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INDIANAPOLIS – Ben Henry swears the guy looked at least 30 when he ordered a beer at the Green Frog Inn last July.
"He was the size of a moose with a bunch of tattoos," Henry said. So he served up the beer without asking for identification.
Turns out the guy was only 20 and was part of a new State Excise Police program using minors to catch retailers breaking the law.
"I don’t think it’s good to use minors," Henry said. But he recognizes that the program has already made him more vigilant about asking for identification.
"It cost me $500," Henry, the son of Mayor Tom Henry, said. "I don’t want to go through that again. It was terrible."
Owned by the wife of Mayor Tom Henry, The Green Frog Inn, 820 Spring St., is one of 37 Allen County restaurants and bars cited during the first three months of enforcement under the alcohol compliance program.
In all, the state excise police have issued more than 370 violations across Indiana.
"I don’t think we had any idea what to expect because it was a new program," Excise Police Officer Jennifer Fults said. "From an enforcement perspective, it’s been enlightening to see where the problem areas are."
In April 2007, the department started surveying retailers in locations where minors had easy access – such as grocery stores or restaurants.
Then in 2008 the General Assembly gave the police authority to take the minors into bars and liquor stores.
Fults said the program involves people ages 18 to 20 who go into retailers with no identification or money. They also are not allowed to lie if a retailer asks them their age.
In the case of a grocery store or liquor store, for instance, the youth puts the alcohol on the counter. If the cashier rings it up and gives the youth a total without asking for identification, it is considered selling to a minor.
Under the program, though, the youth tells the clerk he or she doesn’t have money and leaves the store before finalizing the purchase.
In the case of a bar, a plain-clothes excise officer accompanies the youth. As soon as a beer or glass of wine is placed in front of the youth by a waitress or bartender who did not ask for identification, the youth leaves and the police officer pays for the alcohol.
At first, the department simply kept statistics on the retailers willing to sell to the minors. Overall, retailers violated the law 35 percent of the time.
But starting in July, the police began issuing citations for violations. Fines can reach a maximum of $1,000. If problems persist, a retailer’s license can be suspended.
In total, the police have conducted almost 9,000 checks.
"We put the system in place because we didn’t know," said Rep. Matt Bell, R-Avilla. "It is surprising to think that more than one in three times we don’t follow the law. It speaks for the need for education and training and enforcement."
The statistics were worse for restaurants, which sold to minors 44 percent of the time, and package liquor stores, which sold 40 percent of the time. The lowest non-compliance rate belonged to private clubs at 12 percent.
Bell didn’t have any thoughts on why some industries are violating the law more often than others.
"I think it’s a problem across every sector," he said. "There isn’t a number in there that is acceptable."
Grant Monahan, president of the Indiana Retail Council, said his members, including drug and grocery stores, supported the creation of the program.
"We think it is the right thing to do. It can only help all retailers to emphasize that they cannot sell alcoholic beverages to minors," he said, noting that liquor stores were twice as likely to sell to minors as drug and grocery stores.
For years, those supporting liquor stores have boasted about the additional training their clerks receive and noted that their clerks must be at least 21.
"They keep repeating that message, but I never thought it was true, and these compliance checks prove that," Monahan said.
He did say his members can improve and said that a similar program used for years on tobacco sales has been a success.
"When tobacco sales were first subject to compliance checks, the numbers weren’t good for anybody," Monahan said. "Over the years as those checks have continued to occur and retailers and employees know it’s part of the arsenal, it has brought those numbers down significantly. I think there will be a similar trend for alcohol."
John Livengood, president of the Indiana Association of Beverage Retailers, said his members – package liquor stores – are disappointed in the numbers. He also separately represents restaurants.
He said he believes that in restaurants, servers are making assumptions about the age of a person depending on whether another adult is with them.
And Livengood thinks a mandatory server-training law that goes into effect in January will help bring the numbers down. That law, he said, does not apply to grocery, drug or convenience store clerks because the industry opposed it.
"The bottom line is none of us is doing a good enough job," he said. "We’re doing everything we can do with our members to educate and make them aware of their responsibilities. We’ve told our members these numbers are unacceptable, and we need to bring them down."
Fults said police plan to expand the program. The next phase will focus on minors asking adults outside stores to buy liquor for them and trying to get local prosecutors to charge the adults.
