With funding from a grant from the Opportunity Alliance Communities Promoting Health Coalition, Westbrook police recently sent undercover minors into all Westbrook retail stores that sell alcohol.
Of the 16 licensed stores, two sold to the undercover minors, according to Captain Tom Roth. The two minors were criminal justice students at an area college.
Roth said police charged the stores with administrative liquor violations, and the cases will be referred to the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations. These are administrative violations and, as such, the names of the stores are not released.
According to Roth, who oversees alcohol enforcement in Westbrook and who supervised the recent detail, “Our undercover minors were 18 and 19 years old and looked representative of their age.”
Maine law requires anyone who is under 27 years of age to provide positive identification when purchasing alcohol. Police use compliance checks to monitor the effectiveness of stores following the mandatory identification law.
Additionally, Westbrook police will be monitoring bars and locations where alcohol is sold, to ensure minors are not provided alcohol and that patrons are not visibly intoxicated.
“The responsibility of store and bar owners is to ensure a safe environment for their patrons, as well as for the general public who may come in contact with their patrons,” Roth said. “We use a variety of tools and tactics to ensure liquor laws are followed and to ensure everyone’s safety.”
Compliance checks, bar checks and store surveillance will continue in Westbrook, he added.
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