Sheriff’s department brews defense against illegal drinking
Three cashiers face charges for selling to minors.
Published Oct. 29, 2010
The Boone County Sheriff’s Department conducted 12 alcohol compliance checks around the county Friday evening.
According to a news release from the department, nine businesses passed the inspection. Three cashiers from Ed’s Quick Stop, 22 Drive Thru and Fast Lane 49 now face charges for selling intoxicating liquid to a minor.
“We take a random selection with the intentions of eventually making it around the county and getting to a majority of the businesses,” Sgt. Brian Leer said.
Leer said the sheriff’s department figures out which area they want to investigate and then tries to go to as many businesses as possible in one evening.
“Four of the businesses were chosen specifically because we did compliancy checks back in March and they failed,” Leer said. “So, we checked those businesses again to see if they had improved.”
Those four locations all passed this inspection along with five other businesses, including the Midway Travel Plaza.
“My staff is doing their job which makes me feel pretty good as a manager,” Midway Travel Plaza manager Randy Trierweiler said.
The manager said his store does not tolerate minors trying to buy alcohol.
“Our cashiers are trained and instructed that anybody who does not appear to be 27 years old gets carded,” Trierweiler said. “We take a very close look at the ID to make sure it hasn’t been tampered with. We make sure all of the data matches up and the ID has not expired.”
Leer said the officers conduct each checkpoint with a minor who looks younger than 21 to a group of people who see the minor's picture.
“If the clerk asks for an ID, we make the minor present their actual ID,” Leer said. “Then, if the person sells it to them, they exchange money, pick up the alcohol, walk out of the store and hand it to the officers. If not, they just decline the sale and we move on to the next location.”
Trierweiler said his cashiers type the customer’s date of birth into the store’s computer system. That way, if a fake ID deceives the cashier and officers later catch the minor, the store has a record of the ID and cannot be held accountable.
“It’s just one more security step we take,” Trierweiler said. “It protects us from liability. It’s a good faith measure.”
Leer said he has seen a positive impact from the addition of computer systems to run IDs.
“There were several places that looked like they were going to sell until they had to check the date of birth into the cash register,” Leer said. “So, I think the technology that some of these places are implementing is working.”
The officer recommends this technology as an option to businesses that fail the checks.
“That way it’s not just math and a person’s head or trying to look at a calendar to see if the person is old enough,” Leer said.
Trierweiler said the training for identifying minors never stops.
“Even if you do enforce the policy, somebody can easily slip through the cracks,” he said. “If places are out there that are just blatantly selling to minors, they need to be held accountable, but it can happen to anybody and I don’t look down at any business that didn’t pass.”
Leer said he hopes this sends the overall message that the sheriff’s department does not condone minors purchasing alcohol.
“We understand that it has happened and it continues to happen, but our goal is to make it so that minors can’t go and just openly purchase it anywhere in the county,” Leer said.