Undercover Unit Resumes Liquor Law Enforcement : Policing: Funding is restored to allow Alcohol Beverage Control officers to tackle a backlog of complaints in county’s northwestern corner.

State alcohol agents will once again be working undercover to enforce liquor laws at stores and bars throughout the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys because of a law effective Jan. 1 that restores funding for the work.

“We’re finally able to get back into the business we’re supposed to be in,” said Jim Smith, district administrator for the state Alcohol Beverage Control Department in the Van Nuys office.

Smith said state budget cuts last year eliminated all undercover investigations of liquor law violations such as selling to minors or to those who are already drunk.

The result has been a backlog of more than 250 complaints received last year in the Van Nuys office, which serves about 2,600 square miles in the northwestern corner of Los Angeles County.

Budget cuts forced Smith and his six investigators to ignore the complaints and work only processing requests for new liquor licenses.

“Complaints from citizens mostly concern sales to minors, narcotics activities at bars, and loitering and drinking in public around liquor stores,” Smith said.

Without the undercover investigations, Smith said, he believes there has been an increase in the amount of teen-age drinking, as well as in the number of teen-agers driving drunk.

Word spread quickly last year that state funds for undercover investigations were eliminated, he said.

“We figure that about 10% of our licensees will take advantage of the situation, knowing that we are not able to enforce the laws,” Smith said. “It’s like if you are driving a stretch of highway knowing there are no police around. Some people are going to take advantage.”

Money to return undercover investigators to the streets comes under a state law introduced this fall by Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Panorama City), returning a portion of liquor store licensing fees back to the ABC. The agency is one of the few in the state that makes money.

The change in funding, while welcome, still leaves the ABC with a tough job.

Out of the Van Nuys office, for example, Smith said he will only be able to afford to send two investigators into the field on two or three weekends a month. In previous years, he has had as many as four investigators working every weekend.

Before the budget cuts, the Van Nuys ABC office filed an average of 300 complaints a year against liquor establishments, with about 90% of those resulting in fines or license suspensions, Smith said.

By mid-January, Smith said, he hopes to begin chipping away at the backlog, starting first with the bars and stores that have the largest number of complaints.

“There are some bad pockets in the West Valley, Pacoima and North Hollywood,” Smith said.

Among the bars in Pacoima that have been targeted in the past are those employing so-called beer girls, who urge bar customers to buy them drinks at often inflated prices and earn a portion of the profits.

The restored funding came in part due to pressure from San Fernando Valley residents. In response to the proliferation of liquor outlets in the east San Fernando Valley, residents in past years have staged rallies and marches, and lobbied city officials in protest.