Alcohol Investigators Return to Field : Regulation: Staffing shortages forced ABC to process backlog in liquor license applications instead of cracking down on violators.

The state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which has been hobbled by budget cuts to the point of inaction, announced Thursday that investigators will return to the streets this month to crack down on liquor law violations.

For nearly a year, ABC investigators across California have been processing a massive backlog in liquor license applications. But because of staffing shortages, they have not been conducting investigations of the state’s 73,000 alcohol establishments.

That inaction, neighborhood activists say, has left bars, liquor stores and other licensees without supervision and has increased sales to minors, loitering, drug sales and other illegal acts.

A state law introduced this fall by Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) restores the ABC’s funding to 1991 levels and makes it a self-funding agency, with increased liquor license fees going back to the department.

“The ABC cops are back on the street,” Katz said at a news conference outside a Los Angeles bar that had its liquor license revoked Thursday because of a string of violations. “It’s going to be a new year.”

Despite the renewed funding, the notoriously understaffed department will still have a daunting workload.

After the ABC beefs up its staff over the next several months, there will be only 85 investigators monitoring all alcohol establishments from Santa Barbara to San Diego. In addition, 20 clerks will be hired to process liquor license applications, bringing the local ABC’s staffing back to its 1991 levels.

“We feel we can do an adequate job” with the staffing increases, said Jerry Jolly, district administrator for ABC’s Southern Section. “(But) I’d be the first one to say we certainly need more officers on the street.”

Officials gathered outside Casa Continental, a problem-ridden tavern north of Dodger Stadium that illustrates the difficulty the state has had in cracking down on liquor law violators.

Originally licensed in 1974, the North Figueroa Street bar was cited in 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984 and 1989 under various owners on alleged violations including gambling, assault and contaminated bottles.

In 1990, an undercover investigator purchased cocaine at the bar six times. After a protracted legal fight, the ABC served notice Thursday to current owner Alfredo Hurtado that his license to serve alcohol was revoked.

“This is a tremendous victory for the neighborhood,” Katz said.