NYS Letting Undercover Minors in
Beer Stings Lie About Their Age

   NYACS has placed its members on heightened alert after discovering that the State Liquor Authority is now directing undercover minors used in alcohol stings to lie about their age in order to bait store clerks into selling them beer.
   Calling the revelation “deeply troubling,” NYACS President Jim Calvin wrote to SLA Chairman Dennis Rosen protesting the new policy, saying it “fundamentally and inappropriately alters the rules of engagement for compliance enforcement.”
   Retailers convicted of selling alcohol to an undercover minor face fines of $2,000 or more and possible suspension of their beer license. It has long been standard practice that if the underage decoy is asked a question by a store clerk, he/she may either remain silent or answer truthfully, but not lie. There is no evidence that health departments conducting undercover tobacco stings are deviating from this
   “Our members don’t like undercover sting operations, but we accept them as a necessary component of the overall fight against underage drinking – as long as they are conducted fairly and professionally,” Calvin wrote to Chairman Rosen.
   “You have expressed to me a belief that asking a beer customer their age ‘is meaningless or a disingenuous attempt by a licensee to appear to be vigilant.’ To the contrary, asking the customer’s age before requesting ID enables responsible retailers to read the person’s facial expression and body language in order to help assess the situation. Based on our experience, the more questions you ask at the counter, the more likely you are to succeed in detecting an underage purchase attempt. For example, some stores, when presented with an ID indicating the person is of legal age, ask the customer their date of birth, or address, to see if their answer matches the ID presented. This can flush out a situation where, for example, a teenage boy is attempting to use his older brother's ID. Asking the customer questions is no substitute for requiring ID, but it can be a useful step in the age verification process.
   “You maintain that lying about one’s age is an essential enforcement tool in transactions ‘where neither the licensee nor the minor is going to report the crime’ of selling alcohol to someone under 21. I remind you that in recent sting operations in Western New York exclusively targeting convenience stores, the SLA waited 30 days to ‘report the crime’ to stores that allegedly sold to the decoy. By denying these business owners the chance to immediately remove the offending cashier, the SLA – in the name of preventing underage sales – knowingly exposed the community to the risk of subsequent underage sales by that same cashier during the intervening period.
   “As we research the legality of deceptive behavior by undercover minors, NYACS urges you to re-examine this policy. From our vantage point, it is unfair to retail licensees who strive to do the right thing, compromises the veracity of the decoy’s testimony, and diminishes the credibility that you and your colleagues at the State Liquor Authority have worked so diligently and successfully to restore.”