problem of underage drinking, I?d give direct credit for that to the
grant.?
For more information, contact
Kenny Heroman, Assistant Director of the
Alcoholic Beverage Control Enforcement Division, at
[email protected], or 501-682-8174.
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