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Police 'Tap' Effort Goes After Those Purchasing Alcohol for Minorsby BRIAN TROMPETER, Staff Writer |
| Fairfax County police for years have sent
underage cadets into convenience stores, pharmacies, grocery outlets and
liquor stores to test whether clerks would illegally sell them alcohol. Since last summer, however, the department has targeted a different segment of the population: adult customers heading into those same stores. In these so-called “shoulder-tap” operations, underage cadets approach people entering stores and ask the adults to buy alcohol for them. If adults ask if the cadets are 21, the cadets respond with their true age. If customers buy alcohol for the minors, a plain-clothes officer watching the transaction will signal a nearby uniformed officer, who then confronts the purchaser and makes the arrest. Police have conducted six such operations since the program began last year. So far, 263 adults have been stopped and 35 charged with supplying or purchasing alcoholic beverages for persons under age 21, said Don Gotthardt, a police spokesman. The charge is a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to 12 months in jail and/or a $2,500 fine. The average fine levied so far has been about $150, he said. The program, which is part of the police department's Youth Alcohol/Business Compliance enforcement campaign, has a 100-percent conviction rate so far, although six or seven arrested people have yet to stand trial. Officials in neighboring Arlington County said they do not conduct similar operations. “Our enforcement efforts are focused on preventing the sale of alcohol directly to underage customers,” Arlington police spokesman John Lisle said. Gotthardt said the program does not constitute inducement to commit a crime. “The mere asking of someone to do something is not entrapment,” he said. “The fact that they decide to do something [does] not cause somebody to commit a crime if they did not already have a propensity to do that.” Some of those arrested have expressed sympathy for underage drinkers, Gotthardt said. “They remember what it was like when they were that age,” he said. Kristen Armstrong contributed to this story. |