Alcohol violations down across the state

Minors wishing to purchase alcohol are having a much more difficult time breaking the law than they did a few years ago.

Officers conducted more than 5,000 inspections and only 6.5 percent of Indiana establishments selling alcohol have committed violations so far this year, according to new data released by the Indiana State Excise Police.

Across the board, different types of establishments that serve alcohol are committing less alcohol violations.

Travis Thickstun, an excise officer with the Indiana State Police, said he doesn’t think any one thing can be credited with changing the willingness of businesses to sell alcohol to minors.

“I think the rates are falling because of our continued enforcement, combined with the Survey for Alcohol Compliance coupled with educational programs,” Thickstun said. “It’s those things working together.”

Relatively few establishments are committing violations and only two of the seven categories the statistics divide establishments into didn’t see a decline in violations: farm wineries (which were not a part of the survey previously) and hotels.

The rest: bars, liquor stores, restaurants, private clubs and grocery stores, all saw their violations decline.

“In the past two to three years, we’ve seen the rates drop across the board,” Thickstun said.

Some of these rates dropped dramatically.

In 2009, the first year the excise police started a new system of enforcement, 41.2 percent of liquor stores violated alcohol laws.

In 2010, only 7.7 percent of liquor stores violated alcohol laws and only 4.3 percent have thus far in 2011.

Hotels and farm wineries were the only categories above 9 percent
noncompliance.

Hotels have stayed at a relatively high level of around 25 percent since 2009, and farm wineries were not included in the new compliance system until this year. Twenty-eight percent of farm wineries were cited for violations so far.

The Survey for Alcohol Compliance began in 2007, though it was used only for information gathering for statistics at that time, he said.

The enforcement phase of the survey actually began in July 2009.

To conduct the survey, two officers accompany an undercover minor to a business that
serves alcohol.

One officer will remain in an unmarked car, Thickstun said, while the other officer goes inside with the youth, who must be at least 18 but not within three months of turning 21.

The minor will attempt to buy alcohol, and if the business is willing to sell the beverage, then it is cited for failing the inspection.

Businesses usually are inspected twice a year, but those that fail are reinspected until they pass.

“Clearly, the Survey for Alcohol Compliance continues to have a significant effect on the number of businesses willing to sell alcoholic beverages to minors,” Thickstun said.

— Zach Ammerman contributed to this report