The Daily Inter Lake

Alcohol enforcement team honored

Flathead County's Alcohol Enforcement Team has been recognized as a "success story" by a national organization.

The team's work was featured in a publication by the Office of Juvenile Justice for Delinquency Prevention and the Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center in Maryland.

It featured the team in a section called "Success Stories: News from the field."

The team includes officers from the Sheriff's Office, all three local police departments, the drug task force, Montana Highway Patrol and the U.S. Forest Service. It is led by deputy Travis Bruyer of the Sheriff's Office.

The team formed in July 2005 and is funded by a grant from the Montana Board of Crime Control.

Within its first year, it has conducted more than 200 compliance checks of businesses that sell or serve alcohol. The number of businesses that refused sales to an undercover, underage buyer rose from 40 percent to 70 percent, the publication said. Officers have also conducted walk-throughs at bars to randomly checks patrons' ID.

The team has trained more then 200 bartenders and clerks in the importance of asking for identification, detecting fake identification, and not overserving customers. Officers also work on educating the community by being available for public speaking.

The prevention office said that party patrols have been the team's most successful program for enforcing underage drinking laws.

Since July 2005, more than 1,400 youths in Flathead County have been cited for possessing alcohol and more than 100 adults have been charged with providing it. The program credits the enforcement team with saving the lives of 14 youths who were found unresponsive at parties. They were taken to hospitals for treatment of alcohol poisoning.

"The AET has set a trend towards changing the social norms and strongly emphasizing that underage drinking is not acceptable," the story said.

The most recent compliance checks happened two weeks ago. Then, 20 establishments were checked. Seven failed to properly check ID from the undercover buyers. With 13 establishments passing, the compliance rate was 65 percent, Bruyer said.

Businesses that passed were the Palace, the Great Northern, Casey's, Blue Moon, Columbia, Bandit, Double Eagle, Grizzly Jack's, King's Lounge, Stoner's Inn, South Fork, Dam Town Tavern, and Silver Bullet bars.

Those that failed were the Remington, Flanigan's, Deerlick, Town Pump near Columbia Falls, Re-Bar Saloon, Garden Bar, and Bigfork Inn.

Clerks and bartenders who sell to minors are charged with a misdemeanor and face fines. Businesses may lose their liquor licenses with multiple offenses.