Crime & Safety

Underage Drinking Enforcement 'Cops in Shops' Comes to 28 Towns This Summer

Former Fair Haven Mayor Michael Halfacre, director of the state's Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, says clamp-down effort on is a cooperative one between store owners and police.

These aren't "youthful indiscretions," said Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni at a Belmar press conference announcing this year's underage drinking policing program called Cops in Shops.

Instead the sale of alcohol to those under 21 is serious, leading to not just lapses in judgement but arrests, loss of license, and even death.

Gramiccioni mentioned prosecuting a case in which an underage driver had seriously injured his best friend in an accident stemming from underage alcohol consumption.

This year, grants will found the program in 28 towns, and last year 209 arrests were made. Offenses were handed to underage people buying alcohol, adults buying alcohol to minors, and store clerks selling the liquor.

Police are stationed inside liquor establishments, undercover, trying to curb what local officials said is a problem that increases come summer.

The salient message: that alcohol is only legal to purchase if you're 21 or older.

The press conference featured state ABC officials, local police, store owners and more, in what Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control Director Michael Halfacre, former Fair Haven mayor, said is a top to bottom blanket cooperation from those involved in selling alcohol and prosecuting offenses.

The Cops in Shops program pays for the staffing of the undercover officers, and training to find counterfeit IDs.

This year's program expands the number of places involved in the program, but the attempts at enforcement and promotion are similar, officials said.


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