Underage
Drinking: Success Stories
Nevada
– May
30, 2002
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Strategies More
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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.
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Compliance Checks in Nevada: Enforcement through Local Ordinance
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In response to a recent court decision, law enforcement agencies across
Nevada are using local ordinances to enforce underage drinking laws. These
ordinances ensure that the penalties imposed during compliance checks will
stick.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) in
Nevada, with its unique commitment to the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL)
program, has dedicated an officer, John Schutt, to work full-time on
efforts across the state. Until recently these efforts included compliance
checks that were conducted under a state law prohibiting sales of alcohol
to minors. However, in Garcia v.
District Court, the Nevada Supreme Court decided that the law
required the seller to know?or have good reason to suspect?that the
purchaser was a minor, even though the seller had no
obligation to ask for identification. The decision made it nearly
impossible for authorities to cite sellers under the state law, unless
they could prove that the seller knew the purchaser was a minor.
Faced with this tough standard from the
court, enforcement agencies statewide have turned to local ordinances to
conduct checks. These rules can be strict-liability?meaning the seller
is accountable regardless of the buyer?s appearance or failure to
produce I.D.
Las Vegas provides an example of this shift. When the Garcia ruling was issued, the city had no ordinance on sales
to minors, and the decision threatened to halt ongoing compliance checks
in the city. Although no longer able to issue fines, officers continued
the checks and simply warned stores of violations. Meanwhile, in support
of LVMPD, local advocates, including Diane Pidsosny of Stand
Tall?Don?t Fall: United Against Underage Drinking (funded by OJJDP),
pushed for an ordinance that would prohibit sales to minors. They found
support from Councilman Gary Reese, who introduced an ordinance that
would close the Garcia loophole. Cooperation between the City Council and the
LVMPD was extremely effective, says Pidsosny, and the ordinance was
approved within two months.
Despite
the initial setback from the Garcia decision, the situation has raised awareness of
underage drinking issues in Nevada.
The next step for Silver
State advocates is to encourage legislators to fix the law that created the
compliance check loophole. Until that happens, Nevada?s
law enforcement will continue compliance checks according to local
ordinances.
For
more information, contact Diane Pidsosny at 702-436-2920 or Officer John
Schutt at 702-813-7226.
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