Team Hits the Bars to Put Damper on Drunk Driving

Drinkers around the tinsel-draped bar at Mexican Jones, a restaurant on Van Nuys Boulevard, were paying little attention to the room around them as the notes of “Jingle Bell Rock” blasted from the sound system one holiday night.

That changed abruptly when two uniformed Los Angeles Police Department officers and a state Alcoholic Beverage Control investigator entered.

As the officers, who acted friendly but serious, stood some distance from the bar talking to the restaurant owner, some of the patrons watched uneasily, shifting on their stools. The tension grew until a man sitting near the end of the bar cleared his throat and called out: “Uh, bartender, I’ll have another Coke.”

The drinkers chuckled.

But the officers, John Teetor and Sgt. Dennis Zine, merely glanced briefly at the bar. They were on deathly serious business.

Surprise Visits

Mexican Jones was just one of about 175 surprise stops that Los Angeles police officers and the ABC investigator made during the two-week holiday season in a bar-inspection program aimed at decreasing the number of drunk driving fatalities and accidents in the San Fernando Valley.

In announcing the joint program in December, police officials said they were alarmed by a 200% increase in fatalities last year in the Valley. In addition, the number of drunk driving accidents involving serious injuries jumped 13% last year.

In visiting the bars, the two-officer team, usually led by Zine, urged bartenders or bar owners not to serve intoxicated patrons, and gave them a chart measuring the number of drinks a person of a particular body weight usually could consume before he or she became legally drunk. They asked the bartenders to place charts where patrons could see them.

ABC senior special investigator Steven Ernst, who wore a “Miami Vice” wardrobe of white pants and necktie, then warned the bar owners that serving liquor to an intoxicated person is a violation of state liquor laws and could result in a 20-day liquor-license suspension or a $1,500 fine. Sometimes Ernst would ask to see their liquor license.

“This was not an undercover situation at all,” Zine said. “This was up front. We would not tell the bar owners when we were coming, but it was pretty well known we were making the rounds. We felt it was important to go right to the source to try and solve this problem.”

Team Makes 2 Arrests

Although other task forces were out arresting suspected drunk drivers, the bar-inspection team made only two arrests during the holiday season--two suspects, each seen driving slowly in an alley behind a bar on Christmas Eve.

Ernst, 28, also cited two clerks at a Reseda convenience store for selling liquor to an obviously intoxicated man. The officers did not arrest the man, who had no car with him, but instead drove him home.

The team spent several hours each day trying to visit most of the 1,600 restaurants and bars serving liquor in the Valley. In the afternoon, they visited establishments such as the Red Onion, a trendy dance club, and in the evening, they went to smaller, dimly lit bars like the Classroom or Executive Suite.

They spent about five minutes in each place, and although patrons sometimes approached them, the officers did not approach the customers, concentrating instead on bartenders and owners.

Whenever the officers and Ernst entered a restaurant or a bar, patrons eyed them warily. At the crowded Que Pasa restaurant in Sherman Oaks, people in the the predominantly yuppie crowd laughed and made quiet wisecracks as they watched the team converse with the restaurant’s management. “This is a bust,” kidded one young man in a wool sweater, covering his face with his hands.

In response to the team, most bar owners and bartenders were gracious.

“We already have our own program set up all through our restaurant chain,” Vincent Valdez, 23, assistant manager of the Hamburger Hamlet restaurant in Sherman Oaks, told the officers. “We’ve been very conscious of how much our customers have had to drink.”

Other bar owners told officers that they were advising intoxicated drivers to call a cab or take advantage of volunteer shuttle services.

Patricia Montgomery, 39, the day manager of the Golden Anchor restaurant in Panorama City, said she felt the team’s goal was praiseworthy. “This is real important,” Montgomery said. “I would just as soon not make money than to send somebody out of here drunk.”

Some bartenders were momentarily concerned about the team’s effect on their patrons. “Some of the customers get real nervous, but I understand why the police have to do this,” said Nancy Valdespino, 36, a bartender at the Tryst in Reseda. “I wholeheartedly approve of what they’re doing.”

Owners Are Receptive

The team visited about 175 bars around the Valley, and Zine said owners and bartenders were generally receptive.

But despite the program and the publicity it received, 89 persons were arrested on New Year’s Eve in the Valley on suspicion of drunk driving. Although no fatalities or serious injuries were reported, Zine still was disturbed by the number of arrests--the same as were made the previous New Year’s Eve.

“I don’t see why some people just don’t get the message,” he said.

“We had 50 officers out there, and if we had had more, we would have made more arrests. I’m glad about what we accomplished, but I don’t know what it’s going to take for people to just stop drinking and driving.”