Alcohol Compliance Checks: Five out of 40 Stillwater Liquor Sellers Fail

Five licensed liquor retailers in Stillwater failed the most recent round of alcohol compliance checks conducted by police.

“I can’t explain it,” Stillwater Police Sgt. Jeff Stender said. “I don’t remember the last time we had more than a couple of failures. We went a lot of years with none.”

In all, 40 compliance checks were done Wednesday, Stender said. Checks on eight liquor sellers were not completed because those establishments weren’t open. Those compliance checks will be done in the future.

Here’s how the checks are done:

Police recruit underage decoys to go into an establishment and ask to buy alcohol, Stender said. “We don’t attempt to trick anybody.”

If the underage buyer is asked for an ID, they show a legitimate Minnesota ID that shows they are under the age of 21, Stender said. If the decoy is asked how old they are, they are instructed to say their age.

“In some instances this time, apparently the driver’s license was displayed and the clerk sold them alcohol anyway,” Stender said. “What good is an ID if a clerk isn’t going to look at it? If clerks aren’t examining it correctly, they’re not doing their job.

“That’s not trickery,” Stender continued. “That’s not doing the job as prescribed by Minnesota state law.”

Five failures is not what police are looking for, Stender said.

“That’s a bad night for us,” he continued. “We prefer 100-percent compliance, because it’s easier for us. It takes more staff time to deal with a failure. Our philosophy has always been to make it as easy as possible to pass.”

Compliance checks are not done at the Chef’s Gallery or Stillwater’s bed and breakfasts, Stender said.

The idea is to prevent youth access to alcohol, Stender said. “There are not very many kids who will pay to take a cooking class to get a glass of wine.”

The establishments that allegedly failed the latest round of the biannual compliance checks were: the , , , and .

“In the past there has been a very low failure rate,” Stender said. “I was pretty surprised when I saw this.”

Potential penalties for the failure of a compliance check is a fine and/or suspension of a liquor license, according to the city ordinance.