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.
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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.