Full Notification

On Wednesday, April 09, 2019 the Santa Maria Police Department conducted an ABC “Shoulder Tap” and a “Minor Decoy” operation throughout the City of Santa Maria. These programs are designed to reduce youth access to alcoholic beverages. These type of operations are conducted by local law enforcement throughout the state.

During the "Minor Decoy" operation a minor decoy, under the age of 21, attempted to purchase an alcoholic beverages, under the direct supervision of SMPD undercover officers. The decoy entered six off-sale establishments. An off-sale alcoholic beverage establishment is an establishment that conducts retail sales of alcoholic beverages for consumption off the premises where it was sold. One of the establishments, La Favorita Market at 1635 N. Broadway, sold an alcoholic beverage to the minor decoy. The clerk was contacted and cited at the scene for selling an alcoholic beverage to a minor. The clerk will face criminal charges and the business will be evaluated by our local ABC office for possible administrative actions.

During the "Shoulder Tap" operation, a minor decoy under the direct supervision of officers, attempts to get persons from the community to purchase alcoholic beverages from an ABC licensed establishments within our city. This operation was attempted at two different locations of “off-sale establishments" in the City of Santa Maria. A total of three individuals were contacted and two of them purchased alcohol for the minor. The two subjects were contacted and cited at the scene for furnishing alcohol to a minor.

These type of programs are intended to reduce the availability of alcoholic beverages to minors; statistics show that teens have a greater rate of drunken driving crashes than adults.

Funding for these programs are provided by the California ABC Alcohol Policing Partnership grant which was awarded to the Santa Maria Police Department and the City of Guadalupe for these types of operations.

Prepared by Sgt. Eligio Lara