East Providence Alcohol Violations Were Part of Undercover Operation

As , the city of East Providence recently served four local businesses with alcohol violations, all of them relating to the sale of alcoholic beverage to minors. , East Buffet, and , which is on its second alcohol-related violation, were issued offenses after an undercover operation known as "compliance checks," done in conjunction with the state, the  (EPPC) and the .

According to Jennifer Wall of the EPPC, the compliance checks consist of using underage decoys, predominantly under the age of 18, to order alcoholic beverages at establishments holding liquor licences. The list of businesses is randomly provided by the state, after which the EPPC trains the youth decoys and pays them a stipend of $10 an hour for 4-hour shifts using annual grant funding. Once the youths are trained by the EPPC, they work with the police to orchestrate compliance checks.

The Operation

Police Incident Reports attained by East Providence Patch shed light onto the inside workings of compliance checks. Reports from all four establishments consist of witness statements from a 17-year-old female East Providence High School student and another 18-year-old male student involved, along with statements from officers overseeing the compliance check.

The violations were uncovered on June 17 between the hours of 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. The narrative states that 12 establishments in total were visited by the decoys, resulting in four violations.

In the instance of Avenue N, the female youth decoy wrote that she and the other decoy "went into [Avenue N] to buy beer without an ID. We were sat by someone who looked like a manager. When the waitress came over to the table, she asked us if we wanted something to drink. [Other operative] said he would take a Bud Light."

Her witness statement went on to read that the waitress said they did not have any Bud Light but did suggest Narragansett beer. After the other operative said that he would take the Narragansett, the witness wrote that "the waitress never asked for an age of ID."

According to the Officer Witness Statement, a narrative for Lieutenant William C. Nebus, the female minor decoy phoned Capt. Parella, the other officer overseeing the youth decoys, once they had been served. The statement reads that Lt. Nesbus "entered the establishment and noticed the table where [the youth decoys] were seated, had two two bottles of Narragansett beer in front of them."

The statement goes on to outline the events that transpired after the officers' entrance into the restaurant, stating that "Avenue N staff members cleared the table where the juveniles sat, including the alcohol that twas served, so the bottles of Narragansett beer were not seized."

The incident report for El Azteca did list "one 12 Oz. bottle of Miller Lite (brand) beer" as seized property.

'We're Really Not Out to Harm'

On Tuesday afternoon, Jennifer Wall spoke in the EPPC's office at City Hall in candid defense of the compliance check program of which her office is instrumental.

"We're really not out to harm, we're just enforcing and holding people accountable so that underage drinking sales go down," she said.

Wall also spoke to a theoretical opposition of the undercover style in which violations are brought forward, saying "we look at it as we're contracted by the state do it. Somebody has to do it, and the've laid it out in our contract that it's us, in collaboration with the police department. We really look at it as a way to prevent minors from attaining alcohol."

Wall went on to cite the "huge problem" that East Providence has had regarding this issue, saying that for "a long time we ranked third in the entire state for selling to minors."

"We were at 41.2 percent," she noted. "That means that one in every three were selling to a kid. That's a big problem."

Wall added that compliance checks have done their jobs, with East Providence now being at 11.8 percent.

Wall said that after the violations were handed out, she went to the four establishments charged. After experiencing them "a little," she provided the owners with bilingual binders with regulatory information on what benchmarks employees have to meet and the consequences for not meeting them. She also provides the restaurants with signage that promotes carding patrons under 30. Wall maintains that even though the compliance checks are done with decoys, there is "nothing undercover" about the checks themselves. She cites the fact that all businesses are informed of the possibility for random compliance checks upon the issuing of a liquor license.

What's Next

Each of the four businesses cited for violations were mailed Notice to Show Cause Hearing letters by East Providence City Clerk Kim Casci. The letter requires violators to "appear before the East Providence City Council, sitting as licensing authority, at the Council Meeting."

Casci went on to say that Avenue N had also been given a written warning by the city for serving alcohol at 2 a.m., an hour after the license granted them the ability to do so. The Rumford establishment will not have to go before the council on that matter.

During a phone call to the restaurant on Tuesday afternoon, Avenue N's , a former freelance contributor for East Providence Patch, respectfully declined to comment on both matters.

According to Casci, Avenue N and East Buffet will go before the council at the August 16 meeting to demonstrate why they should not have their licences "altered, fined or revoked." Riverside Kitchen and El Azteca will appear before the first city council meeting in September, in an attempt to spread out the lengthy time Show Cause Hearings are known for."

Check back for more on this story.