Together We Can Impact Underage Drinking

The Richland County Sheriff’s Office, Sidney City Police Department and the Fairview Police Department would like to thank all establishments that passed the recent alcohol compliance checks. The goal of the checks is to prevent youth access to alcohol and ensure all retailers are following alcohol sales and services laws to prevent illegal sales.

During compliance checks, undercover agents under the age 21 are sent into local establishments in an attempt to purchase alcohol. When asked, the agents are required to state their correct age and are prohibited from misleading or lying to the clerk or server. All transactions are monitored by law enforcement.

Compliance checks have been conducted in Richland County for more than 10 years in conjunction with Responsible Alcohol Sales and Service Training (RASS). The training and compliance checks have resulted in fewer illegal sales to persons under the age of 21.

Recently, the Montana Legislature passed Senate Bill 29 which mandates alcohol server training. The new law, which goes into effect Oct. 1, states that all license holders, alcohol sellers and servers be trained in a State approved server training course. With the new bill soon to be law there has been a substantial increase in the number of retailers needing and attending the training. Within the last month more than 235 alcohol servers and sellers in Richland County have attended Responsible Alcohol Sales and Service Training.

Compliance checks are conducted randomly with not all area businesses being checked each time. Recent results revealed a 94 % compliance rate for Richland County retailers or 15 of 16 establishments visited passed the checks. This is the highest compliance rate in the 10 plus years since checks have been conducted.

Law Enforcement would again like to thank the area retailers who passed the compliance checks. “We saw the results of the RASS trainings. Retailers were taking the time to look at the ID’s, doing the math, and refusing the sale. The clerks and servers are one of the first lines of defense and we applaud their efforts when it comes to preventing underage buying and drinking,” said Richland County Sheriff Brad Baisch.

 

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