The News Room [News Archive]

Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-224-0615
Release Date: Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Sheriff’s sting shows large percentage of liquor stores sell to minors --- Pre-New Year’s check shows many businesses don’t ask for ID

Wayne County Sheriff Warren C. Evans today announced that a recent two-day check of local liquor stores has revealed that an alarming number of them sold alcohol to an underage undercover officer. The findings come just prior to annual New Year’s Eve celebrations, one of the busiest times of the year for alcohol sales and consumption, and raise serious questions about liquor law compliance in the area.

“Frankly, I was shocked at how easy it was for our underage officer to buy alcohol,” said Evans. “If this problem is as widespread as this sampling suggests, then there is a much larger problem here than we thought going into this.”

Evans said that undercover deputies recently checked two dozen independent and chain stores in Wayne County and 10 of them - nearly half - sold beer or liquor to the 19-year old officer, no questions asked. He also pointed out that in many of those instances, it wasn’t an inexperienced store clerk ringing up the sale.

“At four of the 10 locations that violated, it was the owner of the establishment who sold alcohol to a 19-year old without asking for identification,” Evans said.

Evans said his plan was to issue warnings to any establishment that failed to check the age of the undercover officer, then to come back a few weeks later and try again. If the store were to have sold a second time, it then would have been cited. When owners failed to ask for ID, however, the plan changed.

“We could not have, with a clear conscience, let the owner of an establishment off the hook for selling to a minor,” Evans said. “They know better, but apparently choose to look the other way to make a few bucks.”

These four stores were ticketed for selling alcohol to a minor. They face a $500 fine and possible further action from Michigan’s Liquor Control Commission. The six stores where a sales clerk sold the alcohol were given a warning. Interestingly, most of the stores the officers visited had placards posted indicating they checked ID for cigarette sales, but almost none had them for alcohol sales.

The stores the Sheriff’s Office checked are located in Highland Park and the downriver communities of Brownstown, Ecorse, Flat Rock, Lincoln Park, Melvindale, Trenton, Woodhaven and Wyandotte. Evans said that checks of stores in Detroit and western Wayne County are in the works.

“This is the kind of enforcement that we don’t have the resources to handle on a daily basis,” Evans said. “But we are putting liquor store operators on notice that the next young man or woman they choose not to card may not be 21, but they might carry a badge.”

Not just about alcohol sales
Evans said that, although a serious offense, the actual sale of the alcohol to a minor is not his biggest concern. It’s what comes after.

“The sale of the alcohol is just the first step in what is too often becomes a tragic chain of events,” Evans said. “That can include car accidents, alcohol poisoning, or acting out, as some young people do when they are under the influence, through vandalism, abuse and other criminal activity. That’s what we’re really trying to avoid.”

» Go To Top